Wayne Phillips drops into a tele turn on Showdown's Big Seven run Saturday in the Little Belt Mountains.

 

Perfect weather. Perfect snow. Perfect tele day!

Spring tele turns on May 10!

It had rained overnight and I had scrapped plans to hike in the Gates of the Mountains Saturday. I was satisfied to go for a walk with my wife and Wayne Phillips in the neighborhood. It was a pretty, but a little chill morning that promised to warm up, a perfect Spring day.
A few blocks into this 10:30 a.m., walk Phillips turned to me and asked, ‘What are we doing walking here when we could be skiing? I’ll bet there’s new powder up on the hill.’
We walked a couple more blocks as I vacillated about what to do.
I made up my mind, we turned around and both headed for home to prepare for a quick run to Showdown, hoping for good snow.
We were richly rewarded for the decision. We found new snow in the upper reaches of the Belt Creek Canyon and 2 to 3 inches of new powder at Kings Hill Pass at Showdown.
We were greeted by a young fellow who had just come down the hill and who pronounced the skiing excellent.
The powder was on top of hard pack, just perfect for tele skiing.
We took two trips to the top of Porphyry Peak at the top of the deserted downhill ski area. Big Seven was particularly fun to ski.
This was one of the latest in the season ski trips I’ve taken.
It was one of the best.

 

The Pasque flower, a sure sign of spring on Highwood Baldy.

 

Mark Hertenstein approaches the mountain saddle in the snow. The snow has mostly cleared in the mountains in the distance.

 

You can see my snowshoe tracks on Highwood Baldy's summit cap.

 

A self portrait at the top of Highwood Baldy Saturday.

A climbing tune-up: Highwood Baldy

I haven’t put my skis away yet, but the snow is starting to clear so it is time to start hiking.
What better spot around Great Falls for a tune-up climb than Highwood Baldy (elevation: 7,670 feet) a 3,200 feet gainer from the Deer Creek Trailhead about a mile from the Thain Creek Campground turnoff?
Highwood Baldy is the most prominent landmark on the eastern Great Falls horizon.
There is still a fair amount of snow on the Deer Creek bottom, but the flanks to the east and west are pretty clear.
The wildflowers are starting to pop up, the Pasque flower, fritillary, biscuit root, buttercup and even a shooting star were visible.
We could hike, even in the snow, until we hit about 6,800 feet where the forest appears above the grassy west slopes just below the summit cap.
I hauled my snowshoes up and they came in handy at this point.
Psychologically, it is tough for me to put on snowshoes. I’m a backcountry skiing kind of guy.
The mountains are just barely starting to green.
The weather for this climb was absolutely perfect. There was a light wind, blue-hazy skies, and warmth enough to wear a tee shirt most the way.
It was pleasant to find myself in acceptable early season condition. The climb was no problem.
It portends a good hiking season ahead.

 

Celebrating my 60th birthday on telemark slopes in the Little Belt Mountains on a gorgeous spring day.

 

Why wouldn't Shelly and George Likness be happy as they crest the top of Porphyry Peak atop Showdown Ski Area on their way to the North Porphyry tele bowls?

 

Earning their turns.

 

Wayne Phillips works his way down the North Porphyry Peak bowls with telemark turns.

The Big "6-0" and counting

This will have to count for my annual birthday hike/climb.
I’m 60 today, but had to work and come back in for a late meeting.
So, I took advantage of the spectacularly warm weather and deep snow in the Little Belts Sunday and celebrated my big day by climbing Porphyry Peak (elevation, 8,192 feet) and telemarked its north bowls for a couple of hours.
Porphyry is the mountain at the top of the Showdown Ski Area that has been closed since the first week of April.
The mountain has been hit with several snowstorms since its closing, though.
And skiers who don’t mind skinning to earn their turns have laid down tracks all across the Big Seven run.
Although the snow has been glazed by the melt and thaw cycle on its east face, the north side had some good powder. It got wet and heavy as the day wore on and presented a waxing and scraping problem.
The sky was cloudless, showing off the Little Belt Mountains to their best advantage. I haven’t seen as much snow at this time of year in many years on Big Baldy, the range high point at over 9,000 feet.
After skiing I rushed back to town to speak on a panel on Island Ranges at the Montana Wilderness Association state convention.
Then, when I got home my wife threw a surprise birthday party for me under the guise of showing some friends a travelogue of our trip to Italy.
The skiing and snow put me in a good frame of mind to begin my seventh decade.

 

Montana Wilderness Association members enjoying the Turtle Head rock area on the Fingers Bay hike Saturday.

 

Most folks who do the Fingers Bay hike walk right past this rather large spring, not realizing it is there, within sight of the Morony trailhead.

 

The fritilary, our first wildflower of the hiking season.

Don't let the weather fool you

After the minus 8 temperature and 15 inches of snow earlier in the week I didn’t hold out much hope for the hike I was supposed to lead for the Montana Wilderness Association convention Saturday.
My wife and I had planned to lead the North Shore River’s Edge Trail Ryan to Morony segment known as “Fingers Bay.”
I was so sure it would be so snowy, wet and cold that I even scouted an alternative route.
When we gathered at the Heritage Inn Saturday for the hike it was cold but clear and I was ready to abandon ship. However, I had underestimated the MWA hikers who wanted to go anyway.
What good fortune we had.
When we ferried the car to the Morony end of the trail we realized the trail would be dry and the snow had vanished miraculously.
The 10 hikers didn’t even find any mud and the weather warmed us nicely on this cloudless day.
Along the way we found the beginnings of the spring crop of flowers, the phlox, the fritillary, and dandelions.
The rock outcroppings, formations and shoreline thrilled the hikers who came from the far ends of the state.
My wife, Katie, loves this hike, a remote undulating walk of about 4 miles.

 

My old skinny Fischer E-99s take a rest at the mailbox.

Record spring snow storm; good neighborhood skiing

We really got nailed with a great spring snowstorm this weekend.
It looks like it was a record for April 20. The Weather Service says the airport got 9.6 inches of snow, with the record having been 8.2 inches set in 1967.
I think we got more than that here in town.
And, the snow is filled with moisture.
I found it difficult to shovel this morning. There is a bottom layer of a couple of inches of wet slush.
I opted against heading for the mountains. The highways are snowpacked and icy.
Instead, I found plenty of ski-able snow in my local park, Russell, and laid down first tracks in fresh snow.
I suspect it will be good again tomorrow before it starts to warm up and create a slushy mess.
I love skiing in my neighborhood. I ski right out of my garage and down the street.
In the neighborhood I like to use my old E-99 metal edged skinny Fisher skis with leather boots. It reminds me of the old days.
I’m a tad worried about the ground conditions for the planned Montana Wilderness Association convention hikes along the river next weekend. At the very least it is going to be a soggy mess. I have some 12 people already signed up for my Ryan to Morony dams hike along the north shore.
I think this snow should last in the mountains and plan to ski next Sunday.

 

We took full advantage of the snow we could get on the Continental Divide Trail between Flesher and Rogers passes, being careful not to get too close to the cornices.

 

Massive Red Mountain across the Lincoln vally, the highest point in the Scapegoat Wilderness, was a constant visual companion on our trip.

 

You can see the ribbon of snow on the CD Trail. That was enough for us.

 

An example of how the snow would run out on the trail. At this point we pull off our skis and walk to the next patch of snow.

Spring fling---Flesher to Rogers

Although it is a resource of national significance I think the Continental Divide Trail is an ignored Great Falls-area asset.
It is as close as Kings Hill Pass is to Great Falls, some 66 miles, and is accessible from the Helena area (McDonald Pass), the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park.
Most winters I love to ski the Stemple to Flesher portion of the pass. I didn’t make it this year, the first time in years.
Spring is a particularly good time to hit the CD Trail for skiing because in most places it is up high.
That’s what we did on Saturday, skiing the remote Flesher to Rogers passes stretch, some 12.2 miles officially, but actually much longer because of its many twists and turns.
For the most part we found snow, sometimes good snow. But there were several stretches where we had to take off our skis and walk because the area is west and south facing and gets lots of wind and sun.
We started from the Flesher side to make sure those southwest winds would be to our back.
We save this backcountry ski trip for the spring because it needs a long day to complete.
Five years ago we did it in 13 hours. Saturday we were in just under 12 hours. Those were 12 hours of pretty constant motion, although we did take a half-hour for lunch.
I think we could have trimmed at least an hour to an hour and a half if I hadn’t been so slow. I found myself having endurance and strength troubles about half-way through, and for the rest of the trip couldn’t get into the telemark stances I would need to make the trip more enjoyable.
When we started the snowpack was hard as rock, but we counted on it loosening up because we had an exceptionally clear bluebird day with temperatures that ranged from the 30s to the upper 40s all the way.
By the time we hit the best area to telemark, the snow had softened and it was heavenly gliding through the trees.
Although I was too tired to do telemark, the best slopes for that were in the Rogers Pass area in the trees to the west at the end of the trip.
This is a trip with numerous climbs and descents and where the ability to route find and read a map is essential.
It is unlike the Stemple to Flesher trip which is mostly on an old road.
The Flesher to Rogers trip covers areas where there are few signs of a trail, particularly in the first five or so miles.
Massive Red Mountain, more than 9,000 feet in elevation and the highest point in the Scapegoat Wilderness, dominates the horizon to the north and west. Its snow-covered slopes gleamed under the bright sun.
The west side of the mountains appear to have much more snow than the east side, which are pretty bare below 6,000 feet.
There is no shortage of open scenery on this trip. You can’t compare it to Stemple-Flesher, which is mostly in the trees.
It was interesting to see the hillsides of much of the Divide brown and bare except for the ribbon of white in the trail. We used that little bit of snow to our advantage.
I had underestimated the amount of energy I would have to expend on this trip, and am still a little jet-lagged from my return from Italy last weekend.
If you want a taxing and scenic trip, this is for you.
But know that spring is really upon us and it may be too late now.

 

Scoping out the awesome powder.

 

Barreling down the Weatherwax bowls.

Spring turns on Weatherwax bowls

I was really jet-lagged and trying to recover from a cold picked up on my trip to Italy, but it really snowed a ton and I just had to get to some of that fresh powder. We headed to the Weatherwax bowls at the top of Kings Hill Mountain on the east side of the pass in the Little Belts on Sunday. The snowmobilers were out, too, looking at the same area we were. So, we continued down the ridge about a half-mile further east and found bowls of fresh powder that would satisfy any telemark skier. I was plenty bushed, but the powder invigorated me, at least temporarily. After exhausting ourselves sufficiently with five top to bottom runs, we climbed Kings Hill and skied back down through the trees to the pass. Spring skiing doesn’t get any better.

 

My wife, Katie and I, on a bluff above the Italian city of Florence.

 

The Lakes Region of Italy's northern Alps was a pleasant and spectacular stop.

 

The walled Medieval city of San Geminano.

 

Miniature Smart cars are economical with $8 gas in Rome, and easy to park.

 

Bernini's High Renaissance piece, "Ecstasy of St. Theresa" was one of the many surprises we encountered by ducking into churches on our tour. By accident we discovered this masterpiece in Santa Maria Della Vittoria church while escaping the rain.

 

We were among the thousands who showed up in the rain on Easter Sunday at St. Peter's Square in Rome to hear Pope Benedict XVI say mass.

An immersion in Italy

Those who follow this blog may have noticed my two-week absence.
I’m so happy living and playing here that it is tough to get me out of Montana.
But, that is what my wife did with a two-week trip to Italy that included short stops in Switzerland and Germany.
This was not a climbing, skiing or hiking trip.
We took in the traditional cultural sites including Easter mass at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square with Pope Benedict XVI, the Forum, Coliseum, Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii, the Medieval walled towns of Orvieto, San Geminano, and Assisi, the Benedictine abbey of Monte Casino, Florence, Venice and Lakes Region including and Lake Como.
We had a home cooked dinner with a family in Sorrento, did wine tasting in Tuscany, watched mozzarella cheese made and even ate Italian fast food at truck stops called Auto Grills.
I’m still having a difficult time digesting everything we saw and did. We saw so many spectacular churches and works of art that I would be hard pressed to give a number.
The art history and western civilization courses sprang alive.
It was a thrill to see the Alps and the Apennine mountain ranges, to size up Mount Vesuvius. Who could not be thrilled with the sheer power of the Alps, their rugged forms and their glaciers. Now I can say that our Rockies, Cascades, and Sierras compare well. When I return --- and I will --- it will be to walk in the Italian mountains, specifically the Alps.
The return flight cruised over Greenland and Hudson’s Bay, both places I hope to visit someday on the ground.
Here are a couple of observations:
· The cost of gas is about $8 a gallon that makes our $3.35 gas look cheap. The little “Smart” cars, about half the size of an American subcompact, are everywhere. How can we keep our gas so cheap? How can we justify large vehicles?
· The American dollar is a joke, traded two for one Euro. Traveling in Europe is costly. You have to pay to go to the toilet in Italy and it ranges from 50 Euro cents to 1 Euro. A “Big Mac” at Italy’s McDonalds runs $4.50 Euros.
· The Italians find a way to charge for everything. You get hit for a cover charge in addition to the bill when you sit down. We learned to stand at bars when ordering a lunch or a coffee.
· The Europeans aren’t wasting their precious, fertile farmland the way we do in the U.S. People live in towns and cities that are vertical with multiple family units the rule. If you’re on a double lot there you’ve likely inherited a villa or castle. Public transportation is good and everywhere.
· The Italians love us. There is a strong memory of the U.S. role in Italian liberation during World War II.
· All the Italians we encountered have a strong sense of their history and culture. Art, music and history are fused and go back millennia.
· Art is everywhere, both secular and religious, and is supported by taxes. Even churches receive public subsidy, recognizing that they contain art treasures.
· Although we were there during an “off” season, the tourists are everywhere. We found “waves” of tourists not just at St. Mark’s Square in Venice, but in Florence’s main shopping district.
· Tourism is spreading shopping and kitsch everywhere. We found shops even within the Medieval walled communities. I was put off by the high end shopping at nearly every stop. There’s plenty to see and do in this historic country other than to shop.

Favorite experience? This had to be the walled Medieval communities, particularly Orvieto and Assisi. It will send me to my history books. I found myself more interested in the scenery of the province of Umbria rather than the much-touted and overrun Tuscany.
This trip was supposed to be a “taste” of Italy. It seems as though I have overeaten.