10 x 10k ski days, 2021

Since I couldn't ski in February or March due to a foot injury, it was a mad  scramble to get to ten 10k ski days this year, but I managed.  The 10 x 10k goal has been a fun multi year challenge, pushing for earlier starts, farther reaches, and an expansive mindset in planning and executing outings.  I think that my watch might have been a little bit off on the Sweeney loop tour, but as a fitness replacement, I did do a mid-February 10k day on the bike, so I'm sticking to my claim of pulling off a 10 x 10k ski season.

Blackmore:  Fun day lapping the most popular Northeast shoulder with Kyle.  Great snow, and the 10k goal made for an engaging day.

Whitefish Mountain resort:  Two early laps and three afternoon laps with family lift skiing in between.

Gash North bowl:   We didn't take a turn with good snow all day, but...  Really nice to get out with Ned, get to know the North bowl of Gash proper a little better, continue to find evidence of good deep stability, and appreciate 2,500 foot long runs in early January.

Ned climbing back out of the North face of Gash proper.

Snowbowl and Point 6:  Mid day Martin Luther King day family obligations necessitated a wicked early start, but motivation was high, so I rallied from L2 around 4:30 am.  To my shock, I ended up crossing Justin Angleman and Seth Swanson's headlamps after the first lap, and we took a couple of short runs at their blistering pace.  Once the ski resort opened, I headed out to Jenny bowl, put a skin track in, and hammered out runs in perfect boot top powder.

Good skiing in Jenny bowl.

Eagle Pass:  On a forecast hot April day, I was sufficiently motivated to rally proper early to beat the forecast warm up.  The goal was to ski the big South facing avalanche path off of point 8,623 near Eagle pass.  The logistics of accessing the path and climbing out out are a bit weird, but I am pretty confident the Eagle pass approach is superior to the bushwack from Post creek.  I lucked out, catching the first run with perfect firm corn, and the second with good, slightly over ripe corn.  Really glad to finally ski this run and catch good conditions.  

OK, this is going to be fun.

Climbing out under the watchful eye of McDonald.

Note:  It appears that public access to the Eagle Pass trailhead has been cut off from the Eagle Pass road.  However, it is still possible for the public to access the trailhead from the Mollman pass road by taking the west canal road all the way South to the normal trailhead.  

Calowachan:  It seemed a little bit crazy to go for 10k with a not-crack-of-anything 1030 am start, so I headed out from the Eagle pass trailhead with a plan to just see what happened.  

Panorama of the view down the Southeast face of Calowachan out to the
South Calowachan summit, Summit Lake, McDonald, etc.

To my surprise, temps were cold all day, and the skiing was delightful.  I summited the South peak four hours from leaving the car, and jumped right into an excellent run down the steep upper Southeast face and down through a long couloir directly to Summit lake.  From which it was quick to bop over to the rolling South face of the primary North summit.  I skied the South face from below the craggy summit block.  Another great run!  On the climb out to Eagle pass, there may have been a short throw away lap to get to 10k, but then it was on to the fast ski and slow Mission-lite bushwacking walk out to the car by late evening.  With cold temps and great skiing, this was a really really good day.

Great conditions in a hidden Missions gem of a ski line.

Sweeney: After deciding that the suspect forecast for the Missions might not allow for good skiing (plan A), Jeffrey and I set out early from Missoula with plans to ski in Bass creek (plan B), but to our surprise, the trailhead was closed for prescribed burning.  So we resorted to plan C and back tracked to Sweeney.  I have wanted to do a circumnavigation tour for a while, and it seemed like the day to do it, regardless of the plan letter.

Jeffrey starting a fine long corn run on the South side of Sweeney.

We were on the summit less than three hours from leaving the car.  A bit of routefinding and icy down climbing put us on top of the Northwest gullies, which we skied on firm but edgeable ice.  Then, we climbed out of One horse creek to the top of the big Southeast bowl just past the main Sweeney summit.  The ensuing corn run was perfect - long, fun, with great snow top to bottom.  Definitely the run of the day and honestly one of the corn runs of the year.  We climbed back to the summit, then took a normal run on the Northeast face before exiting.  Nice day and fun to finally get out with Jeffrey again.

Complete Mystery tour: I had some other ski ideas, but Ned and made a compelling case to ski all of the Mystery chutes at Gash, and I'm glad he did.  The day was forecast to be warm and wet, but we headed out extra early anyway with Jeffrey with hopes that the weather would work out by luck. Sure enough, we found ourselves skiing directly off of Gash proper at 8 am with good enough weather and a reasonable re freeze. 

Gash proper from the top.

We made great time climbing to the top of the Mystery chutes, and skied the central chute first.  I put a steep but efficient (if I do say so myself) track back up the chute, and we climbed all the way back to the top and picked our way into the West chute.  Ned had to ski cut heavy snow, and we had to scrap around an ice step, but it was still a fun run.  We took one last jaunt up our skin track, climbing only to the top of  the East chute.  None of us had skied the East chute, and we were delighted to find a relaxing tree lined run.  

Jeffrey in the West Mystery chute.

Ned in the mellow but excellent East Mystery chute.

We took a pretty good break in light rain before rallying up the scrappy rock lined shorter chute on the East edge of the face. Most of the climb was scrappy, but we got it done efficiently, and the skiing was also scrappy but  fun.  The climb out to Gash got a bit long.  We were way over 10k feet, it was snowing and gloppy, and I think that everyone kind of hit a low energy patch at some point.  But we persevered, and were soon making our way out to the car.  This ended up being the biggest elevation day of the year for me - something north of 12k vert I think.  

Ned climbing the last couloir of the day.

Kakashe: Keeping with the spring theme of exploring some of the lesser (i.e. not McDonald, Grey Wolf, or East Saint Mary) Mission objectives, I had a really fun day exploring the Northwest chutes on Kakashe in early May, and when another perfect weather window appeared, I was back, this time with an early enough start for a 10k day.  The goal was basically to ski around the compass on Flattop before it got too warm.  There is enough downfall that getting to and from snow line took a long time and sucked some soul, but the time spent in the alpine was delightful.  I took the short entry run, then climbed to the top of Flattop.  

Up to the summit of Flattop.

I was able to scout a safe way through the pervasive ridge line cornice and skied a good run on the East face with OK warmed powder.  Hot sun motivated a quick transition, and climb back to the summit.  Next, I skied the long Northwest couloir from the summit.  The traverse into the couloir was really steep and very much heads up, no-fall with variable snow and some tricky ridges to ski over. I took it one slow sidestep at a time, and was soon on top of the main couloir.  To my surprise, there was about foot of settled spring powder in the main couloir, and the skiing was outrageously good - probably the run of the season.  I skied all the way out to the base, then kept descending until I reached a point where it was possible to weave up through scrappy Mission terrain back to the summit.  Then a great run down the big open West face visible from the valley.  Then a short North couloir to get to 10k.  The a short up, short scrappy ski, long bushwack exit had me back at the car.  Another really really good ski day in new to me terrain.

Ready to ski the East face.  What a back drop!

The traverse into the Northwest couloir.  Can you tell that I was intimidated?

Great skiing in the Northwest couloir.

Warren + biking. 

Mini down climb in the middle of the North face ski run on Warren peak.

Justin and Jeffrey were game to rally extra early for the many-th annual (I'm thinking 12th or 13th) Warren Wallow.  We had time to do a little bit of extra skiing, so we started the day off by climbing to the top of the East couloir, which was super fun, then headed back up for the customary North face run from the summit.  The exit was kind of a blur, but we were back to town by early dinner time.  We bumped into another party of long time friends and enjoyed seeing them off and on during the day.  For some reason, I was really dragging on this outing, so thanks to Justin and Jeffrey for driving, setting the bootpacks, and generally taking up my slack.  In order to get to 10k, I biked a few road/gravel Marshall canyon laps.  I had a pounding headache and was generally feeling terrible, but I got it done, and I'm glad I did because a dry spring followed by a very warm July resulted in an unusually early end to ski season 2021.

Sweeney peak, Central North gully

Sweeney is a justifiably popular local ski haunt, but tucked away on the lower North face are two interesting, albeit very condition dependent gullies that can be skied peak to creek from the summit.  In spring 2020, after a surprisingly enjoyable spin in the Western gully, I started climbing the central North gully, but bailed right away due to warming temperatures.  However, I was able to scope the icefall and file it away in the ski brain as an objective worth coming back for.  So with a nice cold forecast, good stability, and adequate low elevation coverage on shaded aspects, Leah and I headed out from the Sweeney trailhead at a casual 8:30.  We didn't know what to expect, and brought the full rappel kit of double ropes, all manner of climbing gear for an anchor, harnesses, and on and on.  

Adventure.

The climb to the summit was straightforward, and we were soon enjoying firm but excellent skiing in the upper North bowl.  We skied off the edge of the bowl and into the main chute, and were treated to a nice serving of perfect corn.  What a treat!  The nice corn deteriorated well above the rappel, but the snow was acceptable all the way down to the edge of the rap.  We are both way out of climbing shape, so the rappel took quite a long time.  I eventually found a confidence inspiring tree anchor and belayed Leah over.  After way too long scrapping around, we established a solid tree rap anchor and backup, and Leah was off.  In retrospect, we could have skated by with a single 60 m rope, but it would have been very close.  The skiing below the ice fall was a touch scrappy in a few places, but it was cold enough to hold OK snow all they way to the terminus of the avalanche about 200 vertical feet above One Horse creek.  I was pretty elated to have safely pulled off a challenging 2,800 vertical foot run with a healthy combination of excellent skiing and Bitterroot character.

Dropping in from the summit of Sweeney peak.

Perfect corn skiing in the upper reaches of the couloir.

Skiing below the rappel.

It took us the rest of the day to climb out to the Sweeney ridge and exit.  We decided to go down the drainage about a quarter mile before weaving an ascending line through steep thick trees and cliffs to the bottom of the Northeast bowl.  The going was pretty slow, but we eventually made it.  Once in the Northeast bowl, we climbed about half way out before a squall rolled through and dropped just enough snow to produce magnificent skin glopping.  Leah's skin may have fallen off, and I may have had to ski strap mine on, and there might have been a long grind of a bootpack to regain the approach ridge.  But we made it, and the normal exit was smooth and fast.  We were soon back at the car, excited to see another party of friends who had also had an enjoyable day of corn skiing on the South side of the peak.  

Glad to be done with the endless exit climb.

I think that this was a first descent.  If I do it again, I plan to bring ice tools and crampons and down climb the ice, with the possibility of retreating upward if the down climb proves too scary.  Great to get out with Leah.

Grey Wolf West couloir for time

West Wolf!

After weeks of waiting for perfect conditions in the West couloir of Grey Wolf, it seemed like the next forecast warm spell might put the line out of good condition for the year.  Without any excuses to procrastinate, I rested up for a couple of days, packed carefully, and headed out mid morning on a warm mid week day do make a concerted effort from Saint Mary reservoir.  Soon enough, I was walking briskly up the Saint Mary climber's trail at a "this hurts a bit, but it isn't too hard.  Right?" pace.  Ski boot transition was at about 6,500 feet, and another push at a "this hurts more.  Moving fine, but glad I'm not racing anyone" pace had me ready to traverse into the No Fish lake basin well under two hours.  The ski down was sticky, but I managed to zip down and across the lake upright.

The couloir looked fairly runnelled and shiny, but with a sliver of sun on the north edge, I was optimistic that it would be safe enough on the ski down.  Considering there was no boot pack, the climb went fast.  I skinned quickly to the mouth, made the time consuming but ultimately very wise choice to transition to crampons early, and started efficiently pied a platting my way up.  The snow was supportable, and while I stayed vigilant to move with purpose, the ascent was fast. Next up was a slow crampons-off, skins-off, calories-in, safe ski brain-check transition.

The ski was pretty icy, but it was never really scary.  I put speed aside and stayed laser focused on carefull skiing. There may have been a lot of sideslipping.  Soon enough, I was down to soft snow in the lower couloir, and skating across the lake shortly after. 

Shiny but edgeable.

Done and psyching up to give my all on the climb out.
Insert siren song here.

Even though ski conditions were a bit shiny, the skiing was great!  I felt like I had good energy left, and pushed hard back to the sneak traverse just below the shoulder.  The exit was fine.  Skiing was fast, but snow line was high enough that changing to approach shoes was mandatory.  So I did it, then ran as fast as "I definitely haven't been running much this year" legs would allow back to the car.  I emerged at 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 20 seconds. Pretty tired, very thirsty, and over the moon happy with the day.  What a great outing.

Done.  Cooked.  Happy.

Thoughts:  I feel good about going light and fast with just enough reserve to be very solid for the entire outing.  Fitness is kind of average, and a combination of a lower snow line, a more reliable bootpack not requiring crampons, and faster skiing could yield a better time.  I also probably could have pushed harder, but I feel OK about the effort. And conditions were not bad.  They weren't perfect, but it's such a fickle ski line that finding fast and safe conditions is really tricky.  That said, my time is soft - I have no doubt that sub-4 is possible for a wide array of people.  Not sure I have sub-4 in me, or the desire to do it again fast, at least for now. I am really excited for someone to push the time way down. 

My previous fast time from the East was faster and a stronger physical effort, but I'm more excited about this as a FKT route.

Gear:  All the safety stuff but not a lot more:  Crampons, race pole/whippet combo, helmet, bear spray.  Plenty of calories, but only 0.5 L water (yes, that was dumb), no puffy, warm gloves, or ice axe.

Approximate splits for future reference:  Leaving Saint Mary shoulder outbound:  1.35.  Starting Grey Wolf climb:  1.50.  Start skiing:  2.45.  Leaving Saint Mary shoulder inbound 3.45.  7,650 vertical feet. 4/28/2021

McDonald Peak - Northeast face and McDonald Glacier

Nearing the summit of McDonald after the long climb from Post creek.

A good forecast motivated another mid week ski adventure to the Missions.  To my surprise, Ned was keen to join, even with a late start.  We rolled out from Mission reservoir at the very leisurely hour of 10:30 am, and were across Post creek and engaging the bushwack shortly after noon.  We climbed the peak via the Northwest face, and I was reminded both how big this climb is, and how the bushwack isn't that bad if you are patient and find the intermittent climber trail on the East side of the drainage.  Aside from a narrow elevation band of terribly gloppy snow, the climb went off efficiently, and we summited around 4 pm.  Ned was once again keen to ski the Northeast face, a run that I had wanted to ski for years, and of course one he had skied just the previous weekend.  There ended up being three-day old, foot deep slabs on the face, and while we felt OK eking the run out, I ended up just ski cutting a lot of it right at the base of the cliffs.  It was great to ski this fine line, but I'd like to return some day and ski it with better style.  We also cut the run off at the base of the mountain rather than taking it for the full 3k vertical in order to get out before dark.  

Up, up, and more up with some of the appealing Calowachan/Summit lake terrain in the background.

Ned guiding us down to the Northeast face.

A short climb put us at the top of the McDonald glacier.  We took an excellent run all the way down the McDonald glacier and exited straight to Post creek.  The run kept going and going, and the skiing was quite good.  We took skis off about a thousand vertical above Post creek, elated to have skied about 4,000 vertical feet of beautiful, moderate terrain with good snow top to bottom.  Such a grand, wild place to ski.  I was fairly concerned that we would be dealt a proper Mission beat down on the exit, but we only found "not too bad" bushwacking by staying just West of the drainage.  

First few turns of several hundred on the McDonald glacier.

Eventually we crossed the creek, found the trail, and took a break to snack and get bear spray out.  To my skin burning, eye tearing, lung searing surprise, I discovered that my bear spray can had exploded in my backpack, coating the contents in cayenne pepper.  So we hiked out with me in the back, and both brain stormed ways to drive home without fumigating ourselves with bear spray.  Fortunately, most of the aerosols dissipated on the hike out, and we made it to the car, then home without too much burning skin and completely devoid of consumption by bear.  Full disclosure: my gloves still have bear spray residue after two trips through the laundry and two thorough hand washes, and my beacon strap still makes my neck burn a month later.  

In any case, it was a fine day with a great partner.  Post creek is such a wild place, the trail is good, and I still think that doing McDonald from Post creek is a full value but quality way to ski the mountain.  I don't think that McDonald glacier will ever be a popular ski run, but it is a viable adventure, and the day was a treat.  And the Northeast face is a great ski run.  Exposed, but every bit as quality as anything on the mountain.

Sheepshead and McDonald ski for time

Moments like this are why we backcountry ski.

2023 update:  I now kind of think that this route was not complete.  I think that the East ridge run should be extended down to the tarn at about 8,300 feet, providing a natural, complete end point to the run.  A complete descent is more aesthetic than cutting the run short, and I think that this is merited since the East ridge of Sheepshead is a quality objective in its own right.  I guess the only way to rectify this is to go back and try again!

One of the first post-foot recovery outings I undertook was to go for a fast time on the Sheepshead/McDonald peak loop in the Missions.  I hadn't been skiing a lot, but had enough of a fitness base from biking that I felt reasonably prepared.  I think that the link up is one of the finest in the Missions, with excellent skiing, iconic peaks, and enough bushwacking and tricky routefinding in the heart of the Grizzly conservation zone to count as a legitimate Mission adventure.  It was forecast to be a hot day, so I timed the outing to hit the skiing on the firm side of corn o'clock, and started walking casually from a parking spot just above the canal at 7 am.  

At the upper trailhead, I took a nice break, switched into ski boots, set the clock, and started off.  I made pretty decent time to the base of the peak, and climbed efficiently to about 8,500 feet where the upper Northwest ridge becomes cliffy.  Unfortunately, the light overnight refreeze wasn't enough to be supportable, and I spent more time crotch deep in snow than I was hoping for as I ground out the last thousand vertical feet to the summit.  It did not help that I slightly botched the route and had to climb a tricky little mixed step.  It was OK though, I pushed as hard as reasonable while still moving with careful intention.  The East ridge and Southeast face skied perfectly.  

Feeling less than fast on the summit of Sheepshead...

...but definitely excited to ski and climb McDonald.

After a quick transition, I set off for the summit of McDonald, psyched for a hard push.   As it turns out, I didn't have as much gas as I had hoped for, so I slammed a few more calories and gave it all I had.  The South face was also excellent skiing.  A little icy, but not bad, and fast.  Since it was obvious that my time was going to be pretty soft, I skied at a reasonable speed, taking enough time to enjoy the day.  The descent to the lake went quickly, and the lakes were well frozen, so I made good time skating across them.  The exit trail was a bit of a disaster.  For starters, I didn't really find it right away and lost a few minutes fighting through thick brush.  The majority of the trail also had deep, punchy snow and a lot of downfall.  I moved through it as quickly as possible, but it was not fast.  Soon enough, I was fast hiking up the last little climb, yelling for bears.  And a few minutes later I was back to the trailhead.  It was pretty cool to be out by early afternoon, and at the trailhead, I took a nice long food/water/approach shoe break before walking casually out to the car.  I'm excited to do this outing again for time (I think that sub-4:30 is possible), and of course again many times at a more casual pace for enjoyment.

At the Ashley/Post creek divide, one of the coolest places anywhere.

Appreciating fast travel across well frozen Ashley lakes.

Route:  From upper trailhead, up Southwest ridge of Sheepshead.  Ski the East ridge and Northeast face to where the slope flattens out, about 200 vertical feet above the tarn (the length of this run is debatable.  Up Northwest face of McDonald.  Down South face and out to Ashley lakes.  Out Ashley lakes trail to trailhead.  I like the start/end point at the upper trailhead.  Even though it is a pretty crazy trailhead to drive too, it is a logical start/end point, and allows for a nice warmup if one chooses to park lower in the valley.

Splits for future reference:  First big flat ~50 minutes.  Sheepshead summit:  2.50.  McDonald summit: 3:30.  Leave lower Ashley lake:  4.05.  Trailhead 4:52.  Yes, the trail out was slow.

Equipment of note:  Crampons, whippet, bear spray, 0.5L water and about 1,000 calories.  Used everything except all of the bear spray and a few of the calories.  No ice axe, puffy coat, or approach shoes.  Nothing extra, but enough to deal with steep snow and ice, and to have a reasonable safety margin.