Surpise attack - The Canyons

Last week we seized the day and made a last minute trip to The Canyons down in Utah. T's sister was taking her family on a spring break ski trip at The Canyons. Turns out it's much cheaper and easier for that matter to get from FL to UT rather than MT. Without her knowing we loaded up the babies, lots of gear, put in a DVD to distract the kids and headed out. Dry roads meant smooth sailing for the eight hours down I-15.

We arrived and tried to figure a way to surprise everyone. After all was said and done, my nephew was floored when we answered a knock at the door and found 2 little cuties standing at the door. T and I got a day to ski together with our nephew and we sampled some great snow. The Canyons had rec'd 11" the day before, 5" the day we skied and 5" more the second day we skied. It's a different world skiing swanky 6 pack high speed lifts when you are used to 30 year old slow ass Riblet chairlifts (see Snowbowl).

The second day I met up with a local shredder and got the ultimate tour of The Canyons. We headed up the hike off the 9990 chair and skied some great snow on the four runs we did. I had a binding malfunction on my 8 year old Fritchi Freerides on the first slackcountry run, so the rest of the day I busted crud on the Pro's.



Thanks to everyone! Thanks M and T, Toby, T, and Black Diamond for great customer service.

Slednecks highmarking set off huge avalanche

I came across this crazy video of a sledneck making a insanely stupid highmark somewhere in Canada. I'm not sure of the outcome, but it appears that he made it out. Watching the 'bilers at the bottom beating feet out of there is kind of comical in a scary sort of way. One thing I am sure of, that guys pants are stained with brown.

Massive crown in Gulmarg, India

Holy balls. I stumbled across this image which was taken at Gulmarg, India. From what I can tell they recently had a pretty big storm.

This puppy let'er rip. I couldn't find many details, only that it was a 18 foot crown! Not sure on whether it was natural or done under control work. But all I can say is, WTF?

Gulmarg came onto my petty little radar about a year ago. I think the Euros probably have been going there for quite a while longer.

If you haven't heard of Gulmarg before, here's a few links etc to get started. Myself? I'm doing some research and am thinking that this trip is in order, sometime in the near future. There is something really cool to me about traveling to a 3rd world setting and shredding some pow.

Who's in?

Info/beta

The Line of Control <<<< href="http://www.gulmarg.org/">Gulmarg.org

Ski Himalaya

Gulmarg facts

Lets go.........Matt, Steve and Nate I'm talking to you!

Full Tilt boots

Huh, maybe I've been asleep at the wheel, I 'm really not sure. This boot company slipped by me, probably somewhere along the line while I was worried more about where my daughter's snuggie was.

Anyway, my buddy Sammy just sent over a link to me to the Full Tilt website (see http://www.fulltiltboots.com) where these guys are putting out some sweet looking boots. As many remember Raichle was pretty damn popular, cult status to many. I however, have never experienced the supposed luxury of these boots personally. Perhaps after the Technica's give out, I'll give'm a whirl.

Full Tilt boots managed to get the coveted rights to the old Raichle Flexon, even though Dalbello's been making the Krypton boot for a few years. The new Full Tilt boots are exactly like the old Flexons with only a couple changes (mainly the liners been upgraded with more modern material). Full Tilt actually acquired the original Flexon mold.

Yurtski yurt trip

This year myself and 3 other buddies reserved the Yurtski yurt up in the Swans for the third year in a row. It seems to becoming an annual tradition, one we all look forward to. The yurt sits at about 6900 feet and very close to great skiing. The peaks and ridges around yurt top out at 8100 feet with most runs being in the 800' vert range.

We have been pretty fortunate each year we've been on the snow conditions. In 2007, the snow was great too, check out this video from that year. The 2008-09 winter in W. Montana has been a bit hit or miss this year, but we timed this trip pretty good. After a long dry spell, we arrived at the yurt with sunny skies. They morphed into a pretty constant snowfall for the next 4 days, nothing huge but enough to soften things up.

Two of us got into the yurt at about noon the first day and wasted no time getting out to sample the goods. A friend of ours had the yurt for the previous 5 days, so he lined us out on where the good skiing was. He also had a keg of beer which we did our best to help lighten the load for the ride down.

The next 3 days were pretty fricking nice. Each morning we'd wake and cook damn good breakfasts (sorry Nate for having to cook on your birthday) and get right after it. Most of the ski time was spent off the backside in the dark north trees. The sun hardly touches this snow, so its always consistent. Avalanche danger was moderate, but the south slopes were very sun affected with a nasty crust on it.

I put together a little video from the trip. Bear with it, there is not a lot of variety just good mellow tree pow. Like I said we spent a lot of time in the trees where the snow was good and the visiblity managable. Enjoy


Dark Force from O.P.I. on Vimeo.

March powdah

This last week has been filled with some highs and lows. But mostly highs, especially today's 16" of fresh March powder. Mid last week I got a call from some friends that were headed to Alaska Rendezvous Lodge outside of Valdez, Alaska. Turns out a couple that was going with them cancelled, thus losing their very $ deposit. It looked like I might be able to "use" their lost deposit. I scrambled at the chance, looking at last minute flights etc. I had even contemplated renting a car in Anchorage and driving the 5 hours to Valdez and then possibly sleeping in the car, existing on bar food-- all just to keep it $omewhat reasonable. Well, in the end I realized that I was not a doctor or dentist, only a lowly fireman that should probably just stick with the local Montana backcountry, at least until I win the lottery. Enter today...

Storm warnings had been issued and we finalized the logistics for the day. I met up with a buddy in the Bitterroot and we headed south. White curtains pushed hard against the peaks surrounding the valley. Huge flakes dropped out of the sky and we made slow time going up the pass. Did I say huge? We contemplated parking out on the highway, the lot was looking a little too deep. But alas, a quick bit of courage showed us the way and we unloaded the sleds. Finally, winter was back. It seemed like it had been too long.

Off the backside, we delightfully devoured deep deliciousness. Upon parking the sleds there was about 8" new. The skies continued to dump all day long, with the wind helping to fill in our skintrack on each run. By the time we got back to the truck, 8 more big ones had stacked up. Sixteen inches of March powder followed by Bitterroot Brewing IPA, come on. Does winter need to end?

**Slideshow, if you don't have Flash you may only see a white box below

Proposed Avalanche Danger Scale Survey‏

If you have a few minutes and care about avalanche forecasting, take a look at this email from the West Central MT Avalanche Center:

This morning I posted a link to a survey that asks specific questions
regarding the current and proposed language in the Avalanche Danger Scale
used in the US and Canada. A group of avalanche forecasters met last fall
and basically agreed to the change (with some tweaking) which you'll see
within the survey. This survey is a focus test of the proposed scale. It
takes about 15 minutes, is kind of fun and is your chance to weigh in on
the avalanche danger scale. You'll also have a chance to win a prize!

Here's the link:

http://surveys.globalepanel.com/wix/p319164581.aspx

Thanks!  Give me or Dudley a call if you have any questions regarding this.

Steve Karkanen
Director
West Central Montana Avalanche Center

I need to go here some day

The Don Sheldon Mountain house in Denali National Park looks unreal. I stumbled on a great trip report from last year on the TGR site. This place looks endless, but a spot that you need need to have some serious skills. I'm dreaming about one day in the future..........

Here's some basic info that I scraped up. There's not a whole out there on it, but I'll be putting this one in the back pocket.

Don Sheldon Amphitheater—a 25-square-mile icefield fed by a half dozen glaciers. The reservable Don Sheldon Mountain House that’s perched on a narrow ridge between glaciers. Most of all, when the frequent fog and clouds clear for a time, the southern flank of Denali presides over all and you’re closer than most people ever get.The tiny, one-room Mountain House is reservable by calling Roberta Sheldon at Alaska Retreat but is often booked solid a year in advance.

Check out a lot more great pictures in this thread: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Some great pictures >> http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118171

Delivering the goods

Heading out for Bozeman bright and early tomorrow to go peddle some books. Lots of phone calls to all the BZN shops, lots or orders. We're psyched to have it on the shelves again.

Not sure if they'll be time to ski Bridger while I'm down there......we'll see

2nd edition: Stepping Up - A Guide to The Ridge at Bridger Bowl

Here we are nearly 10 years after I thought about putting this book together. We now have an updated version of Stepping Up. It's hard to believe that the book will be out on the shelves in about a week. We had thought that we might not do the 2nd edition for a few more years. But things change, and I made a decision in December to rally. I spent some long days and nights at the computer in order to get it out this winter.


Stepping Up – A Guide to The Ridge at Bridger Bowl was released in March 2005, and the first edition was entirely sold out by the end of March 2008. The book contains a foreword by Scot Schmidt, interview with Tom Jungst and closing by Dr. Robb Gaffney. Stepping Up received excellent reviews in Couloir Magazine and Outside Bozeman, it was also mentioned in Powder Magazine and The Ski Journal.

For the second printing, we have increased the amount if images in both the photo insert and body of the book, as well as made revisions to accurately reflect changes that have taken place at Bridger since 2005. Areas of interest are the Fingers, High Traverse and The Ridge. The book is 102 pages and contains 90 quality images (including pictures of Scot Schmidt, Doug Coombs, Tom Jungst, Jim Conway and other local riders). We are expecting the book to be available at local retailers in 2 weeks, you can also order a copy on our website: http://www.stepping-up.net. If you have any specific questions, please drop us a line, stepping-up@hotmail.com.

Cutting up the meat

Skiing is slow these days, we're all waiting for the next storm. W Montana really hasn't had any snow (at least more than a 6" dump) for about a month now. We're moving into our 2nd solid high pressure/inversion situation. This week its supposed to be in the 40's in the mountains. The snowpack has stabilized and has a nasty crust on almost all aspects. We're ready Ullr, anytime.

Here's a little video that I put together this fall of J and I butchering the cow elk I got on opening day. Yeah I know this is boring, but I am bored too. And you must be too if you are reading this.


Elk butcher 08 from freakofsnow on Vimeo.

Sled trigged avalanche POV

Um, can you say lucky? I've got a couple other words for it too, but I'll let the video do the talking.

3 avalanche fatalities in SW Montana

Yowzer, yesterday was not a good day for the backcountry in southwest Montana. According to the Gallatin NF Avalanche Center there were three avalanche fatalities. There has been a lot of bad things happening out there, you can check out this season's accidents over at the Avalanche.org website (http://www.avalanche.org/av-reports/index.html). I believe with these recent deaths, the tallies are: USA Fatalities: 16, Canada Fatalities: 13; Total Fatalities: 29.

Here's the write up from the Gallatin AC site:

Yesterday there were three avalanche fatalities in southwest Montana, two outside the advisory area and one within. One avalanche fatality occurred in the mountains north of Cooke City near Daisy Pass. This was a massive avalanche, and we have few details. Doug and I will be going to Cooke City today for an investigation and will have more details in tomorrow’s advisory.

Another avalanche occurred near Mt Jefferson in the Centennial Range. The victim was wearing a beacon, but was buried under 8 ft of snow and it took 30 minutes to extricate him. More details can be found at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_id_avalanche_death.html

A third avalanche fatality occurred in the Gravelly Range near Black Butte. This avalanche was 200 ft wide and ran 75 vertical feet. It occurred on an east facing slope at 9000ft. A group of 14 riders met in a meadow and noticed someone from the group was missing. They searched for him and found his sled in avalanche debris at the base of a small slope. Everyone was carrying rescue gear and began a beacon search. They immediately detected a signal from the victim’s beacon and found him under 2 feet of snow. Once they got him out of the debris they performed CPR. The victim was buried for approximately 15 minutes. This was an experienced group of riders well equipped with rescue gear and aware of current avalanche conditions with no intentions of climbing steep slopes.

Photos of this avalanche are posted at: http://www.mtavalanche.com/photos/photos.php

A video clip can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMi1gtaH-o

Meanwhile, over in Western Montana the snowpack seems to be stabilizing. The Friday report from the Missoula Avalanche Center rated LOW on most slopes and at all elevations. Moderate rating on some terrain features such as wind loaded slopes steeper than 35° or areas where the snowpack is shallow with rock outcroppings where it would be easier to collapse through to the weaker facets near the ground.

A few friends and I toured out behind Snowbowl on Friday and found their reports to be accurate. We dug a pit on a S aspect at 8100ft and found a RB6. In general the snow was consistently bonded, but faceted near the ground. We found evidence of some large slides on similar aspects that looked to have occurred sometime last week. These slides ran to the ground, with crowns of 18" to 30" and widths of ~150 yards. Riding conditions were good where the sun had warmed up the snow. Here's a few pics of the fun.


Be safe out there. My sincere condolences to the families and friends of these recent tragedies.

Remember to set your din?

Friendly reminder to check your din settings on your bindings.

A New Years Eve present

Rode the 'Bowl yesterday on the eve of 2009 and had a great day that ended with a bang. Although only one inch was reported at the morning phone call but the storm looked to be coming in hard that morning. I lucked into first chair and enjoyed some perfect storm riding all day long. After lunch the wind began to pick up, I noticed on a few lift rides that it was actually snowing at a 45degree upward angle.

I heard some patrollers talking about some large trees falling in the bowls and in Far East. The next ride up the chair lift, me and buddy were casually talking. Next thing we hear a loud cracking noise coming from the nearby trees. Oh shit is all I could think.

Then we see a 50ft tree breaking off at the stump and falling towards the downhill chair cable. It landed right next to the chair in front of us, exploding needles and branches went everywhere, nearly missing the lady on the chair. The tree then hung on the cable as the lift continued to spin, it bounced a few times and fell to the ground. As a result the chairs on that side were bouncing wildly and swinging to horizontal. I grabbed the chair like a little girl and at the same time contemplated jumping. I thought for sure the chair was going to derail. Turns out we made it to the top, where I promptly informed the top shack. The chair was shut down for the rest of the day.

Never a dull moment at the Bowl. Below is a "re-enactment" of the situation. Thanks to Jesse K for the pic (taken today).