Swans, Dog Peak

I took a day off of work and rallied proper early to have a look at Dog peak, which is a prominent peak on the Swan crest just North of Smith Creek pass.  I don't know of a formal name for the peak, and it doesn't have an elevation on the FS topo map, but it does sit at the head of Dog creek, so I refer to it as Dog peak.  Getting to the peak early enough to catch safe spring conditions is a non-trivial challenge, so I did my best by rallying from Missoula at 3 am.  I scouted what looked like a fun approach run just North of the pass from old photos an Google earth, and made reasonably quick work of the approach.  Unfortunately when I summited, I realized that I had climbed the wrong mountain!  

Early morning view of the ski run on Dog peak.

After getting my head straight, I pieced together a reasonable way off the mountain and was soon at the base of my primary objective.  The fragile overnight refreeze had fallen apart, and the snow was pretty slushy, but I made my way up safely with lots of attention to detail.  After a quick summit transition, I skied the hanging upper face, which was safe enough with a few strategic ski cuts, then enjoyed skiing bed surface snow in the main Southeast couloir.  I was pretty happy get off the mountain and cruise the run to the terminus of the avalanche path, 1,700 vertical feet below the summit.  ,

Looking down the exit couloir.

It had warmed up so much that the rest of the day was pretty much shot for good skiing, so I battled up through mush to re-gain the crest, then checked out a nice alternate exit, climbing out to high point 7,973, which allowed for a wicked fast exit to the trail.  It was a pretty quick walk out to the car from there.

This might be a first descent, but I would love to hear otherwise.  In any case, the ski line is a great ski mountaineering objective - complicated and exposed to demand attention, but totally safe and fun with good conditions.  Lots more to ski around here, particularly on Cooney, so I will definitely be back.

Sheafman and Fred Burr Ramblin

Note:  All three of these outings were during the shelter in place phase of the Coronavirus epidemic, when we were all sorting out if we should still be skiing.  They were literally one of the only times I would venture farther an hour on bike from the house all week.  On a lighter note, Fred Burr was really in condition this year, and is a playground worth returning to with a deep snowpack.  The approach is long, but the exit is unusually fast because the first few miles are on an old road.

Fred Burr - Totem peak:  With an early start, I rallied all they way back to Totem Peak and climbed the South face.  Although South facing snow was baked down enough to be very stable, I was unpleasantly surprised to find the entire Northeast face had avalanched massively in the past week.  It was pretty sobering.  However, I felt pretty comfortable skiing the bed surface and made a quick lap on the Northeast face.

Looking up the Northeast face of Totem peak.  It is not visible from the photo,
but the entire sky line was lined with a 3 foot deep crown.  Yikes.

I jaunted back up and skied the excellent if a bit warm South gully back to the creek.  I had planned to ski another South facing peak to creek, but the snow was already falling apart, so I found a safe shaded ski run across the creek and spun some laps as snow came crashing down on the South aspects.  I was tired, the climbs were gloppy, and the skiing was not very good, but it was fun to grind away and get tired.  Soon enough I was back on the trail, with water refilled, enjoying the mellow 2-hour kick out to the car. 10,100 vertical feet.  This was my first day back after a fairly severe knee flare up, and it was very encouraging to have the knee hold up.

My South face ski line on Totem peak takes the summit ridge, then the most obvious open gully.
It is a great ski run, but probably too far back to be a classic.

Burr point to Castle Crag Shoulder:  I rallied earlish (7 am car, 5 am would have been better), and made a beeline for Burr point.  The snow had melted out enough that gaining the Southeast bowl involved a fair bit of skis on/off shenanigans, but I was soon in the upper basin and moving quickly.  Still gun shy from terrible stability the previous week, I dug another pit on a NE aspect and found that the persistent weak layer 2.5 feet deep was still reactive.  Uggh.  I continued to the summit, and took a fun lap on the South gully of Burr point on only slightly over ripened corn.  Nice one.  

An up Burr Southeast, short Southeast run, Burr South gully exit would make for a fine, logical tour.  

Looking down the Burr point run and across at the Castle crag shoulder.
I climbed and descended the gully on the right margin of the photo.

Next, I headed up to try the most striking of the gullies off the North shoulder of Castle Crag.  In the spirit of being gun shy, I dug a pit at 7,000 feet and did not find the buried weak layer.  From there, I was able to climb to the shoulder on wind scoured (if not gloppy) snow.  I dug another pit at 8,000 feet and had poor results, so I bailed on skiing the line and re-traced my up track.  Which was a good run, just not as inspiring as the gullies.  At that point it was late enough in the day that I opted for returning to the family by early evening rather than forcing another run and skipped out the long exit.  My hip/groin injury flared up, and the walk out got pretty painful at the end.  Must go back and ski a gully or two off the Castle shoulder some day with a fat snowpack.  

A discouraged me looking across at the morning Burr point run.

Sheafman - West Sheafman point:  I rallied early again and was walking from the Sheafman trailhead at 6 am.  Using the normal Sheafman approach, I arrived at the base of my first ski run off East Sheafman point in just under three hours and started up.  The climb was easy enough and the skiing was... great!  The early start was worth it!  I have been wanting to ski this guy for years, and it was nice to finally just do it.  I would even go so far as to say it is a hidden Bitterroot classic - 1,800 feet of straightforward, aesthetic peak to creek gully skiing.  Next, I headed up canyon and skied a hidden West facing gully into the Castle crag North basin that I have also been eying for years.  The entrance is thin and scrappy, but it went just fine, and I was soon in the firm and wind buffed gully system with a big smile on my face.  

Looking down the instant classic South gully of middle Sheafman point. 
  

Really nice terrain in the hidden West gully.

Next, I climbed up to West Sheafman peak because, why not, and did a mini lap on the protected hanging larch face before climbing back to the summit.  It was late enough in the day I decided to forgo the beautiful South gully in favor of more protected tree skiing up canyon.  I exited over Nipple knob which turned out to be a great way to close out the day.  The climb got pretty gloppy, but the view from on top is great, and the ski and walk out takes a blissfully brief 45 minutes.  Really good day of straightforward Bitterroot exploring in one of my favorite early spring ski haunts.  Somewhere between 10,000 and 10,300 vertical feet, done in just over 11 hours.

Heading up to Nipple knob for the last run.

14 x 10k, 2020

Summary of the 10k days I skied this year.  I am going to try to keep ten 10k ski days a year as a goal because they push me in all the best ways.  I did more big days this year because I skied more solo, and when I ski alone I tend to focus less on sharing an enjoyable experience with partners and more on putting my head down and getting as much skiing in as possible.

Mission ramble: 12/10 On my first ski day, I headed into the Missions.  The first run of the season was an excellent long ramp down the mellow Northeast face of Saint Mary peak.  By mid-afternoon, it seemed feasible to get to 10k, so I recycled my ski track and got it done. 10,100 vertical feet

Happier than the happiest clam to be skiing again.

Snowbowl time trial: 1/7 I did a 10k day at Snowbowl for time, recycling upper and lower Paradise.  4.28?  It felt fast for me. 10,050ish vertical feet.

Glen Lake: 1/19 Jeffrey and I skied the "standard" Glenn lake tour with a few extra runs.  Since we were skiing the next day, one of the goals was to not get too tired, so we called it a day right at 10k.  We still got kinda tired. Good snow, good partner, great day of fun backcountry skiing.  10,300 vertical feet

Skiing above Glen lake.

Big Saint Joe 1/29:  I got out with Todd Glew of the Western Montana Avalanche center for a day of touring and pit digging.  We ended up skiing two long runs in the Southeast bowl, and a surprisingly fun run down the Southeast ridge, all with perfect snow.  Something just north of 10k vertical feet.

Todd  skiing off the summit and displaying his best snowplow-against-a-whipping-wind technique.

Romney ridge: 2/1  See separate post

Big Creek - Heavenly Twins shoulder and peak to creek: 2/29  With my dad in town watching my son, I rallied at 4 am with hopes to get a solid day of skiing in and be back by dinner time.  I did most of the 3-hour trail approach in the dark.  I climbed the South face of Heavenly Twins, but stopped at the shoulder, 400 feet from the summit due to gusty winds and poor visibility.  I skied 3,600 feet from there to the end of the good skiing, made a shorter yo yo lap to get to 10k, then climbed up to the South shoulder of Disappointment peak.  I skied the looker's right of the parallel peak to creek avalanche paths, which was unfortunately choked with almost unskiable roller ball debris.  Even though the skiing quality was abysmal, it was good to finally at least descend this run with skis that I've been eyeing for years.  This was a really good day of good old fashioned Bitterroot canyon slogging and long runs with lots of good skiing and some  bushwacking and very bad skiing.  And I made it back in time for dinner!  ~10,200 vertical feet.

Any time you get five miles from the car before first light is good confirmation that
a) you got up proper early.
b) motivation levels are high.

Dropping into the Disappointment peak to creek above the roller balls.

High 4: 3/7  Big day with Ned and Justin.  11,000 vertical feet. See separate post.

Mission Traverse: 3/16  Dream come true day with Leah.  12,000 vertical feet. See separate post.

Fred Burr - Totem peak: 4/5  Long walk in Fred Burr.  See separate post.

Sheafman - West Sheafman point: 4/13ish  Really good day of straightforward Bitterroot exploring in one of my favorite early spring ski haunts.  See separate post.

Just beyond Sweeney: 4/25  I maintain a working hypothesis that Sweeney is a under utilized spring ski destination, and another fine day of exploration helped strengthen my case.  Overnight freezing temperatures were up around 7,500 feet, but the snowpack was in good shape above there.  My goal was to ski one of the unknown north gullies that drop to One Horse creek below the mellow upper North bowl.  There is a prominent band of rock slabs that had me doubtful that they would be skiable, so I skied off the summit and started down the most likely to go Western one, with the option to hike back out if it didn't work.  To my delight, it ended up being a fun line with excellent snow.  Next, I started climbing the next couloir to the East. It had a small ice step in the bottom that I thought I would be able to climb with crampons.  At the bottom of the couloir, I decided that that the day was warming too rapidly to commit to this fairly exposed ski run.  So I bailed.  Must go back - it looks like an interesting ski objective with a small ice step that appears to necessitate downclimbing or rappelling shenanigans of some kind.

Either unskied, or rarely skied terrain on the Northwest shoulder of Sweeney.

I instead crossed One Horse creek and climbed to lower East ridge of Lolo peak and skied one of the parallel North gullies.  The snow warmed too much and fell apart for the bottom third, but it was still a great ski run.  Getting back over the ridge to the base of Sweeney was gloppy and sticky and generally not much fun, so I just put my head down and got it done.  I wrapped around to the West side of Sweeney and skinned a nice gully to the top.  I had intentions to ski the gully, but it also seemed a little bit too warm to be as safe as I wanted.  So I spun a nice lap on the mellow North face to get to 10k, climbed back to the top, and schussed sticky snow out to the car.

Looking back up the One horse creek run.

Beautiful evening to climb the West face of Sweeney.

Interestingly, it would have been just as easy to do the day as a traverse and exit out to public access through the defunct McClay ski resort.  I'll have to do that next time.

Lolo peak bike and ski: 5/17 On a day with high motivation but marginal snow, I decided to bike to Lolo and ski the peak.  I rolled out of the house at 6 am, and to my surprise, the bike ride only took about 2.5 hours.

Lolo and a rainbow on the morning bike approach.

I followed the well worn trail over Carlton ridge, but then set a new track to the top of North Lolo peak.  My main new objective was to ski the West gully.  There was about a foot of very heavy new snow, and I had to be really careful ski cutting it, but I took my time and made it down safely.

Looking back up at my new West gully off North Lolo peak.

I followed an old track back to the summit of Lolo, then took three runs on the standard North face to make it a 10k day.  The snow was sticky and not very fun, but it was fun to get nice and tired.  The bike back to town was quicker than expected.  In fact, it was downright enjoyable.  What a fun day.  I think I will try to do Lolo from the house more often.  I think it would take about 8 hours for a basic round trip.  Right at 10,000 vertical feet, done in about 11 hours from the house.

Saint Mary bike and ski: 5/30  On a day with no freeze and forecast 94 degree temperatures, I decided to park at the beginning of the dirt road and bike and ski Saint Mary, and bring enough food to make it a 10k day if it didn't get too hot.  The bike up was cool and enjoyable.  Instead of taking the normal summer trail route, I skied what is the normal short exit climb from the Northeast bowls and then set a good bootpack up the Northeast bowls to the summit.  I kept it simple and skied five runs in the main Northeast bowls, efficiently recycling my boot pack.  The snow was consolidated and super fun to ski.

Walk and ski.  So simple yet so fun.

All smiles back in the valley.

Once again, the ski and bike exit was fast and fun.  I had such a fun time, especially for a day that I thought might not be worth skiing.  10,100 feet, done in 7 hours and 40 minutes from the car.

West Trapper Peak: 6/20 I stumbled on a fantastic late June ski day, finding seven new runs west of Trapper.  I approached Trapper peak from Baker lake, but crossed the South ridge just shy of the summit and took a long traversing run West to access West Trapper peak.  I then climbed to near the summit of West Trapper peak and started exploring new North facing couloirs.  I skied two below West Trapper, including a very aesthetic couloir below and east of the summit.  I then hopped over a sub ridge and skied several couloirs just West of main Trapper before climbing to the main summit and just skiing out via the mellow summer route.

First run into the West Trapper cirque.

Looking up the West Trapper Dazzler.

Another view of the West Trapper Dazzler.

Looking down a couloir tucked just west of Trapper peak,
with views to the West face routes on North Trapper.

Great skiing just West of Trapper.

It is a substantial push to get out to these lines, especially the West Trapper Dazzler, but worth considering for people looking to explore beyond Trapper peak.  I did a bunch of bumbling around trying to find ski lines, and the day took 12 hours car to car.  Right at 10,000 vertical feet.

Crescent to Pyramid for time

Up Crescent.

I think that the Crescent to Pyramid ski traverse in the Swans is one of the all time classic Missoula ski outings.  Aside from the major downside that winter access is poor without a sled, it is just awesome.  Logical line, aesthetic mountains, great ski runs, reliable snow, fairly safe avalanche conditions, and long enough to feel like an accomplishment.  As a speed test, it is also a good challenge because the best ski runs are the fastest way complete the link up (I think).  I gave it a go for time in early May.  The snow was so firm that I ended up booting almost all of the climbs with the exception of the end of the Crescent and the first half of the Pyramid.  I ended up seeing Ned Gall on Crescent, and probably lost two or three minutes chatting with him.  The skiing was incredible, with good to perfect corn on every run.  This is a solid time for me.  I wasn't feeling terribly fit, and I could have pushed harder, particularly on the first climb, but it would be hard to order up better conditions.

At the end of the short West Marshall summit plateau.

Closing in on Pyramid. Excited for a final corn run on the Southwest face.

For gear, I used my go-to Dynafit Nanga Parbat/PDG/race pole/BD cirque 30L set up and consumed about 150 cal/hour of Tailwind energy drink and a bar.  My final time was 4 hours, 5 minutes.

Route: Start and end at the Crescent lake trailhead.  Summit Crescent, West Marshall, and Pyramid.  I skied the Southwest aspect of each peak with as many short cuts as I can think of.

Splits for future reference:  Start trail traverse: 50; Crescent summit: 1.50; West Marshall: 2.35; Pyramid: 3.40

High 4, El Capitan and the Como peaks

Prologue Sometime in the middle of the winter, Ned mentioned the concept of skiing the High five in a day, ending with the East face of El Capitan.  It seemed way too long and technical, and I didn't really take him seriously.  As we were scheming later in the winter, I threw it out among a list of more manageable tours.

An excerpt from our correspondence:

Other ideas, less optimized for Sunday since they are either in familiar terrain, or could wait until later in the spring;  High four:  Ned and Frank's scheme.  Definitely skipping Lonesome Bachelor.  And ski the SE couloir on El Capitan, not the E. face.  I am not up for the E. face.

Much to my surprise, he latched on to the idea, and over the course of about 24 hours we planned out a route that seemed feasible in a day.

Ned with extra smiles on the summit of Middle Como, with
our excellent run on West Como behind.

The day Spoiler - this was a really, really, really good day.

With Justin Angle along, we launched from the trailhead at 5 am after a night of almost no sleep.  The trail approach is actually not that bad.  Something in my digestive track was not firing quite right, and I had to do more stops in the bushes than I care to remember, but it was otherwise a fine morning.  I did not take the optimal route climbing to the mid-slope bench in the dark, but got the job done.  We were soon on the bench, the sun was rising, and it was lining up to be a great day.

At this point, Ned kicked into gear and pulled us along the 3-hour bench traverse and up the rolling flanks of El Capitan.  It was clear that this was not my day physically, and I got pretty dang knackered trying to keep up.  We summited El Capitan on schedule with great conditions, in good spirits.  For style purists, we did not climb the final 20-foot craggy summit block.

Climbing El Capitan.

We took a fine rolling run down the Southwest ridge and face of El Capitan.  It is a big enough mountain that you have to just stop skiing, and we ended our run with a big traverse to put us in the most efficient position to climb back over the Lonesome Bachelor shoulder.  I was grateful for a decent break to eat some food and re-set for the 5,000 vertical feet of climbing still to go.

Justin skiing the Southwest face of El Capitan,

During the climb to West Como, it became clear to me that we were in for a special day.  I was already tired as a dog, but conditions were perfect, and I was really excited about how well the tour was starting to flow.  The climb up West Como was smooth, with me taking a decent early pull, then Justin and Ned taking the blue collar booting pull to the summit.  From the top, we decided to have a look at the steep Southeast face.  It was perfect. Safe, but with just enough snow to be really fun.  We were soon all down in the tarn on our way to Middle Como.

Looking out to our ascent route up the obvious snow face to West Como.

Justin and Ned nearing the summit of West Como.

"This definitely goes, I think".  Dropping into the intimidating
Southeast face of West Como.  Photo: Ned Gall

That was great! West Como in the bag and zipping along to Middle Como.

The climb up Middle Como takes a nice sneak gully to the upper Southeast face. Ned took the reigns and put the entire track in.  The Southeast face of Middle Como is nice and mellow.  It was mid afternoon, but the snow was still excellent, and we had a great time cruising.  At the base of the run, Justin was not feeling very good, so we made a plan to split up for East Como and regroup for the exit.  I appreciated the really great communication on Justin's part.  I was actually feeling decent, and got a jump on setting the track to East Como. Ned soon caught up, and we traded trailbreaking pulls to the summit.  To our pleasant surprise, Justin rallied and ended up catching up with us, so we all topped out together.  Justin and I transitioned at the base of the final 20 foot summit block, and Ned climbed the final craggy pitch to the exact summit.

Starting up again  The route to middle Como goes up a hidden couloir in front of Justin.

Justin enjoying the good, mellow skiing on Middle Como.

Last pull to East Como.

We had another great run.  This one was the long one - 4000 feet down to Tin Cup creek.  The skiing on the peak was great fun, as was the moderate terrain on the bench.  Getting from the bench to Tin Cup creek is surprisingly tricky, and I led everyone down into the wrong gully.  Fortunately we realized our error high enough to be able to traverse to the correct exit gully with only minimal difficulties.  We finally encountered some challenging snow as we neared Tin Cup creek, but it could have been a lot worse, and we were soon on the trail. 

Starting down East Como.  Photo: Ned Gall.

Ned letting them run somewhere below East Como.

The ski out was long, but it was fairly straightforward.  Ned fell into the creek on the return crossing, but I was able to give him a hand getting out of the creek, and he took it in stride.  We had a difference of opinion on how much fun the last few miles to the trailhead were, but I thought they were just fine by Bitterroot standards, and we made it out right at dark.

We ended up making a dumb driving blunder and got the truck stuck at the trailhead, and ended up having to call a tow truck.  That was not fun at all.  But we made it out, and I am grateful both for Justin and Ned's good decision making and patience, and for the good folks at Wimp's towing who rallied out to get us.

Approximation of our route..

Epilogue

Such a great route.  Ned pulled us along all day with his trailbreaking and motivation.  Damn, Ned, a big high four for a day well executed.  A stand alone Como link up tour is a more normal length classic that I still need to do.

Route: See google earth images.

Approximate total elevation gain:  11,000 vertical feet
Duration: 15.5 hours 
Accomplices: Ned Gall, Justin Angle
Put in/Take out:  Main Tin Cup creek trailhead

Fuel: Egg Avacado sandwich, nuts, Tailwind and a passel of bars.  Averaged about 150 cal/hr.
Equipment:   Voile Ultra Vector skis with Plum Oazo bindings (didn't use lightest set up because skins weren't working reliably).  Normal boots.  One whippet, Alu crampons, in pack, basic emergency kit.

Equipment left in car to save weight: ski crampons, helmet, ice axe.   
Tricks of the day: Route familiarity, Ned's motivation.

Number of ski runs: 4

Number of excellent ski runs: 4

Fatigue factor (1-10): 9.5 (I was feeling it)
Stoke factor (1-10): 9.9
Memories to suppress: Getting stuck.  Not feeling awesome.  Little sleep the night before.