Koch peak and Lost Horse loop

I have recommended the North couloir on Koch as a Bitterroot classic for years ever since getting super lucky with perfect conditions when I skied it in 2008.  I have since received several tales of woe about the approach up the South Fork of Lost Horse, and have kind of rescinded my recommendation of the North couloir as a classic.  With robust low elevation still hanging on, I decided this would be a good year to ski it again.  

We skied the obvious North couloir of Koch, and the right of the twin gullies on the left margin of the photo.

Jeffrey and I left our car at 7:30 am, and icy flat skinned up the main stem of Lost Horse creek about four miles past the intersection with the South Fork trail.  My feet were still pretty raw from too much flat Bitterroot approaching, but aside from constant, low level pain, the road went by quickly enough.  We climbed up to the main stem/South fork divide, then skied a peak to creek gully right to the base of Koch.  The upper section was fun, smooth ice skiing, but the lower third was clogged with unfriendly debris which was not all that fun.  And Jeffrey lost a pole basket to the icy debris.  We made it through and were soon gearing up for the long climb to the summit of Koch.  

Jeffrey skiing our first run with the North couloir of Koch in the background.

Trail breaking on the climb was a lot of work, but it was an otherwise straightforward ascent.  We took a long lunch break on the summit, enjoying the sunny, windless day.  Skiing in the North couloir was chalky and fun.  From the base of the couloir, we made a long mid-slope traverse to the next cirque East and slowly punched a skin track to the top of a pair of 3,000 foot peak to creek gullies.  I had skied the East gully on my previous trip, so we worked our way into the West gully.  To my dismay, we encountered a sizeable rock slab about half way down.  I sketched down it, but it was too desperate for my liking.  There weren't really any great obvious detour options, but somehow we were able to find a sneak that barely allowed Jeffrey to avoid the crux step.  Reunited, we bounced down good skiing all the way to the creek.  

The North couloir of Koch, from my 2008 ski day.  Cool almost alpine cirque.

Jeffrey steep skiing above the cruxes.

To my surprise, there was an old lone set of ski tracks, and I got excited that we were going to be able to ride them all the way back to the car.  Unfortunately, the tracks headed to a long and soul sucking wander through endless re-gen forest, and we ended up forging a better high route up on the talus.  The snow was gloppy and slow, but excellent coverage allowed us to keep skis on for the first few off trail miles down the canyon.  The trail itself, stream crossing, and exit road were not bad at all, and we were back at the car tired but not too abused.  8,700 vertical feet, done in around 12 hours car to car. 

Thoughts 

I do think that the South Fork is sufficiently unfriendly to keep Koch from being a classic.  It is a beautiful, straightforward ski run on a far flung peak with a uniquely awesome view, so it is still worth doing on big snow years.  I still need to investigate approaching up the very long East ridge from Como lake.

Disappointment shoulder and Glen Lake peak to creeks

Ned skiing on the South shoulder of Disappointment peak.

Ned was game to endulge my rabid peak to creek tendencies, so we rallied at 5 am for a day in Big Creek, exploring new-to-me runs.  With all the snow, we had to park way, way out, but still were able to make the road and trail approach to St. Mary creek in about 2.5 hours.  I had never been up St. Mary creek before, and it looked incised and character building on the map, but I figured with all the snow, this would be as good a time as any to check it out.  Sure enough, the climbing to access the upper basin was pretty steep and slow, and new snow in the upper basin was a lot of work.  We slowly plowed our way to the South shoulder of Disappointment peak, with Ned taking a heroic last pull to get us to the top.  As we nosed our way into the main gully, I was pleasantly surprised to find the snow supportable, with a touch of fresh on top.  It was going to be a much better run than expected.  I was fearful of shedding, and we leapfrogged quickly down the excellent skiing in the upper gully, then worked our way through reasonable skiing in the lower half.  There were two small steps, but they were user friendly with all of the snow, and in no time we were back at the trail.  I was pretty dang excited to have caught this ski line in condition.

Great snow, laborious traibreaking.  At the top of our first climb.

Great skiing in the upper half of our first run.
Our second run is the tree chute across the way just looker's right of the largest avalanche path.

Ned skiing lower in the first gully.

We bumped up the trail a few minutes, then crossed the creek, taking water break, collectively drinking about a liter and a half.  Then, the slog to the North shoulder of Glen lake peak commenced.  Once again, trailbreaking was a bear the whole way.  I got us through a lot of interesting bushwack skinning, and Ned once again took a heroic trailbreaking pull up a slow and soul crushing gully to get us into the upper basin. From there we just ground our way to the top.  I was a little whopped when we topped out, but I slammed a big portion of left over chicken pot pie, and everything was once again good in the world. The ensuing run was the best of the year (to date).  Steep and long with excellent powder top to bottom.  There was a ice step in the lower third, but Ned did a great job scouting it on the way up, and we were able to dodge it with some Bridger Bowl style shenanigans in a separate gully on skier's right.

I think the best run of the year can be found that way!

Soon enough we were back on the trail, and it was time to slog out the exit  My feet were blistered painful on the way out, but we made it out  just a few minutes after turning our headlamps on, so I couldn't complain.  A big thanks to Ned for everything that made this day the memorable one it was.  It was kind of a grinding day, and our stats weren't impressive.  Around 8k vert, done in about 13 hours car to car.  However, it was pretty awesome to catch two new and very long peak to creek runs in mint condition.

Our first run was the obvious gully.
The prominent peak in the background is the Heavenly Twins.

Bitterroot low elevation skiing round up

I devoted mid-February through mid-April to skiing runs in the Bitterroot that don't typically have enough snow to ski.  It was great to check a few of these off the list, and ski conditions were also generally excellent.  What an all time year for the Bitterroot!

Roaring Lion, South couloirs
Jeffrey and I avoided one of the last bitter by skiing in the sun in Roaring Lion.  We had to break trail all the way in, but it was nice to approach in the sun and out of the wind.  With an avalanche warning earlier in the week, it was uncertain whether stability would suitable for these steeper lines.  We climbed the couloir just East of the most prominent buttress in Roaring Lion (I think it has a name, but have not been able to track it down).  Fortunately, the snow was very stable, so we skinned with difficulty to the top and skied the run to the creek.  It was awesome.  We then re-climbed our skin track and tried to find a way into a parallel gully system just West of the buttress.  While investigating the steep entrance, I kicked off a large snow mushroom and took a 10-foot fall into to the couloir.  Fortunately, I was able to immediately self arrest, but it was a closer call than I am comfortable with.  In any case, the entrance to the couloir was now clear.  We used our extra hour to spin a lap on good North facing powder toward Sawtooth creek.  The couloir entrance was quite steep and cliffy, but we found a way through, and the skiing in the gully itself was good.  It was another great ski line. Score! Using kicker skins, the exit flew by, and we were soon out, enjoying the warmth of the car.

Tricky skinning on the first climb.

Starting up the second climb.

Second climb.

Jeffrey skiing the West gully.

Little St. Joe, Presidental gully
I took off work a few hours early mid-week to ski the President gully.  Aside from having to park about a mile before the trailhead due to snow, the climb went about how it always does.  I started down an alternate West fork entrance with crampons and an axe in the pack, but the first ice step looked too tricky for my liking, so I skinned out to where I could traverse into the normal gully.  I think the alternate gully is doable (especially with rappels), but I'm not convinced it would very high quality.  Once in the normal gully, I just followed tracks down several thousand vertical feet of terrible breakable crust.  Even with poor snow quality, it is a treat to be able to ski this remarkable, long ski run.  The headlamp egress was fun.

Mill Creek, Spire gullies
I had eyed two gullies immediately adjacent to the most prominent tooth like spire on the South side of the canyon during my Castle crag day, and Leah was game to check them out after day care drop off.  So we did.  The Mill trail is slower than it should be, and it took us a full two hours to approach.  We climbed the West gully, digging a confidence inspiring pit along the way.  We turned around about 200 feet below the top of the gully where the snow got thin and marginal for skiing, so someone could certainly improve on our style and probably credibly claim a complete first ski descent.  The skiing was great fun on supportable wind board and smooth debris.  We stopped at the end of the gully, about 400 feet above the creek.  A quick jaunt back up our track, followed by a funky but ultimately successful scramble up a rock step on the ridge put us near the top of the East gully.  We didn't have the time, avalanche confidence, or motivation to climb to the exact top of the East gully, so I suppose it still also awaits a full descent.  The skiing was great, with excellent powder top to bottom.  Thanks Leah for joining me in my endless new ski line quest.

Our day.  The better first gully is behind the spire.
Our second run was in the visible gully, which we skied from about 400 vertical feet below the visible summit.

Leah cruising on the first run.  The spire looked climbable by a few routes on this West side. 

Leah powder skiing on the second run.

St. Mary peak and Kootenai Point exit bowl
I was able to get out for a mid-week afternoon, and decided to try for another long peak to creek whie there is still low elevation snow.  A 1 pm start was definitely not ideal for a warm day, but I headed out anyway in the blazing sun.  The snow was already pretty cooked for most of the climb, but it didn't slow things down too much.  It was fun to settle in and just grind out at the 6,000 foot climb all the way to the summit of St. Mary peak in 3.25.  After a quick turnaround, I skied firm sastruggi on the North ridge down to to Kootenai point, then traversed just below the ridge to the top of the Exit bowl.  I was able to easily find the small entrance to the bowl.  To my delight, the bowl still had preserved, settled powder, and I had a blast skiing and skiing and skiing down this 5,000 foot(!) run.  The lower gully was well filled in and not too mushy, and I skied giddily all the way to the creek.  The trail out was also pretty over cooked, but it was still well covered in snow, and I made the exit in in under an hour, for a sub-5 hour outing.  

St. Mary summit from Kootenai!

The exit gully in excellent condition.
Pretty excited to have just pulled off a 5,000 foot ski run with good snow top to bottom.

Crown Point

Looking up at an out of condition President and Dream gully during the soggy exit.

I was able to get out for a soggy mid-week afternoon tour, and decided to try for a new to me line on Crown Point.  The snow was rain saturated for most of the climb, and I put some money in the character building bank.  Fortunately, rain remained light, and the skinning along the final technical ridge was pretty quick as long as sufficient care was taken to avoid cornices.  The skiing was all pretty mushy and bad, but it was safe.  I skied the upper 600 feet of the Northeast face, then cut hard skier's left around the nose of the North ridge and dropped into a tree chute on the Northwest face, which joined the standard Bass creek crag approach gully a few hundred feet above the trail.  It was nice to check this line out.  It's not as good as the more classic full Northeast gully, but it is safer, with less time above cliffs up high, no unforgiving starting zone in the lower chute like the Northeast has, and no ice bulge to wrestle around.  I followed old tracks out the bottom of the Bass creek gull, and it was super straightforward with all of the snow.  The ski out in the rain was quite enjoyable, and I returned to the car grateful for a nice afternoon in the hills.  A hair under 5,000 feet, done in just over 3.5 hours.

Crown Point/Bass Creek crags

Great snow in the entrance couloir on Crown point.

I had a surprise Friday evening free, so headed for another Crown point lap after work.  This time, it had been pleasantly cold, and the climb was fast and beautiful in the evening light.  I wrapped around the South side of Crown point, then made the short climb to the top of the conventional Bass creek crag couloir entrance.  To my delight, the couloir had just enough new, soft snow that the skiing was delightful.  In keeping with the theme of excellent coverage this year, the skiing was great for another few thousand feet, then totally acceptable to the creek.  There were a few dry patched to walk over on the trial exit, but overall conditions were about as good as they get for April.

Kootenai Point, Gold couloir to exit bowl

Leah skiing the Gold couloir.

Leah character building in Kootenai creek.

The day after the previous outing, Leah and I did a quickish Kootenai point tour.  Aside from a very cold morning creek crossing, the approach went quickly, and the skiing in the Gold couloir was good.  To our delight, the exit bowl was great skiing to within 1,000 feet of the creek, and the end of the gully and intermittent snow wallow to the creek weren't too bad.  We waded the creek in our boots before switching to running shoes for the walk out to the car.  Nice day, and good to ski the Gold couloir again.

Glen lake peak historic path (and a bunch of other stuff)

Looking back at Hidden lake peak during my last climb to the Glen lake historic path.

I forced one last day to try to take advantage of all the low elevation snow.  Although I was able to take the day off work, I still had to do day care drop off and didn't leave the car until 10 am.  Not ideal for a warm, cloudless day.  Snow was already pretty cooked by the time I made the long push to Glen lake peak, but the main South gully skied reasonably well all the way to the creek.  I then made the long climb to Hidden lake peak in the sweltering sun.  I heard two large cornice fall induced avalanches, which served as an appropriate shot across the bow that the snow was not as stable as it felt.  I had hoped to ski a direct line on the Northeast face of Hidden lake peak, but ended up taking a more conservative line skier's left.  It was still fun.  I climbed to Glen lake peak, spun a run back to the West to hit 10k for the day, then started down the historic path.  To my surprise, the run had avalanched either that day or the day before on an ice crust, with a 2 foot crown.  Although the skiing was quite safe on the bed surface, I hadn't anticipated that type of avalanche danger, and even with my conservative run choice on Hidden lake peak, it left an unsettled feeling on how I had approached the day.  The top 3/4 of the run was quite good, but the last thousand vertical feet were melted out and quite challenging.  To my relief, I was able to piece it together and make it to a boots-on creek ford in one piece.

Interesting slush skiing in the exit to the historic path.
There were quite a few more interesting situations to work through before flip flops at the car.

Even though the historic path wasn't really in condition, it was good to ski one last peak to creek for the year.