Echo to Hillgard fastpack

Celebrating a fine day near the summit of Dutchman.

Leah and I were able to get out together for a weekend in the high peaks of the Southern Madison range.  By going light, we were able to summit Echo, Dutchman, and Hilgard peaks with overnight packs without too much slogging.  After a casual late morning start, the first day went smoothly.  We easily walked up to Expedition basin, climbed Hilgard and Dutchman, and dropped to a high camp above Dutchman lake.  I over estimated how long the trip would take, and we had extra time to relax and enjoy the evening.  By bringing a few exciting dinner foods and enough warm clothes, we also slept in relative comfort.  The next day we easily summited Hilgard and made the standard egress out the Avalanche creek trail.  The only hiccup of the trip came when Leah unexpectedly sliced her leg on a sharp rock, but we were able to close the wound with a series of band aids and tape, and it didn't derail the trip.  I had a great time.  It was pretty magical to spend a few days in such a beautiful place with such a special person.

Crossing Expedition basin.  Photo: Leah

Leah climbing Echo.

Nice plateau walking on the South side of Echo.

Starting the climb up Dutchman.

Sunset at camp.

Leah enjoying a frosty morning.

Traversing the Lake Eglise basin with Hilgard behind.

Last climb out of the Lake Eglise basin.

Thoughts I think fastpacking an underrated way to explore the mountains.  It is an efficient way to spend a lot of time up high, and the few trips I have done feel like a magical respite from reality.  I have been a little turned off by the gear requirements to get into ultra light backpacking, but it has worked well to just kind of leave everything unnecessary at home.  Will try to keep doing a fastpack trip or two a year.

Pintler rambling, pt 2 West Goat peak

West Goat peak.  Who wouldn't want to ski that?

My last full ski day was spent exploring around West Goat peak.  It is a shame that West Goat peak is about as far as possible from Missoula, but with an early start, I made the long drive around to the Big Hole and was walking by 7 am.  The trail is a bit hard to follow and pretty long, but I had all day, and was still on the high point of the Pintlers just under 5 hours into the day.  The Southeast face was too enticing to pass up, so I skied it and re-climbed to the summit.

Fun skiing on the Southeast face of West Goat peak.

I had a surprising amount of difficulty ascertaining a correct entrance to the West couloir, and with fresh slippery snow overlying loose scree and firm old snow, I also had to traipse around surprisingly gingerly.  But eventually I just started skiing and had a great, 2,000 plus foot run.  To my absolute delight, the first half was powder!  It was also pretty satisfying to ski such a long, quality, West facing run in mid-June.  I was a little behind schedule at this point, and I now had a lot of rapidly warming snow above me, so I kept lunch break brief.  Fortunately, the long push back to the top went more quickly than expected.

The West couloir of West Goat peak, taken from Warren a few days prior. 

Powder in the West couloir!

Looking up a satisfyingly long West couloir post ski and pre re climb.

I had hoped to ski the also spectacular Northeast couloir, but abandoned the plan when I was unable to find a safe entrance.  Stymied but otherwise happy, I bopped up to the summit, skied the Southeast ridge, then climbed East Goat peak for the first time.  I ended the day by skiing a nice run off East Goat's Southeast face.  Back in approach shoes, the bushwack to the trail and jog out were relatively straightforward and brief.

The ski run off East Goat peak provided a nice snow highway toward the car.

Thoughts  I would like to go back and ski the Northeast couloir.  Also, there are a few ridge scrambling days and obvious link ups around West Goat peak that would merit a return in summer.  I didn't track vertical very well, but around 8k vert, done in 10 hours car to car. 

Pintler rambling, pt 1

I had a trio of nice days in the Pintlers this spring.

May 12  Leah and I were able to get out for a day of exploring around Storm lake.  With good road access, Storm lake might be the most popular place to ski in the Pintlers, but I hadn't skied in the area at all.  The forecast was for a light re-freeze overnight, so we rallied from Missoula at 5 am.  We were able to drive to the beginning of the Storm lake road proper, roughly four miles from the reservoir.  We did most of the approach in running shoes, walking on pleasantly refrozen snow.  I was surprised at how good the skiing on the East face of Mount Tiny looked, so we changed plans and headed there first.  The climb was quick, and we were soon on the summit, roughly 4.5 hours into the day.  The run was really nice.  Steep and complex enough to be engaging, but safe with the excellent conditions. 

Leah on the North face of Little Rainbow peak. 

Skiing down into the characteristic alpine larch of the Pintlers below the North face of Little Rainbow peak.

From the bottom of Tiny, we took a quick break, powered up the West ridge of Little Rainbow, and had a great run down the central North couloir.  Super fun.  We had some extra time, so we climbed and skied the next obvious couloir system to the East.  Leah's skins fell off on the climb, but aside from that it was an easy and enjoyable addition to the day.  As forecast, the day had heated up a lot at this point, but we had already had a great day of skiing, so we took a generous lunch break and schussed lazily out to the car.

June 5  11th annual Warren Wallow! Leah and I were able to re-arrange our work schedules to get out together mid-week.  We rallied early again. This time, the goal was to ski Warren and make it back for day care pick up.  There road was just barely sufficiently melted to drive to the trailhead. The outing was standard Wallow fare.  Adequate re-freeze, 4.5 hours up, ski the North face with good corn, ski the exit couloir, swim in lower Carpp lake, and enjoy the relaxing hike out.  It was great to ski this fine peak once again.

Up, up, up.

Leah skiing Warren peak...

...and the exit couloir.

I am coming around to thinking that more ski time should be spent in the Pintlers in May in June.  The drive isn't all that long, they tend to have a better re-freeze cycle than ranges adjacent to Missoula, and the ski terrain is awesome.  Plus, I have a bunch of new link up ideas and so many unskied lines to investigate.