Holland to Holland traverse on skis (V2)

This was my best ski day of 2025.  The idea was to repeat my 2016 traverse in the other direction with better ski lines.  As such, when the persistent January facet layer finally settled down, I rolled out of town extra early, dropped a bike at the end of drivable snow on the Rumble Creek road, and was trudging from the Holland trailhead by 5 am. From Holland lookout shortly after first light, I made a traversing run North, then scrapped my way up the South Face of Woodward.  

Looking back at toward the Holland lookout from the Woodward climb.

To my slight surprise, shallow slabs caused some concern, and the North face of the peak did not look as well filled in as I had anticipated.  However, it seemed reasonable to proceed down the North gully, albeit with some additional scouting and careful choice of entrance.  The fall line goes way way down to Woodward lake, and I cut a full run very short by traversing at a logical point to keep 'er moving North.  Soon I was walking across Rubble lake on my way up to point 8,485.  I skied the Northwest gully, which was quite scoured but safe and a nice run.  The next few hours were spent crossing the crest, making a short East facing run, and climbing Buck.  

Woodward was nice.

Looking back at the 8,485 line.

Up Buck.

My tour plan was to ski the North ridge of Buck, but recent crowns on similar aspects raised concern. Nevertheless I decided to start down and get a feel for conditions.  Just 50 feet into the run, I came to a point where I would have to commit to the exposure of the line, and I simply had a gut feeling that the North face line didn't feel right.  So I sidestepped up and out and enjoyed a nice rip down the South face.  No idea if my decision making was "right" or "wrong", but I have no regrets.  Maybe it was the wind or accumulated elevation or simply accumulated stress from a crappy few months in politics, but I kind of cracked on the climb up Holland and barely drug myself to the top.  

The rest of the day was great.  Holland skiing was completely wind hammered but still good fun, and the climb over the crest and ensuing run was nice.  I did try skiing as far as possible down the South Fork of Rumble creek instead of following the customary summer trail egress, but the downfall choked traverse back to the summer trail was interesting, and I would have been better off sticking with the normal route.  

Heading home.

Soon enough, I was capping the day off, biking back along the highway with skis on the pack.  With a big enough grin that drivers probably thought I was certified crazy rather than in a state of bliss from a hard, magical day in the mountains.

I think this is one of the best long tours around.  Iconic mountains, good skiing, and committing and challenging enough to feel like an achievement.  It would be cleaner and more modern with the North face of Buck.

Ward 3 (8,799) North and other diversion

The conceptual framework for the day was to ski Bitterroot peak to creek runs before low elevation snow melted, and I was excited to share it with partners.  When I the response to rolling out of town at 4 am was greeted with enthusiasm, I knew we were probably in for a good day.

A few hours later, it was go time, and I found myself chasing two headlamps as they faded up into the darkness.  Clearly, I had my work cut out trying to keep up.  We summited Ward at 8 am sharp, and pieced icy snow strips together down the South face, exiting skier's right a bit early in order to traverse as far up drainage as possible.  Another good push put us on top of the BRIBE as the South face just started to soften into tepid corn.  The ensuing run was delightful.  

Climbing to West Camas with our first run in the background.

Even with the proper early start, the climb out of the North Fork of Lost Horse creek was hot, and we arrived back on West Camas a bit cooked.  On the return, we took two fun short runs (North face of West Camas and the upper Northeast face of the Fin) before casting off down the 3,600 vertical foot skier's right gully on Ward 3 (8,799).  To my immense pleasure, the run ended being really fun with decent snow top to bottom, a variety of interesting terrain, and a bit of wrangling in the brush down low to give it the Bitterroot seal of approval.  

Last up with the Fin in the background.

Mid way down the Ward 3 run, as things started to get interesting.

We took a good break in the warm sun at Roaring Lion creek.  The exit ended up being quite horrid.  It appears that the trail has not been cleared in several years, and constant, heavy downfall made for a slow skins-on exit with lots of acrobatics to negotiate down trees.  All in all a great way to wrap up what ended up being a short but quality period of excellent skiing with lots of low elevation snow.  

Mollman peak 8,632, South Face right

1/30/25: I took a rare mid-week day off to take advantage of the end of a high pressure period and ski something different.  With fairly robust low elevation snow, the drive to the trailhead of sorts at Mollman was scary with deep snow and I probably would have picked a different objective had I known.

Near the summit, looking down the upper icy bits.

The climb was a bit different than expected.  With extra snow, the ingress included less approach shoe walking and more wallowing through deep snow interspersed with brush.  It was also remarkable to see the extent of surface hoar on shaded aspects, a weak layer that would plague the Northern ranges for a long time deeper into the season.  Once in the basin below the peak, I was surprised to see a massive debris pile.  After a pause to puzzle through what was going on, I realized that it was from glide avalanches on solar bear grass slopes, an avalanche problem that was reportedly plaguing the Flathead avalanche zone.  As a result, I re-routed my climbing route onto the summer trail and upper Southwest face, which was inefficient, but avoided ascending below bear grass slopes.  I made a calculation that the risk associated with skiing down the face was acceptable given the cold day and limited exposure time.  

The ski run was so fun.  There was some ice near the summit that I had to get my head in the game for, but with care it was fine, and the rest of the run flowed well through interesting terrain with powder transitioning to corn transitioning to surfy surface hoar down in the shaded canyon.  I skied the full run to the lake.  

Thin powder...

... brief taste of corn ...

... ending with surface hoar.

Lots of whippy willows and interesting survival trail skiing on the way out was a fun way to close out the day. 

Thoughts: I skied the looker's right gully on Mollman peak 8632, the gully on the Southwest face that takes off just South of the summit.  This zone is pretty obscure, but I'd totally go back.  I think the best timing is in early spring right when the road melts out, but before conditions open up enough to make the more alpine haunts of the Missions more compelling.

Classic round up - Glen Lake Loop, Sky Pilot North face variation

I made a repeat go at a couple of classic tours in an effort to iron some wrinkles out and explore new terrain.  Perhaps my observations might pique some interest.  

Hidden Glen Loop 3/29/25

I think this loop deserves a bit more attention than the zero attention it gets because it strings together excellent skiing on striking features, and avoids canyon slogging.  

Up Hidden lake peak.

Basic Tour: Approach Glen lake , then Glen Lake peak (8,600).  Ski the South gully to Sweathouse creek (safer variation is to ski South on less exposed terrain west of the summit), then climb Hidden lake peak via the South face, wrapping around the west side and stopping on the North ridge a hundred feet or so from the summit where it gets craggy.  Ski something on the Northeast face to Hidden Lake.  The Northeast face is complicated, so plan a route ahead of time.  The most conservative line skis the North ridge, then traverses way skier's left until all the lower slope cliffs are bypassed skier's left.  Climb back to Glen Lake peak.  Exit via your favorite Glen lake egress.  My favorite is to ski the long East ridge of Glen lake peak to the terminus around 6,400 feet, then climb back to the approach track and follow it out.  The historic avalanche path North to Big creek and out on the Big Creek trail is another option, but I am coming around to the opinion that the historic path is so rarely in condition due to needing a ton of low elevation snow, and the massive avalanche potential, that it is more of a variation/extension and should only be considered in rare circumstances.

Trip report: The day itself was fun.  The South run on Sweathouse was great, although it involved some creative debris management to avoid the aftermath of the huge "first warm up of the year" avalanche cycle the range had received the previous week.  I spun a nice corn lap on the south side of Hidden lake peak to get to 10k, then re-climbed my track to Hidden lake peak.  

Lower in the South Sweathouse run.

I skied a fun new-to me run directly down the upper Northeast face to a gully on the skier's right edge of the face, which was a secondary highlight.  I rolled the dice (snow coverage dice, not avalanche dice) and exited by the historic path.  The skiing was really good until the snow ran out about a thousand feet above the trail.  From there out it was really quite bad.  Downhill bushwack, scary deep water creek crossing, miles and miles of intermittent snow.  Good character building.  Great day, even if I felt a bit foolish miscalculating the skiability of the historic path so severely.

Powder skiing down to Hidden Lake.

The first 40 feet of a 4,000' adventure run into Big Creek.

Sky Pilot, North face 4/21/25

I skied Sky Pilot on a somber spring day.  I used the normal approach.  The North face skied great.  It was cool to see a few old tracks.  I stopped at the tarn below the North face and climbed the Southeast facing chutes that one passes under on the way to Sky Pilot, and skied one of the chutes all the way to Bear lake.  

Near the top of the Sweathouse chutes, looking down to Bear lake.

Then on the return, I threw in a quality hairy curve ball by climbing to the saddle between Sweathouse Peak 8,839 and Gash proper and skiing an excellent North facing run into the headwaters of Sweathouse before climbing the Northwest face of Gash proper and exiting via the normal route.  

At the bottom of the excellent Sweathouse North run.

Up the Northwest face back to Gash.

Thoughts: Aside from having to nail the exact line (most of the Sweathouse/Gash ridgline is guarded by cliffs or massive cornices that would be death defying to scout from the top), the extra run is a great addition to the tour.  I think that one of the major downsides of Sky Pilot is that a lot of the day is wasted with a throw away traverse run off of Gash, and an annoying, long return slog.  This variation makes it so that the return climbs are more direct, and the additional run is excellent.  

More Blodgett Dayz

I was able to get out and ski some new terrain in Blodgett with excellent conditions during the brief window where we had excellent low elevation snow coverage and good snow quality this winter.  I still think good skiing in Blodgett is a bit of an anomaly, but with enough snow, sometimes it's fun to go all in on the Bitterroot experience.

Sears couloir to Sears Point 

Enjoying the sun with Caesar's Palace in the background.

Cold hardy Ned was not deterred by the cold snap, and suggested a big ski day with an early start.  Reluctantly, I obliged, and we were walking in sub zero temperatures before first light.  Soon enough, we were up into the sun, and despite poor route selection on my part, we topped out on the Sears lake couloir slightly surprised by how much new snow was present, but excited to ski.  We hemmed and hawed about dropping into the couloir, but couldn't find any indicators of instability other than the higher volume of new snow, so we went for it.  

Savoring the powder near the terminus of the Sears Lake couloir.

The Sears lake couloir was most excellent.  It's rare I feel confident skiing couloirs with deeper powder snow.  We took it all the way to the lake.  Another good long climb put is at the top of skiable snow just shy of Sears point 8587, and we had another excellent 3,000 foot run.  Some roller ball debris and a bit of a schwack back to the trail kept it real.  Best day of the year to date. 

The upper pitch of Sears Point south to Blodgett.

Blue Ice bowl East and West

I was back a week later for more.  This time, I climbed the Blue Ice bowl, with intentions on skiing Southwest off the top and heading farther up drainage.  On the way up, the bowl itself looked great, so I decided to ski it.  The ensuing run was fantastic, aside from getting a little bit stuck on thin snow over rock slabs pinched against thin snow over ice at the top of the bowl.  

Blue Ice bowl.

From the bottom, I re-climbed my track and skied Southwest.  Once again, I got stuck on thin slabs on a short little step at the top of the gully and bailed up and out, tenuously, on thin snow over slabs and ice.  Once above the slab section, I found an alternate entrance (a hidden gully skier's left of the primary entrance).  The rest of the run was great.  I stopped in the forest a couple hundred vertical feet above the trail where ski quality had deteriorated to something more resembling bushwacking.  I rounded out the day by skiing the skier's right fork of the gully, which was also excellent.  Another long exit was a small price to pay for the privilege of skiing three new to me long runs with great snow.

3,000 feet top to bottom.  Peak to creek dreams alive and well.

Learning note:  This was a really good day, but I did a poor job assessing risk around rock slabs.  After a few months of reflection, my primary lesson learned is just re-learning the same lesson again:  lots of terrain in the Bitterroot has steep smooth rock slabs.  They can often be skied safely, but between glide avalanches and often weird snowpack, there are usually safer and better options.  

Below the innocuous looking slab at the top of the Blue Ice South West run.