Flathead range traverse

After a successful partial Flathead traverse, I couldn't help but dream of traversing the crest of the entire range.  Fortunately everything lined up for an August 28 - 29 attempt.  The 40+ mile bike shuttle was a little bit of a grind, but I got it done without accruing much fatigue, and slept well at the  trailhead.

Day 1: I rolled out at 4 am, and made it to Triangle peak in time for sunrise.  The rest of the morning went OK.  It was nice to top out on new summits and gander at some of the most popular winter ski terrain, but the going was scrappier and slower than I had hoped for.  Also, there was no water.  I summited East Nyack very thirsty and about two hours behind where I wanted to be. The balls of my feet were also raw, which had me worried. A few hours later, I dragged myself over the top of Great Northern feeling pretty beat.  I chatted with a party on top for a minute, then beelined it down to a water stop at the top of the glacier.  The water stop allowed me to catch up on fluids and calories, and get a much needed mental re-set.  

Shortly after sunrise, looking out to Great Bear peak, with Great Northern in the distance.

Looking back at Penrose on the way to Nyack.

Onward to Nyack and eventually Great Northern.

The day really started clicking at that point.  It was a treat to traverse the elegant section between Great Northern and Liebig in the warm afternoon light, feeling good.  I kept pushing through the evening and made it over Elk, Adams, and Camaehwait before it finally got dark.  Each peak was fun and the going was generally non technical and fast.  One unresolved question was finding water for the night, but a lucky flicker of my headlamp reveled a big snow chunk tucked deep into a chimney on the last descent, which provided ample water for the night.  I called it a very long day around 11 pm at the saddle just short of Felix.  Dinner was pretty quick - water, peanut butter jelly sandwich and smoked salmon.  I was content with my progress and grateful to be physically intact.  I slept well, having brought enough provisions to stay comfortablish and warm. 

Looking back at Great Northern on the way to Grant.

Grant Glacier on the afternoon jaunt to the summit.

Nearing Liebig.

Looking back at Elk mountain at sunset.

Looking to Camehwait at sunset.  I climbed it in the dark and slept on the far side.

Day 2:  I awoke refreshed, started walking before first light, and summited Felix at sunrise.  After summiting Unawah, I got fairly worked by alder and all manner of bushwack drudgery crossing Logan creek.  I don't think there is really any good way to get through this section, and in the end, I only thrashed and cursed for about 30 minutes. A big climb put me on top of  peak 8,001 (I bypassed Red Sky Mountain for time).  

The next section of the traverse was long, but I was in the groove, cruising along on goat trails and enjoying the day.  Baptiste, Prospector, Circus, and Dry Park mountain each had their own character, and took 60 - 90 minutes each.  I knew that the end of the traverse would feel long, and it certainly did.  In particular, the push from Dry Park Mountain to Crossover was not as fun as the rest of the traverse, and the trail on the map down from Crossover doesn't really exist, so I spent quite a bit of extra time bushwacking down to the main trail.  My body held up just fine though, so it was just a matter of time until I was done.  I emerged at the car beat and a few hours behind schedule, but about as grateful as one can be for the experience.

Felix sunrise.

Looking out to Prospector from Baptiste.  More cruising...

Over the top of Circus peak and on the long home stretch. 

On Crossover, looking back at the last portion of the route.

Happy to be back at the car.

I had hopes of making the return drive to Missoula that night, but I pulled over to sleep for the night about half way home when sleepies attacked. 

Thoughts:  This was my defining outing of the summer, and one I am proud to have completed. I didn't track my route digitally, so don't have stats, but roughly 45 miles and 20,000 vertical feet, most of it off trail.  39 hour, 57 minutes trailhead to trailhead.  I am proud of the route, and the self contained style that I used.  I think that with proper recon of the route, a strong mountain runner could do it in a push in under 24 hours.  One could debate the aesthetic choice of starting Triangle peak, rather than at Ousel, but the slightly truncated route was worth it to me to drastically simplify the bike shuttle. 

I really enjoyed the traverse.  It provided a good hard mental challenge.  I got behind on water and food and struggled physically more than I thought I would on the first day.  I am still satisfied with my execution.  The route itself was great.  It isn't the most alpine of adventures, but I found it compelling because it is so wild. I also found the terrain clean enough to get in a really nice state of flow, following goat trails and checking off peak after peak.  In terms of recommending the route, it is a Montana gem, but it is just plain long enough to be a pretty substantial commitment.  

2020 summer scrambling hilights

Despite ambitions of biking a lot, I ended up spending most summer weekends in the mountains, family camping and rambling around up high at a well dispersed distance from Covid.  Mountain fitness was adequate to romp around efficiently with good confidence in my body.  This summary is of high quality days that don't quite merit their own post.

7/24 Crazy Mountains - Big Timber, Crazy, and Iddings 

After successfully jockeying for a weekend camping site at the Halfmoon campground, I rallied from the trailhead right at first light.  After a brief jaunt up the trail, I started the short bushwack to access the large avalanche path on the Northwest face of Big Timber peak.  The next twoish hours were devoted to climbing this monster avalanche path, and included the full gamut of pleasant tundra walking, loose scree swimming, choss of all varieties, and a good mix of wise and stupid route finding.  I summited about 3.5 hours into the day.  

Starting up the long climb to Big Timber peak shortly after dawn.  
Must return to ski this grand face some day.

To my immense chagrin, unforecast storms started rolling through, so I put all of my clothes on and tried to keep moving as best I could among the light snow flurries.  I was intimidated by the ridge line from Big Timber to Crazy, especially with the poor weather and my committing position.  I ended up bypassing the crest by linking up ledges on the North side.  My route was safe, but it wasn't optimal because it took a really long time.  In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time aspiring to stay on the crest.  Soon enough, I emerged on the Northeast ridge of Crazy peak.  Insert big sigh of relief.  

The harder-than-it-looks scrambling between Big Timber and Crazy peaks.

The next section of the day went smoothly.  Weather improving, check.  Crazy peak summit, check.  Descend to Crazy/Iddings col, check.  Loose rock and exposure made the East ridge of Iddings more intimidating than what I expected.  But it is a good route. I took my time and got it done. 

Near the summit of Iddings, looking back at Cracy peak and the fun ridge section. 

The egress was smooth.  I relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful country around Pear and Granite lakes.  Soon enough, I was back in the campground a few hours later than expected but still in time for dinner.  It is clear that my head and skills for efficiently working through loose easy 4th class terrain are poor, and I was humbled by the outing.  That said, it was rewarding to slow down, dig in, and stay on top of risk assessment.  And I'm glad that I kept at it to safely complete the link up.  Around 13 hours

8/15 Pintlers - Storm Lake to Haggin  

I rallied at 4 am during day one of a weekend family camping trip to traverse from our camp at Storm lake to Mount Haggin.  I have been excited to do this outing for several years, but it is a big outing to shoehorn into a day from town.  The day was pretty straightforward.  I summited Little Rainbow at sunrise, pointed it East, and kept at it over the beautiful summits of Howe, Evans, 10,376 and 10,282.  Loose scree coupled with a generally low energy body kept me moving slowly, and I topped out on Haggin fairly knackered.  The descent out to Anaconda went quickly enough.  Throughout the traverse, I benefited from abundant late season snow patches to refill water regularly.  

Looking back at Howe and Little Rainbow from near the summit of Howe.

The most elegant section from 10,282 to Haggin.

The real kicker of the day was climbing 3.000 vertical feet into a head wind on the return bike shuttle up a busy Highway 1.  I was too tired to enjoy it, plus my neuroma flared up. It was a suffer fest.  But I did manage 10,000 feet of elevation gain for the day, and slunk into camp just in time for dinner.  If I ever do this outing again self supported, I will do the bike shuttle in the other direction. 

Great outing. 

It was a high gravity day.  I took it as a shot across the bow for not overdoing it physically this summer.  I spent the next day in full rest mode, took the next week off from any workouts.  Two weeks later, I was fully recovered and ready for the full Flathead traverse.  

8/22 Bitterroot, Heavenly Twins and Saint Mary peak loop

Heavenly Twins!

I was able to squeeze this one in on day two of a family camping trip.  This is the third time I have done this outing.  It is so good!  I used sneaky tactics and biked from our camp on the McCalla road to the trailhead, did the loop and biked back to a stashed car at the base of the Saint Mary road. Up trail, down user trail to McCalla lake, over South shoulder of Saint Mary peak, around North ridge of Disappointment peak, up East face of Heavenly twins to North summit, ridge traverse to South summit, back to Saint Mary on the South side of the crest, then up South ridge to Saint Mary summit, where I happened to bump into a much-faster-than-me Doug, and down the trail to the car. 

10/5 Swan Range, Clearwater group traverse

I did a Clearwater group traverse during one of the last fall weather windows.  The Clearwater group is probably my favorite section of the Swan crest because it is so wild.  The goal for the day was to do this outing with a simplified bike shuttle along the back side of the Clearwater loop road and try to find more secure ways to navigate the three most technical steps.  The bike ride down from the Rice ridge trailhead and along the back of the loop was cold but quick.  I gained the crest by climbing the Southwest face of Wolverine peak.  By sticking to the bottom of the dry stream bottom, the lower reaches were remarkably bushwack free, and I just plodded with purpose all the way to the summit.  From there, I was on familiar terrain.  Out and back to Carmine, out to Ptarmigan peak, and up to Ptarmigan point.  I spent more time working through the two 4th class steps on the North ridge of Ptarmigan point, and found a route that felt safe and secure enough to be reliably repeatable.  

Enjoying fall colors and a dry stream bed on long opening climb to Wolverine.

Ptarmigan to Fisher is long, but I was buzzing with excitement from the perfect fall day.  On the North ridge of Fisher, I encountered a step just below the summit that I didn't remember.  I ended up climbing a vertical 5-foot step just East of the crest that involved a couple of committing moves on vertical rock with good hand holds to gain a shallow, easy gully that got me back on the crest.  

Ptarmigan to Fisher.

Golden larch, mountains, crisp fall air.  So good.

On the South ridge of Fisher, there is also one steep step where the crest forms a deep chimney that is just too wide to bridge across.  I had formerly downclimbed loose rock on the SW wall of the chimney, but I ended up downclimbing a 30-foot West facing gully just North of the chimney.  I found it more exposed, but the rock was better, so it felt more reliably safe.  The rest of the traverse to Sunday went smoothly, but I completely missed the climber trail back down to the Rice Ridge saddle.  By the time I realized my error, it was quicker to do a slow but easy descending traverse down to the trail.  Back on the trail, I jogged it out the trailhead.  A little over 10 hours, including the bike shuttle.  

If I ever get into good mountain running shape, I think that a route starting at the Clearwater loop road and ending at the Rice ridge trailhead climbing Wolverine, Ptarmigan peak, Ptarmigan point, Fisher, and Sunday mountain would be an excellent candidate for a FKT route.

Ptarmigan point 9,083 Northeast ridge route: Climb the ridge until you get to a vertical step on the crest with yellow rock.  Instead of taking a ledge to the W. face and climbing a loose easy 5th class chimney, go down a short gully onto the Northeast face, traverse about a hundred yards out onto the face, and climb up an easy gully/chimney system (easy 4th) back to the crest.  Soon after re-gaining the crest, climb a second 20-foot step via an exposed but secure West facing chimney a few feet around the corner from the crest (stout 4th).  Continue to the summit.

Flathead range, Great Northern to Unawah

Sunrise. Looking along the Flathed crest at the day ahead.

I have dreamed of exploring the Flathead crest ever since Mike Foote, Mike Wolfe, and Steven Gnam casually did the entire range during their Crown traverse.  Although I have had this outing planned for several years, a string of mountain days earlier in the year set me up with the fitness and running durability to confidently give it a go.  With stable summer weather and support from family, I headed North shortly after noon on a Friday in early August.  By dark, I was tucked into a comfortable trailhead bivy, with the 20-mile bike shuttle complete.  I haven't done many big new adventures lately, so I went to bed quite jittery.  

I awoke excited, and was walking way before first light.  I climbed Great Northern on the well worn climber's trail.  The climb was all in the spooky dark, but I enjoyed it.  Summiting at sunrise was sublime. 

Great Northern summit at first light.  Cold but excited for the day.

I had under estimated the cold wind, and was forced to keep scurrying along to keep warm.  Getting off the peak was a little bit more interesting than I had anticipated, but I was able to navigate around steep snow easily enough, and was soon off the peak and moving toward Grant.  The traverse of Grant and Liebig was straightforward and delightful.  This alpine section of the crest is a gem.

Looking back at Great Northern from near the summit of Grant.

Looking back at Liebig.

Beyond Liebig, the crest is below treeline, and the peaks are spaced further apart, but the line continued to be fast and fun.  I was hours ahead of schedule, snowmelt water was abundant, and my energy was great.  It was turning into the perfect day.  Liebig to Elk was a haul, but it was also quite fun.  Adams was quick.  Cameahwait was kind of long, and I started getting tired.  Getting off Cameahwait also took a while, but I ingested enough calories to get a good energy boost for the scrappy climb to Felix.  Unawah was quick enough.  And with that I was on the last summit for the day.  An unforecast rain storm rolled through, but it wasn't too severe, and I didn't care.  

Looking back from Adams.  Showing the simple, clean character of the terrain.

... and on the last summit, looking back to Felix from Unawah.

The exit was on the scrappy side of fun, but it wasn't bad.  I made a last minute change of plans and descended the East ridge to 6,700 feet, then descended straight South to the trail.  The descent was mildly scrappy, with an assortment of downfall, thick brush, and alder in the last few hundred yards to the trail.  But all in all it wasn't bad and didn't take too long.  The Logan creek trail out was pretty over grown, so I settled into a rhythm of mixed walking and easy running, with lots of yips and claps to ward off bears.  Before long, I was back at the car in flip flops, pleasantly tired, and elated about a wild new-to-me day in the mountains.  Approximately 11,600 vertical feet, done in 13.5 hours, trailhead to trailhead.

Thoughts:  What an excellent outing.  Although it is not technically difficult, the length and paucity of good bail options make it a substantial commitment.  The day ended up being quite a bit easier than I expected.  That was fine by me since it was nice to feel totally in control in this Covidian time.  I haven't been running very much this summer, but the biking coupled with a lot of mountain time training plan paid off.  I felt very well physically prepared for the day.

The outing firmly planted the seed for a return trip to take on the entire Flathead range.

Mission traverse on skis, V. 4

The Mission traverse with Leah was a dream come true, and my best ski day of the 2019/2020 ski season.  

I was confident that we could complete the route with a reasonable time and safety buffer, and when conditions aligned, we made it happen. Leah activated her day care finding magic, and I planned out the route in detail, and dialed in a gear plan, and ran the bike shuttle the previous night to ease the early start.  We met properly early on the outskirts of St. Ignatius, parked at the first sign of deep snow, and were trudging to Saint Mary reservoir at 4 am.  The walk to the trailhead was uneventful, and we made easy progress on foot, transitioning to skinning shortly before first light.  The climb to Saint Mary's had quite a bit of tricky, firm skinning, but the sunrise was spectacular, conditions were going to be fast, and we summited in high spirits.

Done with the dark and ready for a perfect day.

The Northeast run down Saint Mary was quick, and the climb back to the crest was easy enough.  I was definitely dragging a little, but was confident that I had enough energy to continue with the traverse.  We made reasonable progress across the plateau, and up to the summit ridge just South of Mountaineer.  I wanted to ski the big Northwest snowfield below Mountaineer from the top, and we wasted quite a bit of time slowly working through tricky ridge top climbing to gain the top of the snowfield.  The skiing was firm, smooth, and quite enjoyable.

Climbing out of Grizzly lake with Lowry behind.

Exposed climbing to gain the Mountaineer summit ridge.

Dreamy cruising.

Next up was the South face of Shoemaker.  I had planned on soft snow at this point in the day, but it was still firm, and I was fairly concerned about climbing it without crampons.  Employing the tried and true "go until you can't anymore" tactic, I was able to at least get a sliver of boot into the snow for each step, all the way up to the crest.  Next up was nice settled powder on the mellow ski run to Lake of the Clouds.  I was feeling a little better at this point, and couldn't stop reveling in the day, the mountains, the perfect conditions, and sharing it all with Leah.  After a short break, we made the easy climb to the sneak gully to Icefloe lake. 

Last few steps to the ridge below Shoemaker.

Great snow on the Sunrise glacier.

Skiing to Lake of the Clouds.

Pondering the impending climb to McDonald before dropping into the sneak gully.

Leah skiing powder in the sneak gully.

The ski run was also excellent, with nice settled powder.  We took a longer break at the lake.  We were both tired, but we were right on my time estimate, so we headed up McDonald.  We had some trouble efficiently climbing re-freezing snow on the East face, but still got the long climb done in good time.  I liked climbing the East face better than the South and will probably use it as the standard route for future outings.  After a mini celebration on McDonald, we skied the South face in perfect firm corn and started whipping our way out to Ashley lakes.  The skiing to the lakes was remarkably good.  The lakes were well frozen, so we  quickly skated across them.  We eventually ran out of snow not far below the lakes, and had some adverse-ish walking on the snow covered summer trail.  Soon enough, we had climbed out to the end of the road and took one last long break to fuel up, switch to approach shoes, and drink the last of our water.  We cut a bunch of switchbacks, so the hike out to our car in the valley was quick enough.  We arrived right at dark, tired in all the right ways.

I was so happy.  

Starting the last long climb out of Icefloe lake.

Perfect corn on the South face of McDonald.

Easy cruising down Ashley creek.

For stats, we climbed about 12,000 vertical feet and were out for about 17 hours.

Rocky Mountain Front, Old Baldy to Teton Pass ski resort

Climbing the summit ridge of Old Baldy with the rest of our day visible in the background.

The highlight of our family vacation to the Rock Mountain Front was a ridge link up from Old Baldy to Teton Pass ski resort.  This was also one of my most enjoyable days in the.mountains this summer because it combined a new and thoroughly enjoyable outing with a rare full day with Leah.  We left the Rescue creek trailhead at 6 am and crossed the creek at the toe of Old Baldy after just a few miles on the Middle Fork Teton trail.  The climb to Old Baldy took quite a bit of time, but it was without a doubt a worthwhile addition to the outing.  It also took a long time to get down Old Baldy and across Route Creek pass.  The rest of the ridge was clean, easy, and just plain fun.  We climbed all of the peaks along the ridge including Teton peak, Mount Lockhart, and several unnamed high points.  We kept waiting for the forecast heat to strike, but between the wind and an abundance of snowmelt water, we were never stricken by heat.  Before long, we had crested Lockhart. Just over an hour later, we were on top of the ski resort.  Getting down the resort took longer than expected, but we still made it back to the bikes ahead of schedule.  The 7-mile downhill shuttle was one of the easiest shuttles I have ever done.  We were both tired, and it was a nice end to the day.  

Leah coming up to the summit ridge on Old Baldy.

Mid way through the day.

Up the last climb to the top of Teton Pass ski resort.

I would love to do this one again.  Super high quality.  It would be cool to go bigger and start at Rocky Mountain.  I think it's doable, but everything including the shuttle would be much longer. Also now on the list: ski traverse from Old Baldy or somewhere similar to Teton Pass resort.  With spring stability.  It looks to be a super logical link up.

The rest of our time in the Front was a treat, full of time with friends, laughs and adventures with kids, remembering that I don't remember how to climb, and shorter scrambles and bike rides.  

Mount Frazier (day one outing) as viewed from Mount Werner (day two and three outings).

Highlands traverse

Amazing and supportive friends allowed Leah and me to squeeze in a little early summer mountain adventure together during a 4th of July camping trip near Butte.  With a properly early start, we covered several miles of dirt road on foot to complete the de facto shuttle, then climbed Red Mountain by the normal Northeast ridge route.  It took a while to get to the first peak, but from there, we were treated to a technically simple but delightful traverse along the crest over Table Mountain and East peak.

Over Red Mountain and heading to Table.

We did a lot of walking like this.

Wandering toward Table mountain.

We descended Pigeon creek ridge back to the car, which included a little bit of adversity in the last half mile, but was generally remarkably straightforward.  Having driven by this little range for years, it was rewarding to get a peak at most of it.  I was pretty impressed at how wild the mountains are once past Red Mountain.  I enjoyed the outing and would recommend it as a high quality medium length day in the mountains.

Albino basin summer skiing in the Swans

Driven by a hankering to ski in mid July, I took skis out of summer storage to explore Albino basin in the Swans.  There is of course a lot more to ski than can be done in a day, but I tried to check off as much as possible by getting a respectable start.  Instead of taking the Cooney pass trail, I approached off trail from the car most of the way up the ridge to Cooney peak.  About a thousand feet below the summit, I detoured off the ridge and took a nice short run into the basin on the back side of Albino.  Along the way, I saw a grizzly and her cub running through the basin at a safe distance.  

Looking back up at the fun approach run.

It was a weird logistical day, and in that spirit, I took ski boots off after the first run and used approach shoes to scramble up 3rd class ledges to the crest of the range.  Back in ski boots, I took a fantastic run down the Southern most of the three prominent basins.  To my utter surprise, the ski run descended two thousand feet below the crest, and I had to cut it short in order to have enough time for the rest of the tour.  I next climbed back to the crest and took an absolutely fabulous run down along the edge of the glacier and below the moraine to the end of the snow, 2000 feet below the summit.  I couldn't believe how good the skiing was! 

Starting the first run off the crest.

Starting the long run.

More of the long run.

More of the long run.  What a treat!

I made another long climb to the next basin North, and took another great run before walking over a low pass to access Little Salmon creek.  The last run of the year was a short bop down to the basin below Smith Creek pass.  From the bottom of the run, I put approach shoes back on, and made a long awkward traverse back up to the pass before jogging the 5-mile trail out to the car.  

More great skiing on the last run off the crest.

Last run of the year.  Heading home.

Even with the long and convoluted approach, I was pretty surprised by the quality of the day.  I need to return soon and ski some of the more accessible terrain near Smith creek pass.  Touring from the Rumble lake to Smith Creek pass trailheads, skiing Pyramid peak, Albino basin, and Cooney peak along the way is mighty intriguing.