The promise of a good season

Something new appeared on the ski hill

The bottom has fallen out of the thermometer. It’s darn cold, and there is good snow to accompany it.
Mark Hertenstein and I hit the Showdown slopes for four nice almost top to bottom runs in the Big Seven area, taking advantage of about 6-8 inches of fresh powder.
We were trying to get some exercise and some tele runs in two weeks before the ski area opens on Dec. 8. I figured we got in about 3,000 feet of climbing to catch the good powder on this gray and windy day.
There was more snow about two weeks ago, but it was of a lesser quality than the snow we encountered on Sunday.
There’s great promise in the weather forecast of a pretty good dump on Tuesday night and snow throughout the week. Like other ski bums I’m hoping for a great season at Showdown.
And, finally, hunting season’s over and we can lose the hunter’s orange!

ONE WEEK EARLIER//’MEASURING’ THE FRONT

It was one of those days you had to wonder what you were doing out.
Out on the Great Plains the wind was howling. It was blowing so hard it was knocking things down on Sunday, Nov. 12.
Yet, we had pretty good information from the National Weather Service that snow as falling in the Front, so we had to check it out.
Luckily, I brought along my “rock” skis. When the day was over they had earned a few more gashes.
This “shoulder” season between hiking and skiing drives me nuts.
I can’t decide whether to climb or ski. Neither is a really good option.
It seems as though you always pick the wrong one.
Since we had such good luck at Showdown Ski Area last week we thought perhaps that there would be enough snow on Teton Pass Ski Area for some tele turns.
Wrong.
Although it was snowing, we had to make the most of about 2 inches of the white stuff.
It was pretty enough that we enjoyed ourselves.
While doing the Waldron Creek run south of the downhill ski area, we found the Waldron Creek Snotel apparatus --- the site that measures snow depths and precipitation. It is quite a mass of equipment that is solar-powered. It seems to be quite an investment in measuring Montana’s liquid gold ---- moisture!