A blast of snow, then a return to Spring

On the Deadman Ridge

The Kings Hill Cabin icicles

The North Fork Teton valley illustrates the lack of snow in the high country

I tried skiing the road down to the West Fork but failed because the road was snow free within a mile of the car

I felt honored to be flanked by the two Montana Outdoors Hall of Fame 2021 inductees Gene Sentz (on my right) and Hal Harper (on my left)

 I saw my first group of robins on March 10, more than 20 days earlier than last year.

They must have blown in with the Spring-like weather we've been having the past two weeks.

There was a blast of late-winter snow, about 6 inches in the mountains and a couple of inches on the ground Monday, but by Tuesday it was gone in town.

I went skiing on Tuesday, traveling a couple of miles south down the Deadman ridge and circling back for some tele turns off Kings Hill back to the pass.

But when I went to the Front Saturday, hoping to catch some spring snow, I was sorely disappointed.

The snow on the Front's high peaks have blown clear in many spots, and places like the road to the West Fork Teton were melted out, making any kind of serious skiing impossible.  I did ski a mile up Waldron Creek, but found the snow too icy to do much with.

On the other hand, there was a nice crowd at the Teton Pass Ski Area where I happened upon several old friends ---- Gene Sentz and Curt Mattingly of Choteau and Hal Harper, who wandered in from Helena.  Sentz and Harper were recently honored by membership in the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame for their environmental advocacy and work. 

They were enjoying alpine downhill more than I had enjoyed the backcountry tele skiing.

The Little Belts appear to have better snowpack than the Front.  I'm worried about fires and lack of stream flow in the Front this year.

Here's hoping for more snowpack as we usher in Spring in another week.