We're entering a little heat wave in Missoula. The snowbanks have shrank to meaningless dirty humps. It's the time of year when every time you look out the window the weather is doing something different. I personally favor the snowing and sunny types of days.
The sun looks to be pushing into the 60's this weekend. Gone are the chances of having any really cold snaps. The winter has been mild as far as harsh low temperatures in the valley. In the higher elevations the winter has been good to us, Snowbowl has 66" at the base and 92" on top.
We took a trip over to Discovery the other day and had the kids slopes and the lodge for that matter to ourselves. The kids pizza'd when they should have pizza'd and all turned out well. Check out this guy french frying when he should have pizza'd., hilarious!
If you get the chance, go to the Sweet Palace in Philipsburg, our kids kinda liked it.
I think most of us can agree that success can be gauged in many ways. I am going to count some success from last week at the local ski hills tow rope. The first time they were barely 2.5 years old and it was quite a chore to keep them out there for longer than 10 minutes. Fast forward 2 winters and we've got smiles and progress. We heard cheers of excitement and saw proud smiles. They have even began to do the tow rope SOLO. For anyone that has rode Snowbowl's tow rope, you know how big of an accomplishment that is. Granted the first attempt was not pretty, although very amusing, her grip and horizontal body was a sight to see.
Essex uni-cycler
I have continued to stuff copious amounts of sugar laden treats into their mouth at the top of each run. Some may call it cheating but I call it effective. Each girl now skis solo down the short hill and can make turns in and out of the cones. Anyway enough doting on my girls. Thanks for reading whoever you might be. I hope you enjoy some of these pics from the last few weeks. Album over here>>> https://plus.google.com/photos/100316566231417237314/albums/5711358169842705617
I'm here for a very tardy report on last weeks "Snowpocalypse". The weather peeps had been predicting a massive storm for a full week. I was in the camp that thoroughly believed they would only maybe get a 1/4 of the total right. But as it turned out many mountain locations received 4 feet +. The picture to the left was taken by a U of M student and volunteer patroller at Snowbowl, great pics! If you are interested in seeing more, check them out on the FB Snowbowl Ski Patrol page.
The snow in town started to fall on Tuesday and didn't let up until Thursday. Even the often snow blessed Bozangles area watched closely as they still sat with a sad sad base of 24". A friend salivated on my snow report Tuesday night and white knuckled it over from Bozeman. He timed the storm perfect and saw Snowbowl in prime conditions for 2 days. NWS Missoula reported 15.7 inches (Jan. 17-19), which marks the seventh deepest dump since records were first kept in 1893 (The record, 41.1 inches of snow over Christmas in 1996). Snowbowl totaled over 40" for the week. Bringing the base to 80" up top and 36" below.
A couple friends and I joked how it felt like we had come off a bender, a powder bender (urban dictionary defines bender as: The status of being bent
for more than a day. Usually results in loss of memory, money, strange
tattoos, and other things you'll have a hell of a time explaining.) I was fortunate enough to be scheduled off work and have a very understanding mother-in-law that watched the two rugrats while I choked on powder. We shrugged some responsibilities and ended up with sore legs. No sympathy wanted or needed. Just reporting the facts ma'am.
Huge berm after the big dump
Below is a vid I found from the week of snow, some good POV of what the conditions were like. Cheers and thanks for reading.
Montana Snowbowl isn't doing to bad on their snowpack compared to many places around the nation. We're sitting at 58" inch base up top and 24" down at the base. But then if you compare that to Tahoe areas at 12 -18", most Colorado resorts at 30" and the big winner....Mt. Baker at 120". British Columbia seems to be holding in the second spot to Western Montana at a little over 70".
Over the last week we've listened to weather people spew forth their ominous snow forecasts for this week. Last week, they started projecting 4 to 8 feet to fall starting today - Thursday. The valley as usual (except for last year) has been very slow to pick up any snow. Really the only snow to speak of was a few weeks ago when we received a few inches. When last year at this time we had huge snowbanks in town. (see below)
Our rather large posse slayed the slopes of Snowbowl today during the impending storm. We sampled 4" that fell throughout the day. Snow was coming in sideways at times and we reveled at the possibilities of the storm. As my mother-in-law says to my daughters...You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.
This was supposed to be the repeat of last year's La Nina winter.
However, this seems to be what most skiers are having nightmares of in the winter of 2011/2012. Leave it to Backcountry.com for capturing some of the best captions ever on this photo (unsure photog).
Skiing will get better, and for now Snowbowl has 56" summit (7600') and 23" at the base (5000'), which is more than many ski areas in the west have. For now there is not a lick of snow the Missoula valley and I'm thinking maybe I should mow my lawn? What are you doing? you know you guys can comment in here, right?
Look at the snow cover from last year vs. this year, wow.
I ran across this great short movie from Jordan Manley over at TetonAT. It's impressive cinematography, capturing the massive scale very well. If you like the thoughts of exploration and remoteness, mixed in with some skiing you will probably like this.
La Nina, is a little blah nina right now. Montana is needing a bit of a refresh in the snow department. Today it hovered around the freezing mark with blue clear skies. But as we all know, the weather can and will turn on the drop of a dime. In the meantime, it affords such luxuries as access to the early winter poop thaw in the backyard (sorry for the visual, but its a fact of life around these parts).
And I finally got around to finishing another time-lapse of Lolo Pass. A few of you may have watched one I did two winters ago 2009-2010. The 2010-11 winter as most people remember was big almost everywhere in the west. The Idaho/Montana border at Lolo Pass in particular saw a ton of snow.
As I did last time, I tried to save an image from everyday, then pasted them together for a time lapse. The melt from May to July is fun to watch. And for anybody wondering about the Mega Load, you can make up your own mind here.
Hopefully you've been out there hot doggin' it up. The winter seems to be starting off a bit slow around these parts and actually around the nation. Snowbowl is open on the weekends plus fridays for now. I made it up last week and found a few good hours of entertainment. The bowls aren't open yet and you'll have plenty of trees to top on the way down, but hey at least its skiing. Now get out there and do some ski ballet and pray for snow.
I put my last hunting day in the bag last Saturday. It was a good day to be outside, but not necessarily the best day for hunting as the snow was very loud. It was impossible to be stealth. The 6" of snow had warmed in the last day or two, crusting over with another few inches on top. We joked that we might have just as well banged some symbols as you walked through the woods. But we made a day of it and walked as slow as possible, then sat on top of a knob overlooking a couple saddles.
Great views showed us a few separate groups of does nearby, but no bucks chasing them. We also spied 3 other hunters on various ridges surrounding us. Across the way, maybe a mile and half as the crow would fly, we could see at least 30 elk. A dozen of them appeared to sport nice racks. If only that area were open to hunt.
But back to the idea behind this post. Mountain lions. I saw at least 3 mountain lions while I was hunting this year. Two of them in the same general area, the other a couple hours south. Spotting a mountain lion is truly a rare occurance.
The first cat I saw was about a week after I shot my deer. I was walking into the same area and could hear coyotes, they sound like they are fighting. I glassed down
there and saw a mountain lion
slinking around, seemingly as if defending the carcass. I listen as the
coyotes and the lion seem to fight it out for about 5 minutes.
Eventually I see the coyotes run off into the pasture. After a few loud coughs to alert the cat of my presence, I walked within 150 yards of it all and continued on my hunt.
A few weeks later in the same area, a friend and I were about a mile from the first sighting, hunting during quite a storm. Flakes and wind blew into our face as we cruised through the timber. He spotted a mature mountain lion in front of us at about 150 yards. He described it as leaping over a small knob after looking over its shoulder at us. I glassed in that direction and spotted a cat about 25 feet to the left. We sat for 4-5 minutes, staring at each other. The hair stood up on the backs of our neck as we changed directions and hunted carefully for the next 10 minutes.
The very next day I was 50 miles to the south hunting east of Hamilton with another friend. We had a productive day, harvesting a nice mule deer buck and following fresh elk tracks all day. Heading out, we hit the pavement in the fading fall light and drove east in the canyon. In the borrow pit, a mountain lion sprinted parallel to the road. We sped up and were able to get next to it for a second. It then lept off into the willows and disappeared with only the rustling of the willow bushes.
So at the end of the season, I could at least say I had the 3 unique opportunities to see a big cat in the while. Was this a consolation prize for not getting an elk? I don't know but it was one that I won't probably repeat. I looked into a bit of the facts about mountain lions and found they usually require a lot of room—only a few cats can survive in a
30-square-mile (78-square-kilometer) range. They are solitary and shy
animals, seldom seen by humans. While they do occasionally attack
people—usually children or solitary adults—statistics show that, on
average, there are only four attacks and one human fatality each year in
all of the U.S. and Canada.
I'll leave you with an exciting but graphic video of a mountain lion taking down a deer. There, I warned you. Anybody else out there see anything interesting this Fall?
One of things I've come to realize I like most about hunting, is the fact that you can never expect anything. Of course the ole' cliche, expect the unexpected is easy to apply. You can plan and dream all season long but as things unravel, you are surprised constantly. The variables when out in the field drive you to pay attention. Maybe it's the weather. It was supposed to be 50deg, the sun drifting low along the horizon light. Instead low slung gray clouds spit rain with gusts blowing sideways. Sometimes you walk 12 miles and don't see a thing, other times you walk a mile and see everything. The picture above was taken from 50 yards, near 50 elk but none of the variety that I was allowed to put in my freezer.
Your planning, route and equipment is what you can count on, with the later being a huge factor. Luckily I have been picking some clothing and gear that keeps my body warm and happy. I like logistics, so I thrive on the plan of the hunt. The hunting route and navigation keeps me up at night. Envisioning the ambush or stalk in my minds eye.
Each time I've been out this season, I've found or seen somethings that's perked my ears. Not to mention the colors this fall have made it easy to walk. I was lucky enough to take a nice 4x4 whitetail the day after opening. A friend harvested a black bear the previous day. I spied a mountain lion munching on my deer carcass. All they while picking up sheds as I go along. Here's to walking in the mountains.
Tomorrow is the opening hunting day of big game in Montana. I'm jacked to say the least. I have certainly missed not hunting antelope this year. I missed the barren flats, the bitter wind, the crunch of sage and the gumbo. I realized this year antelope also fills the gap between early rifle and regular season. Quelling the urge to get in the field. The fact of the matter is it is usually action packed and high energy. It ranks right up there with elk hunting for me.
I ran across this article, Blood on the Tracks - which spurred me to post up.
Here was an earlier report from MTFWP:
In southeastern Montana, FWP Region 7, antelope numbers are 57 percent below the previous 10 year average. Winter survival was also severely impacted here by last winter's harsh conditions.
"Winter stress caused spring birth rates to be very low in FWP Region 7," Kujala said. "The 2011 fawn to doe ratio in FWP Region 7 was 47 fawns per 100 does, compared to the long-term average of 73 fawns per 100 does."
I accompanied a friend yesterday while he was bowhunting in an area behind his house. We covered about 6 miles and gained 2500 feet. The day proved to be a good one, a very fine fall day with temps in the 50s and a brisk wind. The colors were absolutely brilliant especially in the upper elevations (~5500ft), with the ground shrubs throwing bright reds and the larch turning yellow. We had great views of snow capped peaks in the Missions, Rattlenakes and Swans. We spied a couple cow elk at 300 yards, not close enough for the ole' bow and arrow.
On the weird and strange front of things; we came across this:
What you see here is a pile of wolf scat atop a dropped headlamp. The headlamp appeared to have been dropped by a hunter within the last year. Then a wolf happened upon it, smelled the human scent and decided to mark it by shitting on it. I really do need to buy wolf tag this year.
We're entering a little heat wave in Missoula. The snowbanks have shrank to meaningless dirty humps. It's the time of year when every time you look out the window the weather is doing something different. I personally favor the snowing and sunny types of days.
