Thursday, March 09, 2017

Sunset Mountain again; best powder of season

Lots of snow has fallen at Rogers Pass
This backcountry ski season continues to remind me of 2005 when it took until March for the best snow and best skiing.
We're in the midst of a series of storm pulses that are dropping terrific snow, particularly along the Front and Continental Divide.  We could see as much as two feet of new snow in the days ahead.
The wind is a bit troublesome, but the snow makes up for it.
Our Wayne's Wednesday group diverted from the Teton Ski Resort area Wednesday to Rogers Pass because we saw forecasts for a big dump that would make negotiating the Teton Road a bit tricky.
Besides, why drive 2 hours to ski when a simple hour to Rogers Pass would give us just as good a day out.
We did the Sunset Mountain ski from the pass, 6 miles out and back, with about 1,200 feet of gain when we counted the telemark turns from the top.
Where we tele turned below the top
 It was the best powder of the season, by far.
I had done this ski just 10 days ago and found it even better Wednesday because there was new snow.
After climbing to the telecommunications towers at the top of the peak, we hit the tele slopes just below it, really an old clearcut.  We probably should have stayed longer than we did.
I'm a big fan of passes along the Continental Divide, particularly Marias, just south of Glacier Park, Stemple and Flesher and especially Rogers.
Rogers is as close to Great Falls as Kings Hill Pass in the Little Belts, except the road is better.  It takes an hour to get there and it delivers you to the Continental Divide Trail, with great skiing to the south, or as was the case Wednesday, Sunset Mountain just east of the trail.  Rogers also opens up the possibilities of skiing in the Mike Horse Mine Area or Cadotte Creek, both a short distance from the pass.
We shared the pass with a logging truck

Beautiful kick and glide conditions most of the way 
Gorgeous snow at the top

No comments: