Swan range, Union peak ski

Union peak, Northeast face, with our Southeast ski line partially in view on looker's left.

Swan range exploration continues.

On a day with stable but variable quality snow, Jeffrey and I got a respectably early start, with a loose agenda to ski a few lines on Union peak and whatever else we had time for.  We had to drive very slowly on the highway due to an over abundance of wildlife, but we were still hiking up the logging road access to Pony lake by 7 am, and were on the user trail to Pony lake in no time with a few switchback cuts.  The remainder of the approach to the head of Pony creek went surprisingly smoothly, and we were on the lower North ridge of Union just a few hours into the day, ogling at views out to the Missions and deep into the Bob Marshall wilderness.  We made a high traverse through the headwaters of the South Fork of Lion creek, then climbed Union peak via the East ridge.  Having never been in this part of the range, I was pleased to find the entire approach and climb straightforward and quick.  I had originally planned to climb and ski the Northeast face, but it looked too steep and exposed to cornices for our liking.  Instead, we skied the Southeast face with reasonable corn snow.

Approaching Union peak. Photo: Jeffrey Friess

Skiing the Southeast face just below the summit of Union peak.

Below Union peak.  Post descent.  Lunch time!

With the Northeast face off the table, and my worry that a striking west facing shelf run would take too long, we climbed the peak on the proper crest of the range just East of Union.  It was pretty cool to get up on this very random, remote peak and ski a nice line right of the top.  The climb went quickly.  We skied a Northwest facing gully, which started out with chalky snow but soon transitioned to scary ice.  Fortunately, it never got too bad, but we had to resort to full survival skiing to do it safely.  From the base of the run, we climbed back out for the Pony creek exit.

A bonkey Jeffrey kicking the last few steps to the summit of our unnamed peak.

Interesting skiing above the couloir.

Exiting, with our icy West ramp couloir descent in the background.

During the exit, we made a major detour above Pony lake to ski a gully directly above the approach trail.  After topping out in the wrong spot, we spent a few minutes monkeying around but eventually found a safe entrance and skied the enjoyable run. The egress was straightforward.  We did some bushwack log hop skiing below the lake, but the transition to shoes was fairly clean, and the walk out to the car was quick and mellow.  Roughly 8k vert done in under 10 hours.

Chute skiing as an exit strategy?  Yes please.

Thoughts  This is a pretty good ski zone in the spring once the roads have melted out.  Union peak is a striking, aesthetic mountain, and is worth visiting on both foot and skis.  The best ski terrain is in three different basins, and getting out from the best ski runs is a little awkward.  I would like to come back and ski a more direct Northeast line on Union peak, and to ski some of the mellow but beautiful East facing terrain in the area.  It probably wouldn't hurt to figure out if it is possible to egress down Cat or Dog creeks, since that would make for more link up possibilities.  In the larger area, there is a bunch more exploration I want to do, including checking out the North side of Pyramid, and attempting a Holland approach to Cooney pass ski traverse, with ski runs into Albino basin.

I wish the drive was not so long and was less clogged with deer in the spring.