A cold, white Ranch Creek ski to conclude 2022

An iconic image, Porphyry Lookout in winter above Showdown Ski Area

Gordon Whirry coming off Mizpah Peak

At the half-way point, the Mizpah shelter

Whirry ascends steep pitch one laborious sidestep after another

This ski trip will conclude an exceptionally active hiking and skiing season.

Our day was cold and clear, with temperatures at 15 degrees, colder in the trees and warmer in the bright sunlight that broke out around lunch break.

We were concerned that the post-Christmas warmup might have ruined the snow, but those concerns were erased by a couple inches of new powder that had fallen overnight.

We were lucky that someone had skied to about the half-way point at the Mizpah bowls, which gave us a nice track and a guide around the many downed trees and tangles.

About 30 percent of the trip was in powder that would occasionally collapse under our feet, but the other 70 percent was ideal snow.

The overnight snowfall made the 10-mile trip into a white, winter wonderland against a deep, blue sky.

The last couple of miles, where the snowmobile trail intersects with the cross country trail, was a tad rough unpleasant because the snowmobile tracks had been churned and frozen. 

There were lots of signs of big animals, probably elk and moose, which had been moving around.

I prefer the adjacent Nugget Creek route, but this ski trip was just fine.

 

 

Something new in West Fork Teton

The trees are finally coming back from the 2007 fires

Hard to beat the Rocky Mountain Front scenery

We marked up the hillside with our tele turns

 A little experimenting went a long way on our ski in the West Fork Teton country this week.

Normally we ski to the bottom on the road from the Teton Pass Ski Area, and then to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Boundary.

This time, instead of dropping to the bottom, we tried old logging roads in the 2007 burn.

While we had to dodge some downed trees, we found some room to get in some telemark skiing in fairly safe terrain.

It was an ice cold, but clear and windy day, but worthwhile for the exceptional scenery we had at the foot of Mount Wright.

The area could use another foot of snow to make this spectacular, but it was good enough to deliver its potent message that there's still plenty of territory we haven't covered there.

Our trip coincided with the opening of the ski area this season and we climbed one of the bunny runs to test the turns and found a skiff of snow on top packed powder that had been groomed and was icy.

We'll probably be a while before getting another ski in as ultra cold weather moves in during the week before Christmas, with temperatures going down to the minus 30 area.

Ski and snowshoe trips in Little Belts

Katie, Suzie Taleff and Camille Consolvo at warming hut at Silvercrest

The snowshoe trail overlook outcrops at Silvercrest

Crossing the Deadman bowls on backcountry skis

We continue to get great snow in the Little Belts this early season and I took advantage of the powder on two trips over the past couple of weeks:  a back country ski to the Deadman bowls, and my first time snowshoeing at Silvercrest.

Along with all the snow, we've had considerable wind and the snow on the Deadman trip showed it.  There was some icing and crusting, but when we got to the bowls it was powdery enough that Gordon Whirry and I got a chance to do some turns.  We had a bluebird day that complimented pretty good snow when it wasn't exposed to the breezes.

My highlight trip was a snowshoe (of all things!) at Silvercrest with Katie and two other friends.

I'm always reluctant to get out on snowshoes because they are so clunky and slow moving compared to back country skis.  It usually feels like I'm plodding when I'd much rather be gliding.

Katie helps me get into the snowshoes and always offers encouraging words to get me to enjoy the sport.

The powder at Silvercrest was absolutely superb and deep. (I did wish I had my skis with me) I had never been on the snowshoe course and was blown away by its beauty.  Much of it was in the trees, but that opened up into gorgeous parks every so often.  At the end of the trip we climbed to an overlook marked by limestone outcrops with great views of Porphyry Peak and the Showdown ski hill.

The trip was enhanced by lightly falling snow.

One of the reasons it took me so long to try snowshoeing there was that Silvercrest had been developed by the Great Falls Cross Country Ski Club, which wanted to keep it skiing to the exclusion of snowshoeing.  I sided with the skiers.

Gerry and Chuck Jennings had the vision that the area could easily accommodate snowshoe trails. Until this trip I hadn't realized how right they were.

The ski and shoe paths cross each other only occasionally, and we saw no other skiers as we shoed.

Although I'm still not a fan of snowshoeing, I intend to return those Silvercrest trails for some more.