Complete Rattlesnake Traverse

Jeffrey at nearing the end of the traverse.

After years of scheming, it was great to finally do a complete ski traverse of the Rattlesnake range.   I was a little hesitant, given the potential to be slowed by glopping, but Jeffrey was excited to give it a go, and even offered to run shuttle.  How could I say no?  The day of, we set out from the Finley trailhead at 5:50 am, excited for an adventure.  The approach was surprisingly quick. After an hour of brisk walking, we transitioned to ski boots at the base of the hanging valley.  Jeffrey put in a hard hour of trailbreaking, which put us at the saddle near the head of the basin.  We took the line of least resistance, skiing a short steep run into Agency creek, traversing near the head of the basin to the base of Mcleod, and punching it up into the mist.  Fortunately, I was familiar enough with the terrain that we were able to navigate successfully despite the whiteout.  From the Mcleod summit, we skied the excellent South face, then did a long skate into the Five lake basin.

Jeffrey moving up Finley creek.

First run.

Skating toward Sanders.

 Jeffrey took the reins and punched in the entire next climb, which was short but hard, with tricky dust on crust skinning the entire way.  I was happy to just draft, hoping to put in a trailbreaking shift or two later in the day. From our high point on the shoulder, I had hoped to continue west to the unnamed summit, but the ridgeline was craggy, and we decided to keep rolling south.  As a result, we skipped a super nice looking run, oh well.  The rolling traverse to Sanders lake was long but surprisingly quick, considering the distance and need to put skins on to surmount a short sub ridge.  We arrived at Sanders lake a little under five hours into the day.  We skinned to the crest west of the lake, and booted the upper West face. It ended up going surprisingly quickly and smoothly (the NW ridge of Sanders is pretty scrappy in the summer).  We skied good roller ball corn on the Southeast face before skating across the flats to a transition just above Glacier lake.  The push to Mosquito was all easy and fast skinning.  We skied the excellent Southeast couloir with terrible roller ball debris and sun saturated wet crap snow before making another long traverse down to Worden lake.  It was my turn to try to repay trailbreaking debt incurred earlier in the day,  so I made a hard push all the way to Stuart.

Interesting booting high on Sanders.

Jeffrey skiing off Sanders with the one and only North face of Mosquito behind.

More schussing.  Sanders run behind.

I cut a small wet slide at the entrance to the Mosquito peak run.

Lots of switchbacks on the climb to Stuart.

The day was still young enough, and we were feeling good enough to ski the direct South face (instead of beelining out on the SE ridge).  The snow was surprisingly good corn, the run was steeper than I had imagined, and it was good to finally ski this face that I have been eying from town for so many years.  The exit was slow but fun. We were able to stay located on the trail up high, and had about a mile of entertaining intermittent snow patch hopping before having a perfectly clean transition to shoes about a half mile above the Overlook/Stuart trail junction.  From there 40 minutes of uneventful jogging put us back at the car, hot, tired, and excited to have completed the traverse.  By the numbers, 8,500 vertical feet and about 20 miles, done in 10.5 hours car to car at an all day pace.

Great skiing on the surprisingly steep South face of Stuart.

Light on your feet!  Dirt skimming on the exit.

Thoughts
Make no mistake, it was a great experience moving efficiently along the entire spine of the Rattlesnake.  The skiing was just OK, however, since all of the runs are short and south facing.  The most fun part of the day for me was skating and schussing on low angle terrain below the runs, covering ground quickly, and spending the day with a great partner.  The length is actually not too bad, and this tour is in the reach of an "average" touring party with good routefinding skills, as long as one allocates a long day to the adventure.  For skiing quality, I don't think the complete traverse is nearly as good as the classic Stuart NF/Eagle Chute/Mosquito N chute/Sanders N chute/ Return Point 6 (many options) link up, which is one of the finest long days around Missoula.  Also, Mcleod needs to get skied more.  The approach is a little rough around the edges for the first and last hour, but it is not too long, the summit is awesome, the skiing is great, and there are a few good options to bowl bounce your way there and back to make it into a really nice day.

Chaffin Creek, ticking not-quite-classics

I had two good late season days in Chaffin creek.  As fits my bordering on obsessive compulsive personality, I saw so much nice looking terrain on the first day that I had no choice but to come back for a second day to desperately try to ski as much as possible.  While Chaffin creek is most well known for the North couloir on Sugarloaf, I would contend that ski terrain above the lakes is abundant and sadly under appreciated.

Little Tin Cup South

With little planning or beta, I did a loop into Little Tin Cup creek, up Tin Cup point 9,617, and down one of the South gullies to Chaffin creek.  I kind of botched the approach to Little Tin Cup creek, but to make a long story short, both the approach and the ensuing run into the creek was inefficient, scrappy, and generally not advised.  Once in the creek, I made great time until the glop struck.  The last hour plus was quite glippity gloppity, but two long pushes interspersed with a glop stopper application stop put me on the summit not much worse for the wear.

Glop, step, repeat in upper Little Tin Cup creek.

The day was only getting warmer, so earlier plans to ski more stuff in Little Tin Cup were shelved for another day.  The upper gully skied well, but soon I was having to do a lot of ski cutting to release the new wet snow.  Not ideal, but I am quite willing to sacrifice smooth skiing in order to manage avalanche danger.  I had originally hoped to spend some time finding a direct exit, but it once again didn't seem prudent, given all the warm, mobile snow hanging above, so I traversed west and made my way out to the bottom of the avalanche path.

Looking down the gully.

Midway down the gully. Sugarloaf staring back.

Below the exit pinch, deciding that it was time to head home.

After a quick snack, I deemed conditions too gloppy or dangerous to justify a second run, so made the well filled in exit in about 90 minutes.  I would love to go back and ski a few more runs in Little Tin Cup creek.  If done again, I would also ski the more open but still quality gully which tops out just west of the summit instead, as it is a cleaner and more direct line.

Upper Chaffin

Looking into Upper Chaffin creek from Little Tin Cup point.
Lots of ski terrain.

I was able to manage a mid week day off, and returned to Chaffin to ski terrain in the headwaters.  This time I just huffed it up the drainage, arriving at the lake in 2.5 hours to the minute.  The first run on the agenda was the beautiful Southeast face of the West Shard.  From Heart lake, a good bit of tree wandering put me at the bottom of the face, which I was able to skin all the way to the top.  From the summit plateau, I traversed to the final summit ridge, only to be turned around about 200 vertical feet from the summit by lack of snow and too-big-for-me-to mess-with cornices.  The ski back down was a little crusty, but it is a great moderate line and I loved it.

Steep skinning high on the West Shard.

The second run took the obvious open peak and devious exit couloir. Photo from the West Shard.

The West shard run is the obvious slope in the foreground.

Rugged summits of the Shard from my turnaround point.

Looking down the West Shard run.

I did a hard traverse at the bottom, which put me at the inlet of Tamarack lake, poised for a second run.  I put in a good hard hour of skinning, which was enough effort to gain the summit of the unnamed peak east of the Tusk.  I skied the open upper slopes, then dropped through a nice and aesthetic exit couloir to Chaffin lake.  Ok snow, great line, good times. 

Nice turns off the summit...

... and nice turns down the sneak exit.

After a quick schuss down to Tamarack lake, I climbed a moderate couloir just above the lake.  The skinning went quickly, but booting in the upper half was a lot of work, and I had to break out all of my steep skinning, alpine crawling, and old fasioned wallowing tricks to make headway.  I topped out tired and happy.  The snow was terrible roller ball mush, but I didn't care.  The exit ski took a little under two hours from the top of the run, including several miles of intermittent snow at the bottom of the canyon.  Great day done in the classic Bitterroot canyon slog style. About 8,500 vertical in about 9 hours at an all day pace.

Looking down the last run.  Great couloir, something less than great snow.

Exiting across Tamarack lake. Last run is in the foreground.  The second run is the peak in the backgound.

Wisherd Ridge, Five Bowl Friday

I had a free Friday morning to ski, and after ruling out a number of more adventurous outings due to time and avalanche constraints, settled on skiing as much as possible at Wisherd Ridge.  The pre-dawn, rainy jog up the Twin Creek road was surprisingly enjoyable, and soon enough I was switching from running shoes to ski boots at first light.  The skin to the ridge and over the top was equally enjoyable.  I topped out as the clouds burned off, about 3 hours into the day.

Approaching.

My goal was to ski a run in each of the five bowls, and I started with the short and steep northeast face of Bowl 5.  The skiing was just OK, but it was quick, as was the climb to the southeast shoulder of Bowl 4.  While it would have been strategically prudent to take advantage of the deep snowpack to ski the usually-scrappy north chute, I skied the normal southeast face, then booted up the North chute.  I skied Bowl 3 right down the middle, before climbing right back out the same way, and skied the open southeast face of Bowl 2 as far as the skiing was good.  One final, easy skin put me atop Bowl 1, which I also skied via the Southeast face.  Having only exited once previously via a very much not recommended bushwack below Bowl 2, I was treated to a fast schuss out the logging road below Bowl 1.  Once on the main Twin Creek road, I just stuck to the switchbacks to avoid too much isothermal snow bashing.  The entire exit went in exactly an hour, with 35 minutes of skiing, 5 minutes of boot to shoe swapping, and 20 minutes of running.  Five hours car to car at a moderate pace with fast conditions.

Bowl five.

Bowl Four.

Bowl Three.

Bowl two.

Exiting from Bowl one.

Back at the car after a great morning.

Thoughts: While I still prefer the Rattlesnake (or Marshall) for close-to-town skiing, it was quite enjoyable to spend a morning in the hills close to town. The five bowl tour is definitely recommended.  I need to allow an extra hour and go back to add Sheep mountain to the mix.

Mcleod peak ski

On Mcleod.

I had a great day skiing Mcleod peak, the highest and most commanding, by leaps and bounds, peak in the Rattlesnake.  I had made a halfhearted attempt on the peak several years ago with Leah and a larger crew, but poor conditions and a less than alpine start forced a turnaround well before the peak.  Things went a lot smoother this time.  I didn't make plans to ski with others, because I had been sick, and didn't know skiing would be possible before rolling out of bed the day of. Starting from the car before sunrise, the tenor of the day was set, with beauty and wonder everywhere.  Beauty in the form of wild mountains, clear, crisp skies, and yesterday's rain drops still frozen to the trees.  Wonder in moving effortlessly over the frozen landscape and finally feeling my body turn the corner after days of sickness.

Frozen ran glittering on trees during the approach.

I had parked a few miles out from the trailhead, but the skin in was fast on packed ice, and the first mile of the trail was packed and quick.  Getting into the hanging upper East fork of Finley creek is quite terrible, with a hard-to-follow meandering trail in the drainage, and a few hundred feet of dry talus to gain the valley.  But, once in, the going was fast along the open southern edge of the creek.   Grizzly tracks got my hackles up, and I couldn't help but wonder if a rare set ski tracks would get the Grizzly's hackles up. From the head of the drainage, about ten minutes of booting put me on a high saddle, and a few hundred feet of scrappy steep skiing and traversing put me below the Southwest face of the peak.  Mcleod was easily ascended by booting the West face and Southwest ridge.

Pretty morning. Ugly approach. About two hours in, and almost to skiable snow.

Bears are out.

I had considered skiing the Northeast face, but deemed it too steep given the icy conditions, and instead skied the moderate South face to the tarn.  The top was severely icy, but it was not too steep, and I was soon cruising smooth, firm corn.  I was well ahead of schedule, and threw in a few extra short runs, climbing and skiing the adjacent east face and a nice moderate rolling run into the adjacent cirque.  The snow was firm enough to boot everything, which made the climbing very easy. After a nice lunch break on the lake, I made one final climb to re-gain access to the exit basin.  The run into the basin was once again very icy, but so it goes.  I took advantage of the firm conditions to make the flat exit in just a few minutes.  From the bottom of the hanging valley, I spent about an hour fighting steep talus, brush, and deep intermittent snow on the trail before hitting the trailhead.  The two mile road exit was all on intermittent ice which was a little sparky but very fast.  And there you have it, a remarkably smooth adventure to Mcleod peak done in 8 hours, 10 minutes with time for a pair of extra runs at a moderate-for-a-sick-guy pace.

Looking back up Mcleod's South face.

Third run.

Climbing for the fourth.

Forth run.  I took it to the lake in the background.

Fifth run out Finley creek.

More Northern Bitterroot skiing

Leah skiing the classic Pinball Wizard gully.

Short days and adequate low elevation snow coverage have allowed for more exploration in the Northern Bitterroot.  It is nice to add a few new tours to the list that can be done in a short day from town.

Pinball Wizard gully from Bass creek
The Pinball Wizard is a well known classic, but there were two interesting aspects to this itteration.  Most importantly, it was my first day out in the Bitterroot with Leah this winter, and it was magical to spend a day in the mountains with her.  Second, we approached up the adjacent drainage to the east of the Pinball, and it was surprisingly fast and easy.  In fact, I think it was easier than going over Little St. Joe, and safer than climbing the Pinball Wizard directly.  A lot of low elevation snow is required to fill in the scrappy bottom thousand vertical feet between the trail and the upper approach gully, but after that it is smooth sailing. Leave the trail just after the second Bass creek stream crossing and follow your nose.

Interesting steep skinning in the bottom of the approach gully.

Getting those kick turns dialed.

We had enough time to spin a short powder lap in the approach gully before bouncing our way down the Pinball.  The skiing was terrible, with breakable crust and impressive avalanche debris in and below the gully.  Oh well.

Leah low in the Pinball Wizard.

Debris.  More impressive and extensive than it looks. 

Little St. Joe, North gully
I rolled out of the trailhead around 5:30 in the rain, excited for a morning out in the mountains, exploring new-to-me terrain close to home.  The climb to Little St. Joe is always long enough to be a little humbling, and it took a full three hours today with moderate trailbreaking above the cabin.  Wildlife was out, with deer and snowshoe hare to keep my company.  I was surprised to find visibility and wind on the summit remarkably tame.  After some sastruggi skiing followed by careful terrain management in the starting zone, I found great powder in the upper part of the North gully.  I skied good powder down to about 6,200 feet, stopping a few hundred vertical feet above the confluence with Sweeney Creek.

... that special feeling you get skinning alone in the rain, waiting for first light.

Good steep tree skiing above the gully.

Looking up the gully.

The 3,000 foot climb out was quite excellent.  The skinning and routefinding were straightforward, and it was great to put in a good trailbreaking effort and get tired.  I skied the northeast bowl to exit, continuing out to the main road from below the bowl.  Having done this once before, I thought that this time might be quicker, but it was just as thick and flat and generally bushwackey as I remembered (1.5 hours summit to car).  I still contend there should be a quick route out from the bottom of the bowl, perhaps farther north, catching a logging road high above the main Little St. Joe road.  I will certainly have to investigate, as I think the northeast run is better than the customary southeast run, and an easy exit from the bottom would make Little St. Joe a more appealing one-run objective.  In any case, I was on the road soon enough, skating the flats and slush and brush bashing in between switchbacks.  8000 vertical feet, done in about 7.5 hours car to car at a moderate pace.

Looking back at a clean track near the top of Little St. Joe.