Blanket Glacier Chalet 2016

Excited on the climb to the Castor/Pollox col.  Blanket peak in the background.

Leah and I were treated to another excellent hut trip in Canada at the Blanket Glacier Chalet.  Conditions were good, with three days of powder skiing, one day of getting shut down in the alpine by visibility, and two days of clear skies at the end of the trip.  We were able to take advantage of cold temperatures and excellent tree skiing at the beginning of the week, and when the skies turned blue, energy levels and stability were adequate to have a few excellent days of exploration, including skiing the 4,500' Big Apple avalanche path from the summit with good powder.  The crew was great, and there were many laughs, sauna sessions, and delicious meals at the chalet. Even though we skied solid days every day, the pace and overall demeanor relaxed, and it was also nice to come home ready to jump right back into training and dreaming of the next big adventure.

Days 1-4: Castor/Rodeo; Whiteout shut down; Christmas Trees; Monster/Full Airtime slide path,

Grey conditions as we flew in.

Group skinning to Castor.

Leah cruising down Rodeo.  Super nice run.

After our whiteout debacle, we found improved visibility on Pollux.
The group climbing for an evening spin on Rock and Roll.

We spent a lot of time doing this.  2,000 foot tree runs with good powder.

Leah in the excellent, 3,000'+ Airtime.  Doesn't look like much from the photo,
but it was primo. One of the best of the trip.

Climbing out of Airtime as afternoon flurries roll through.

Chad on an evening Christmas tree run.

Day 5: Big Apple slide path

Leah at the col.

Frank heading out to the Big Apple, pointy peak on the skyline.

Oh Canada! Open powder fields on Big Apple.

The climb out of Big Apple was hot and gloppy, but we didn't care.  Photo: Nick Cooskey

Bonus Echo run on Big Apple.

Day 6 - Blanket/Vortex/Zipper/Blanket

Excellent Geronimo run from the summit of Blanket peak.

Frank sporting a tutu with style.  Blanket peak. 

Final climb to the top of the Vortex.

I took an alternate line on the Vortex which ended up being super nice.
Photo: Nick Cooskey

I took off at the end of the day and tagged on Zipper and another Blanket peak run.
Here, Zipper was tracked from heli skiers, but there was plenty of fresh snow on skier's right.

2016 Jack n Jill race at Teton Pass Ski Area + bonus tour

Teton Pass Ski area did did a great job hosting the Jack 'n Jill randonee race for the third consecutive year. The challenging 5,000 vertical foot course is full of skin tracks, alpine scrambling, a summit, and big, off piste runs.  There was a good showing this year, with at least fifty people toeing the line for the combined Rec/Pro division start.  A lemans start had me third off the line, and I settled in to the first climb behind Ben Parsons and Jason Mills.  My body was feeling merely OK, and it was more work than I would have liked to maintain my goal race effort half notch below lactate threshold (read: hurting but not boiling over).  In any case, I just tried to be efficient and not think about how much damage I was inflicting so early in the race.  The two leaders took a 30-second wrong turn, and we all emerged at the top of the cat track more or less together.  We all moved well through gusty winds on the way to the bootpack.  Technical stuff typically plays in my favor, and the scrambling was sufficiently loose and tricky to partially close the gap to Jason.  

The start. Ben and Jason are off the line.  I am just striding off in the center of the photo. 

I had anticipated taking it somewhat easy on the downhills to prevent re-tweeking my ankle, but I abandoned that plan, skiing all out, which allowed me to get about a minute ahead on the excellent summit to base area ski run.  Sure enough, about a third of the way up the second climb, Jason was on my tails, then 10 seconds ahead to the skin track, then about 45 seconds ahead to the bootpack.  At this point, Ben was perhaps 4 minutes out in front, and everyone else was out of sight arrears, so it was a battle for second place. 

The second run off the shoulder of the peak was good, and I was able to move past Jason by aggressively skiing the sticky, tricky quad-frying sun warmed snow.  Based on how things were going, I knew the last climb was going to be a battle, so after sucking down some calories, I settled in at a barely sustainable death pace, checking over my shoulder periodically.  I was hoping for a fade on Jason’s part, but instead Jason closed the gap, passed, then put in a good kick to the top. I was able to find a few last energy reserves and roughly match his kick, and after a double double skin rip, I was just a few seconds behind out of the transition.  It was go time, and I once again let the skis run.  Back seat, barely in control, don’t fall and re-tweek the ankle, but fast.  It was enough to pass Jason for the last time, and a minute or so of furious tucking and double poling got me over the line with an adequate 5 second buffer.  Thanks for the great race, Jason. 

In terms of performance, I didn’t really feel great at the start, but objectively, my body hasn’t really accepted intensity well for a few weeks, so if anything, perhaps I am not in top shape for racing.  This seems to happen each spring – not sure why.  Aside from a horrid third transition, everything went super smoothly.  I tried racing without a water bottle to save weight, and I didn’t suffer from lack of fluids, so I will probably keep doing that for sub-2 hour races.  It is also nice to have the ankle back to 95% strength in a ski boot.  And finally, it was nice to see some new and old faces on race sticks.  John, Katie, and Jen,– glad you made it!  Results here.

There was a five hour window between the race and awards, so I went exploring.  I wrapped around the south side of the resort on roads and trails, and was near the headwater of the North fork of Waldron creek in about an hour, and I just did a big push to the summit of Mount Lockhart.  Summit views were exceptional, no surprise since Lockhart is completely surrounded by the countless peaks of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  Both the NE and SE faces looked appealing, but I opted for the SE.  It was a great run – big open upper face followed by a series of open rolling gullies back to Waldron creek.  I was having a lot of fun, and fueled the energy into another quick climb back up to the East shoulder of Lockhart.  

Looking up into the headwaters of Waldron peak.  

Looking south from Lockhart to Old Baldy.

I skied the SE bowl, which was also good, if not as striking as the previous run.  With awards starting in about an hour, I devoured a few calories, sucked down the last of my water, and pointed the skis uphill to the top of the resort.  The climb was wonderful – easy skinning, blown off alpine meadow walking and talus scrambling to the summit on legs which were totally shot from 5k vert of racing followed by 5k vert of enjoyable exploratory touring.  In fact, I couldn’t help but smile for much of the climb, thinking about how fortunate I am to be able to move efficiently through the mountains on skis.   The top to bottom run in the resort was enjoyable, and the post-race party was fun. Great day.

False summit of Lockhart run.

Scratching around on Stormy Joe

I was able to take advantage of great weather and a flexible work schedule to do some exploring in Bass creek on a random week day in March.  There is typically only another month or so of good low elevation coverage in the Bitterroot, so it always seems prudent to check as much stuff off the list as possible this time of year.   The plan for the day was not at all refined: head out with ice tools and crampons with hopes of skiing some new lines on Stormy Joe, then fill out the rest of the day with whatever looked good.  

Stormy Joe South face.  Party in the couloir and another interesting couloir
wind their way through the cliffs on the right side.
I skied the central gully which opens up and tops out just right of the summit.
The second run took the V-shaped snowfield which leads up and right to the high point.
he run to the left of the cliffs is also much better than it looks from the photo.

Surprisingly, I was last skier out of the trailhead with a 6:45 start from the car.  Always nice to see other skiers getting after it on such a nice day.  The three hour (to the minute) skin to the lake was uneventful, and I just settled in and enjoyed the sunrise.  My legs were still cooked from racing the previous evening, and it was nice to just cruise at an easy pace. From the lake inlet, I skinned out a ways to get a better perspective on a couloir that roughly splits the South face of Stormy Joe.  I still couldn't see much, but there was no reason to think that it would not go, so I started up.  The business started only a few hundred feet above the lake, with a short rock step to bypass an ice bulge in the couloir.  After re-joining the run and booting another few hundred feet, I finally got a look at the central ice bulges which comprise the middle  hundred vertical feet or so of the couloir.  The ice was fat and in great shape, so I climbed it at something like easy WI2.  It was great fun - easy, secure climbing.  I have not ice climbed yet this year, so I just took my time, getting solid tool and crampon placements the whole way.  From the top of the ice, I was able to skin the majority of the upper snowfield to the summit ridge.  The ski down the upper couloir was relaxed with good snow and a moderate pitch.  I didn't really find any way to bypass the ice, so I had to bust out the tools and crampons and downclimb the ice, which was fun.  It was also slow because I am a poor ice climber.  From the base of the ice, I skied the middle third of the line, hopped a little 3' bulge, and skied it out to the lake.  

Improbable.  Looking up the couloir from the bottom.

Looking up a few hundred feet of easy rolling ice.

About half way up the ice.

Skiing near the top of the line.

The second line was directly to the west.  It is much more straightforward, with an easy small ice bulge at the bottom, an interesting slabby pinch, and a big open upper snowfield.  I was able to skin most of the run, and was up and down it in less than two hours.  I topped out on the actual summit, which makes it my fourth summit of this obscure little Bitterroot peak.  The ski run was great. 

On the summit of Stormy Joe, excited to be skiing new runs in the Bitterroot.

Back at the lake, I decided to try to climb the back/west side of the massive avalanche path just below and south of the lake outlet.  Aside from some demoralizing, gloppy skinning, the terrain linked up, and I was on top of the run in about an hour.  With a little time to spare, I skied a short chute along the skin track before punching back up the track.  The avalanche path exit run was fun.  The entire bowl is a major avalanche performer, and the headwall is unforgiving and steep, but the snow was stable, and I felt pretty good about center punching this massive line all alone.  The schuss out the trail was quick as always, and I returned to the car in 11 hours, 30 minutes after 10,000 vertical feet of skiing.

Bonus run.  Love me some ski tracks.

Getting ready for the last run, with St. Joseph peak dominating the background.

The last run took the center of the bowl (photo taken in the morning during the approach).
It has the potential to avalanche catastrophically, so skier beware.

Tobacco Root Traverse on skis

It is almost 1 am as I walk in the door to my Missoula apartment, just back from Minnesota.  In minutes, I am cramming my still-swollen foot and ankle into ski boots for the first time in over two weeks since my ankle was sprained. Racing boots are still painful, but the TLT5s feel a little better. Sleep comes easily, but I wake up concerned, re-set my bindings for the larger boots, and grab the thinnest sock I can find for the right foot. Despite all the doubts surrounding the state of my ankle, I have been working diligently with rehab, and know it is still strong and stable, just still a little swollen, and a big day on skis probably will not set the recovery back much if at all.  I let Ben know I'm in for sure, and we are dropping a car near Pony a few hours later. We drive the shuttle to South Meadow creek, and are both are asleep by 9 pm. 

Awaiting sunrise. Cold hands did not stop our forward momentum.

Car to Bell lake

We left the car at 3 am under a full moon.  I had slept well, and was fired up for a big day. We trudged up the road for a few hours, then continued across South Meadow Creek lake and climbed to the ridge top just north of Ramshorn mountain.  The top was very icy, but we were able to get just enough boot purchase to make it through.  As we topped out, the orange full moon was just setting in the west, and the horizon was beginning to turn a pre-dawn grey.  An icy wind kept us moving to a high point north of Ramshorn, where we ripped skins and schussed a short traversing run to the base of Belle point.  I must have been a little intimidated by the length of the day, and suggested we bypass the north couloir on Belle in favor of moving quickly along the ridge.  Ben was amenable, so we kept at it, skinning, walking on bare ground, and skiing a few short pitches as the terrain dictated.  The ankle felt a touch vulnerable on the descents, but it seemed to be holding up well, and a quick stop to tape my left arch was sufficient to keep any foot blisters at bay. Before long, we were dropping off the crest for a nice run down to the headwaters of Mill creek.  A long climb up the beautiful cirque on the back side of Branham put us at the top of the moderate Green Room gully.  At this point, Ben was crushing the climbs and transitions, and I was just holding on, trying not to slow him down too much.  Not surprising though, that guy skis more and faster than about anyone in Montana.  The Green Room skied great. Firm and smooth, and stable. 

Skinning at sunrise. Photo: Ben VandenBos

Ben near the end of the southern portion, about to rip skins and drop off the ridge.

Coming up to the top of the Green Room. Photo: Ben Vandenbos.

Dropping into the Green Room. Bell lake below.

Ben hydrating at Bell lake as I wolf down a burrito.

Bell lake to Hollowtop

We found some open water at Bell lake, and I scarfed a burrito as Ben filled water bottles.  There were a few tracks from yurt skiers, but I was surprised at how many of the classic runs were untouched considering the excellent stability.  We were ahead of schedule, so I suggested we proceed with the Longs/Lonesome link up (it is possible to bypass both on the west), and Ben was game.  With that goal in mind, we made the technical skin and bootpack to the top of Longs. I used ski crampons on the icy ascent, which almost allowed me to keep up with Ben.  We poked our heads over the summit, and were pleased to find adequate coverage on the north face.  After a great run on the north face, I ski cramponed, and Ben booted up the southeast face of Lonesome peak, and we were treated to another long rolling run down the North face all the way to Granite lake.  Still on schedule, we pinned it up Granite.  We saw what looked like wolverine?! tracks in the basin, and it was nice to think about them for a while instead of wallowing in the mounting fatigue.   

Ben jaunting on the final jaunt to Long peak.

Ben midway down Lonesome.  Granite peak looms in the background.

Climbing Granite peak. Up, up, up! Photo: Ben VandenBos

We topped out at 2 pm, with 10k of climbing in our legs, tired but still in high spirits.  The run down Granite was great. We even found some good settled powder in the trees below the peak.  We followed a snowmobile track down South Willow creek for a mile or so before stopping to slap skins on and re-fuel for the last long climb of the day, which would take us almost 3,000 vertical feet up to Horse mountain, then across a broad plateau to Hollowtop.  I was incredibly grateful that the ankle was still holding up perfectly, because the final push to the car was gonna be a bruiser.  After topping off the tank with a burrito chased by gel, we skinned, booted, scrambled, and talus swam our way up to Horse.  Our pace had slowed a bit, and it was nice to just move comfortably, chatting at times, but otherwise grinding out the climb.  The Horse – Hollowtop traverse was completely snow free, so we clunked across as the sun slowly crept toward the western horizon.  On Hollowtop, at sunset, we ripped skins for the last time and made the big descent to Mason lake.  Hollowtop gets ravaged by wind, and we had to take skis off a few times to connect snow patches.

Dropping off the summit of Granite.

Looking back from Horse mountain.  We started at the skyline peak on the far left of the photo.

Ben plateau cruising and closing in on Hollowtop.

Hollowtop peak to car

At the lake, we had our one hiccup of the day, when I was unable to find the road.  Ben advocated for descending directly to Cataract lake, but I obstinately refused.  I think his strategy would have been faster, but mine at least guaranteed that we would not get lost in the dark. We eventually found the road shortly before clicking headlamps on.  We started hitting intermittent bare patches about 2 miles from the trailhead, so the exit was longer than anticipated.  Ben is a fearless intermittent snow skiing champ, and I was skiing conservatively to protect the cankle, so eventually he tired of waiting, and cruised out to the car while I clumped down the road in the dark.  Soon enough, we were back at the car, ski boots off, and super excited to have pulled off a great traverse.  I was totally beat! I did not even come close to making the drive home before getting sleepy.  No worries though – the sleeping bag was still all set up, and I had a great night of sleep near Fairmont hot springs before polishing the drive off the next morning. 

Ben contemplating the lack of snow for out last run on Hollowtop.

Thoughts: 

Skiers have been traversing the Tobacco Root range for decades, and it was pretty cool to join their ranks.  I suspect we may be the first party to push all the way out to Hollowtop, but if so, that is a very minor style improvement over previous traverses.  It was great to finally get out with Ben.  Having that guy along is like having a secret weapon blazing the way, as he is super strong, positive, and makes consistently excellent route decisions on the fly.  Our route was a good one. Logical with quite a bit of good skiing and options in the second half to make it shorter.  It also does not engage any unnecessarily hazardous terrain, and for the most part, stays out of big avalanche starting zones.

There are many variations which could make it better, or at least different.  For one, travel would be smoother later in the spring when there is more snow on the plateaus. The trek all the way out to Hollowtop was a grind for not a lot of good skiing. In fact, the highlight of that portion was the plateau walk (which is actually quite nice). It would certainly be easier to end at Granite, exiting down Willow or South Boulder creeks.  Also, it would be nice to take at least one ski run in the southern portion of the range, and top out on a peak or two.  We didn’t due to time constraints.  An excellent and logistically simple traverse would be to run from Branham (or Bradley) to Granite/little Granite (either direction), skiing Longs and Lonesome along the way.  There would be no shuttle required, and everything would link up logically.  That said, the traverse is highly recommended for those with a strong set of legs and lungs looking for an adventure.

The route.  Kind of rough, but if you know the range, you get the idea.

Statistics
Approximate total elevation gain 13,200 feet
Length: ~30 miles done in 16 hours, 20 minutes
Accomplices: Ben Vandenbos
Put in:  Private land boundary on South Meadow creek
Take out: base of Mason lake road near PonyFuel: Burritos, bars, gel, perpetum. Averaged a little over 100 cal/hr.
Equipment:   Dynafit Nanga Parbat skis, TLT5 boots (to protect the ankle), thin sock on right foot for ankle, ski crampons, one whippet. Extra regular sock and two different insoles in case the ankle flared up. Headlamp with extra batteries.
Number of ski runs: 7

Number of good ski runs: 5

Fatigue factor (1-10): 9 (note, 9 is  virtually impossible to exceed in a no-race setting)
Stoke factor (1-10): 9 + stoke that my ankle held up.
Memories to suppress:  Lack of snow on the plateaus.  Painful left shin and 6^th toe pain.

Bass Bowl Bounce (Extra Credit)

In late January, I was able to join forces with Andrew and Jeffrey for an extended Bass Bowl bounce tour.  The Bass Bowl bounce might be my favorite tour in the range.  Once the long slog out to Bass is in the bag, skiers are posed to knock out as many bowls as possible on the way out to the car, and there are a lot of good variations, even with mid-Considerable avalanche danger.

Jeffrey and Andrew getting their groove on
as they climb the Groove tube above Bass lake.

We met at what is becoming a customary early-but-not-terrible 6 am, and were skinning before 7 by headlamp.  We all had race skins, and made good time to the lake, despite a few stops to manage blisters.  At the lake, we were absolutely blasted with snow and wind, but we put our heads down and pushed across. As expected, the wind subsided at inlet, and we swapped trailbreaking leads into the clouds, and, eventually, to the top of North Bass peak, 5 hours into the day.  With 6" of overnight snow and a lot of wind, we kept avalanche exposure to a minimum, but still had a excellent rolling run down the rolling 1,500+ vertical foot east face of Bass peak.  

Nimble and light got us across the upper Bass creek crossing with skis on.
Still enjoying the new ski setup mounted up by LB snow. Photo: Andrew

In the larch high on Bass peak. Photo: Andrew

Powder skiing on Bass peak.

From the base of Bass, we climbed to the Bass/Kootenai saddle, then continued up the Groove tube, crossed one exposed slope, then continued out to Point 8,285. I have always skied the obvious north bowl, but with heightened/Considerable avalanche danger, we instead skied the 30 degree southeast bowl for over a thousand vertical. Another great run, and a new one for me.  We still had two big climbs ahead, so we transitioned quickly and Andrew busted a nice skin track up and through steep but sheltered terrain to point 8,145 just southeast of Smokey Joe. This was another new run for me, and the thousand plus feet of rolling powder skiing were every bit as good as I had hoped for.

Beta photo: North bowl of point 8,285.
We summited, then skied mellow powder off the back side.
The more "customary" run is to ski the visible bowl.
Top of the Spurge couloir drops lookers Rt from the saddle just in front of Jeffrey. Photo: Andrew

Good skiing off 8,285

Andrew skiing off 8,145

We took a longish lunch break of sorts before the last climb, then pushed up through the burn to Lappi point. We were all tired at the top, which is notable because it takes a pretty long day to tire this crew out. Although in retrospect we should have skied to Lappi lake and out, I forced a run down the skier's left edge of the main Lappi bowl then out via the "standard" steep tree sneak into the west Lappi bowl. We eventually hit breakable crust, but not before skiing almost 2,000 vertical feet of good powder.  The trail exit was fast as always, and we were back at the car well before dark.

Jeffrey above the burn, closing in on Lappi point.

Touchy slabs kept us on the ridge on the ski down to Lappi.

Really nice day out in the hills with a great crew.  Another possible best day of the year so far. For stats, a touch over 9k and out for a little over 10 hours.  If you are looking for a good long day in the hills, go do this tour.

Our route in orange.  Other (more standard) variations are shown in pink.