Presidential Gully for time

Great conditions in the upper tree lanes of the Presidential gully

I chased the first signs of receding instability and made an attempt on the Presidential gully after work in mid-February.  Despite abundant and continuous snowfall, surface stability indicators, lack of feedback on deep instability, and a reasonably stable pit had me confident enough to ski the gully in incredible powder conditions.  To my shock and awe, coverage was really, really good, and the run was as fun as I have ever seen it.  So fun that I had no choice but to returned to do it for time on Valentine's day.  I lucked out and had a track to follow, which made things a lot quicker.  I went pretty darn hard, but never really went to the well.

Interestingly, I made great time in the first half and slowed in the second.  I attribute much of that to the very fast skin track right from the car (as opposed to walking and transitioning).  I also took a few photos on the ski run, and took it fairly casually on the exit, so there is time for improvement.  Still, I feel good about my current fitness, and good about my time on this rare treat of a ski line.  Interestingly, the circuit only took three minutes more than my fastest (still soft) time on a basic up and down Little Saint Joe.

Great skiing!

Splits for future reference: First road crossing: 18; trailhead: 48; upper saddle 1.33; top out 1.58; Trail: 2.15ish; Car: 2.46

I only climbed to the top of the gully and did not go to the summit.  I do not think that summiting Little Saint Joe is necessary since the peak is disconnected from the ski line, and since one of the direct appeals of skiing the Presidental is that one doesn't have to make the often weather hammered trek across the summit plateau to the exact summit.

... And so it begins 2020

Early season skiing was well below average.  Nevertheless, I have been able to squeeze a few great days in.  A quick summary of a few of the better days:

Day one in the Missions:   When I finally motivated to ski, I followed Ned Gall's lead and headed to the Southern Missions.  I ended up climbing East Saint Mary, taking a new to me run down the rolling Northeast face, then spending the rest of the day skiing great snow and moderate terrain below the long approach ridge to ESM.  Although it was not the plan at the outset, I ended up skiing just over 10k of vert, which was one heck of a way to blow the ski cobwebs out.

First run of the year on the Northeast face of East Saint Mary peak.

Powder hamster wheel below Grey Wolf.

The Great One:  During our holiday trip home to Bozeman, I spent a blissful day in the Bridgers with Leah.  The avalanche forecast had the danger pegged at Low, so we headed into the Northern Bridgers to have a look-see at steeper terrain.  We took one run in the nice couloir at the Eastern edge of Nya Nuki bowl, booted and skinned to the summit, and took a triumphant run down the Great One.  The snow was chalky, and I was so excited to ski this Bozeman area classic.

Leah skiing off the shoulder of Nya Nuki peak.

Leah in the Great One.

Blackmore for time:  I made an honest hard go at Blackmore fast.  I pushed hard and had a nice clean run, but still was not able to get it done in under 2 hours (2 hours, 1 minute, 30 seconds).  Great morning on this little mountaineering classic close to town.  

Closing in on Blackmore.

Frazier exploration:  I spent a delightful day in the Northern Bridgers exploring North of Frazier Lake.  After the obligatory approach from Seitz and some monkeying around trying to find an elegant access couloir, we climbed and skied a lazer cut limestone walled hidden North facing couloir.  The snow was stable, and it was awesome.  To round out the day, we re-climbed the couloir and took an equally excellent run South to join the normal egress below Frazier Lake.  The egress was a little sparky, and I hit a few more sharp limestone rocks than I would have preferred, but it was otherwise a near perfect early season outing with some of my favorite people.

With partners tucked away in a safe zone, I punched through wind slabs
to gain the last hundred vertical feet to the top.

Nick skiing stable boot top powder on the way home.

Jewel Basin yurt:  We had an excellent four day trip to Jewel Basin.  The first and last days were consumed with the logistics of getting in and out, and we only skied in the popular Checkerboard area.  On the second day, we did a great tour to Hungry basin, up to the Electronic site, then down a run-of-the-trip long rolling line into the drainage South of the yurt.  In the afternoon, Leah and I skied a few nice short powder laps in the Lake Mary basin before returning to the comforts of the yurt.  It snowed about a foot overnight, so on the third day, we skied two long West facing avalanche paths lower in Noisy creek.  The approach drops into interesting alder below the yurt (I think it would be better to climb to Picnic notch, then approach along the bench just East of the crest), but the skiing was really good!  

Leah skiing powder at Jewel basin.

Skiing powder at Jewel basin.