Sorry for not updating the blog sooner during our Big Sky trip, but we had poor coverage Thursday night and we were visiting a friend last night.
Anyway, we spent Wednesday night in a parking lot next to the Henry’s Fork River just off Highway 191 near Island Park, ID, just south of West Yellowstone. The drive after our post Wednesday seriously deteriorated and from Rexburg, ID to just shy of our camp was a pretty solid snowstorm. I continue to be impressed by the handling of the van with our upgraded tires, even if Sara is not impressed with my [over-]confident driving of said van with upgraded tires. At least this time the police officer I passed in the snow did not pull me over and give me a ticket for “unreasonable speed.” (Some of you in NH know that story all too well!)
On Thursday morning we eventually made our way to Big Sky. On our way we put the dogs up on the bed, but we heard some odd noise and looked back. This is what we saw.
It was still spitting snow all day and visibility was quite low. We had not been there since 1997 so we did not have a good memory of the mountain. Although Big Sky has had a reasonable snowfall this year, they have also suffered some warm spells and the week before we arrived was super warm, including some rain. The snow Wednesday night into Thursday was enough to cover most of the ice, but on the steeps we still sometimes scraped through the soft snow to icy moguls. No fun on a snowboard, but fortunately we found a lot of spots that were not bad. There were great trees off Challenger and Lone Tree Quad. We also traversed out off Headwaters Double to Alder Gulch, which was a steep north facing slope so the sun crust under the powder wasn’t as bad. Overall it was a really fun day. No pics because the visibility was pretty bad the whole time.
Thursday night we drove to the trailhead to Beehive Basin. We quickly learned our chains are easy to install and work great! The best part of the story is that they were not needed on the van. A kid who works at Big Sky and lives in his Volvo was parked out there and his nearly bald tires had him seriously stuck on the hill trying to get out of the trailhead. Lucky for him we had nearly the same size tires and so he used our chains to get up the hill back to the resort. We tried to find him and the woman he was with at the lifts the next day, but we missed them. They get a shoutout, though, because they promised to follow the blog!
There was another young couple sleeping in their truck in the parking lot with a dog who quickly became Kenai’s best friend. The couple was doing an insane ski mountaineering race today. Seriously, check out that map and look at the requirements. (I know they have to make it sound ominous, but knowing the area they are serious about the potential for a 1200 foot fall that could result in serious injury and/or death.) They have to climb Lone Peak twice, ski down Big Couloir once, hike some knife-edge ridges, and otherwise complete 16-18 miles and 9000-10,000 feet of climbing. It was great fun hanging and talking with them so I hope they rocked. We are going to check in with them to see how it went and follow some of their other crazy ski-mountaineering events.
For the first time we really put our induction stove and electrical system to the test. Sara made a delicious one-pot sweet potato-chorizo skillet. It required simmering for 30 minutes so I was curious how much it would draw down our batteries, but it was not a problem at all. The solar charged it back up super quick the next afternoon.
Friday was a much nicer day. This was the view as we climbed out of the trailhead back toward the resort.
Lone Peak has to be one of the most gorgeous ski mountains. Not many ski areas are on a single peak like this and I think it is unique for North America. When we finally got to the mountain (because we have been sleeping in seriously late) we headed straight for the tram. The tram line was quit long – probably 45 minutes – but we wanted to get to the top. The clouds were blowing in intermittently so this was the view as we were headed up the first time.
These clouds blew through it was largely clear off the top. Our goal Friday was to the southern exposure of the mountain so we dropped off the other side into Liberty Bowl. There was actually a fair amount of powder still to be found, but the sun crunch underneath was pretty significant. It was a mix of powder, heavy crud, and a bit of ice, but overall still really fun riding as long as you didn’t relax too much. There was also a lot of exposed rock just under the powder so our bases and edges took a beating. It was worth it for the sweet turns, though.
After a couple more tree runs on that side we decided to go back for another tram ride. The snow off the top was too much fun to pass up and we saw another steep bowl we wanted to hit. The view this time was much better than before.
We came down Marx chute/bowl and it. was. awesome. After a single, super steep icy turn off the traverse at the top we were able to hug the right ridge where all the snow blows in from the west. It was as steep as anything we have ridden (our gps says 46 deg. and, although I would say using the gps app to calculate the slope is questionable at best, in this case it happens to match my estimate so I’m going to call it dead on accurate) and even though it did have a hard crust underneath there was enough firm, windblown powder on top to give a consistent, soft ride. (I realize that sentence may not make sense for non-skiers/snowboarders, but I promise it makes sense.) It was fantastic and a great surface for something that steep. Worth every minute we waited in line for the tram.
Friday night we met up in Bozeman with one of my high school buddies who I haven’t seen in about 17 years. It was great catching up and talking about high school stories and the sometimes stupid things we did. We went out to a true Montana hole-in-the-wall steakhouse and I one of the best ribeyes I’ve eaten. (No one will ever top the pan-fried moose ribeye w/maple butter prepared by Colin in Hellgate Gorge. I am 100% confident I will never have a better steak in my life.) We spent the evening bs’ing about high school and catching up on the last 17 years. I’m sure Sara was completely entertained.
This morning we caught up with a Wight family friend who we last visited in Bozeman in 1997 – the last time we were at Big Sky and on the same trip during which I proposed to Sara while skiing at Bridger Bowl. Having no schedule and getting to catch up with old friends has been a great part of the van adventure. If we haven’t seen you in ten or twenty years, expect us to show up in your driveway (and shower) with minimal warning!
Now we are off to Fernie, BC and the start of the Powder Highway. Let it snow!