Pintler rambling, pt 1

I had a trio of nice days in the Pintlers this spring.

May 12  Leah and I were able to get out for a day of exploring around Storm lake.  With good road access, Storm lake might be the most popular place to ski in the Pintlers, but I hadn't skied in the area at all.  The forecast was for a light re-freeze overnight, so we rallied from Missoula at 5 am.  We were able to drive to the beginning of the Storm lake road proper, roughly four miles from the reservoir.  We did most of the approach in running shoes, walking on pleasantly refrozen snow.  I was surprised at how good the skiing on the East face of Mount Tiny looked, so we changed plans and headed there first.  The climb was quick, and we were soon on the summit, roughly 4.5 hours into the day.  The run was really nice.  Steep and complex enough to be engaging, but safe with the excellent conditions. 

Leah on the North face of Little Rainbow peak. 

Skiing down into the characteristic alpine larch of the Pintlers below the North face of Little Rainbow peak.

From the bottom of Tiny, we took a quick break, powered up the West ridge of Little Rainbow, and had a great run down the central North couloir.  Super fun.  We had some extra time, so we climbed and skied the next obvious couloir system to the East.  Leah's skins fell off on the climb, but aside from that it was an easy and enjoyable addition to the day.  As forecast, the day had heated up a lot at this point, but we had already had a great day of skiing, so we took a generous lunch break and schussed lazily out to the car.

June 5  11th annual Warren Wallow! Leah and I were able to re-arrange our work schedules to get out together mid-week.  We rallied early again. This time, the goal was to ski Warren and make it back for day care pick up.  There road was just barely sufficiently melted to drive to the trailhead. The outing was standard Wallow fare.  Adequate re-freeze, 4.5 hours up, ski the North face with good corn, ski the exit couloir, swim in lower Carpp lake, and enjoy the relaxing hike out.  It was great to ski this fine peak once again.

Up, up, up.

Leah skiing Warren peak...

...and the exit couloir.

I am coming around to thinking that more ski time should be spent in the Pintlers in May in June.  The drive isn't all that long, they tend to have a better re-freeze cycle than ranges adjacent to Missoula, and the ski terrain is awesome.  Plus, I have a bunch of new link up ideas and so many unskied lines to investigate.