Three Joe to Sweeney scramble

High spirits on the way to Big St. Joe.

With early snow in adjacent ranges, I spent perhaps my last long summer alpine scrambling day alone, working out a new Bitterroot ridge loop.  To my surprise, it was just clean enough to be a highly recommended outing.  I started the day out with a dark and frosty bike shuttle from the Sweeney trailhead to Bass creek.  After a trailhead stash of the bike and a backpack full of puffy clothes and ski gloves, I started up the familiar push to Little St. Joe. It is a big climb, but I kept the pace easy, and it went by quickly enough.  I followed what I think is the fastest route to Big St. Joe, staying on the ridge until it becomes gendarmed just past the Pinball Wizard gully, bypassing all of the gendarmes on the South side, then climbing the peak up the Southeast face.  A quickish descent put me at the next saddle, and a slightly off route climb had me on the summit of Stormy Joe.  I was a little bit ahead of schedule, and eager to explore new terrain.  I was uncertain how difficult the North ridge would be.  I descended near the crest until it became too cliffy, then weaved a 4th class descent on the West side around cliffs and across two gullies.  From there, it was relatively smooth sailing over the unnamed peaks at the head of the South Fork of Sweeney peak.  The South Fork ridge was my favorite part of the day.  I very much enjoyed moving with at a relaxed, even effort through wild and clean (by Bitterroot standards) terrain.

Upper Bass creek.

Glad to be done with the North Ridge of Stormy Joe.

Typical terrain along the head of the South fork.

I did another few bypasses, including a major detour to the East around the craggy North ridge of West Pyramid Butte (including a water break), and a major detour to the South off the ridge to a tarn where the Sweeney and Lolo ridges intersect.  The last push to Sweeney went quickly.  I was tired, but in all the right ways, and it was a delight to spend a perfect fall evening in the high Bitterroot.  The egress was familiar. Bop down the well-cairned Sweeney peak climber trail, then run down the very enjoyable Sweeney creek trail back to the car. 

Coming back up out of the major bypass to the East
and looking back at West Pyramid Butte.

High spirits somewhere in Sweeney creek.

Starting the final descent from Sweeney peak.

Thoughts and numbers: Somewhere around 12,000 vertical feet, done in about 12 hours trailhead to trailhead, not including the 1-hour bike shuttle.  Great day. Recommended.  The traverse is not as iconic as some of the Bitterroot classic ridge outings (i.e. High Five, Chaffin headwaters, and St. Mary's to Heavenly Twins), but it is a little more user friendly.  Bail options are limited in the South Fork of Sweeney creek.  An alternate exit to Lolo peak would also be a great outing, but the shuttle would be much longer.

Random note: While my day was kind of long and tiring, it was the same day that several Missoula local friends were testing their mettle at the Run Rabbit Run and IMTUF 100-mile races.  Going into the night, I was happy to tuck into a warm cozy bed while they were out testing their physical and mental limits.  Respect!

Tumbledown ridge rambling

Upper Tumbledown creek.

Leah and I were able to get out together for a day of running and scrambling during a perfect Labor day trip to the Taylor Fork drainage in the Southern Madisons.  Aside from an abundant population of grumpy grizzlies, I absolutely love this corner of Montana.  We were up at a reasonably early hour, and left a frosty trailhead at 8 am.  The goal was to get on the ridge crest at the Northern edge of the drainage, take it to Koch peak, and cruise the rim of the drainage until we ran out of time.  It was a beautiful morning, and the climb to peak 10,829 was pretty painless aside from a bone chillingly cold ford of Taylor Fork.  It was pretty cool to climb a new peak and get a better look at the wild Indian and No man ridges.  The descent and subsequent climb to the Notch on Koch were fast and fun.

Leah approaching.  Not warmed up yet.

Leah heading for the North ridge of Koch.

The notch took us almost an hour, but we found a way through the loose downclimb into the notch, and then found a chossy but doable 4th class exit.  It was smooth sailing from the ridge crest to the summit.  I was afraid of the next steep ridgeline section, so we took the standard descent down the grassy Southeast face to a small lake in the headwaters before pushing back up to the crest. We then forged a marginal line up the West ridge of peak 10,666, and worked out way down the long and surprisingly slippery descent.

Out of the Notch and relieved.

Leah climbing back to the crest in front of Koch peak.

Heading home.

We were definitely out of time, and made quick work of the exit trail.  What a perfect early fall day.  And a fun zone.  I still need to get back and ski some of the unnamed peaks near Koch with a stable spring snowpack.  Aside from a quick up and back trail run to the Cinnamon mountain lookout, the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing with family and friends.