In the early 1990’s there was a Powder magazine article titled “Area X” or something like that, where the reader had to research what it was. I figured out it was about the Beartooth Highway between Red Lodge MT and the NE entrance to Yellowstone near Cooke City. Our family had a motorhome trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks in late July 1995 and we drove up to the top of the pass at 10,947 feet. There were patches of snow but then 10-year-old Adam was not interested in hiking for turns particularly since we had skied Mammoth July 15 at the beginning of the trip.
There are 2 poma lifts at the eastern summit which typically operate from Memorial weekend until the snow runs out in early July. The road from Red Lodge up steep switchbacks to the Wyoming border at 10,400 feet is usually plowed by Memorial weekend, so the Red Lodge International Ski and Snowboard Camp http://www.rlissc.com opens with snowcat transport the last couple of miles to the top. In early June sometimes there is tempting road shuttle skiing on the switchback drive up from Red Lodge.
I’m taking this pic at 8,500 feet, and in this below average snow year it’s too late to be skiing here.
With its short season and remote location Beartooth Basin barely breaks even with the camps, so the public is welcome to ski on a $45 lift ticket. However unlike most summer/glacier skiing the terrain is skewed expert. Although lift served vertical is only 470 feet, the terrain is rather like the upper half of Mammoth’s chair 23. You also buy your ticket at the top and make your first turns on Climax/Drop Out type terrain. Liz on top with dropoff and twin lakes below.
Top of upper poma:
We started skiing about 10AM per recommendation of our knowledgeable waiter the night before at the Pollard Hotel (amazing dinner, don’t miss it if you’re in Red Lodge). View down mogulled bowl of both pomas.
Overview of Beartooth Basin skiing with my ski routes in red.
This pic was taken the next day in better weather.
Upper poma and bowl from below.
There were a few gates set up along the lower poma, taken down by 11AM or so.
Nearby was a jump for park training.
Temps were about 40F but it was overcast and windy on top. The snow was very supportable but with a soft surface, and it did not get slushy during the day due to lack of sun. This was a low snow year and when I first inquired in May there was concern the camp might not last until our visit. Fortunately May/June weather was mostly cool, but Beartooth’s last day was June 25. About 20 feet of the upper poma track burned off so a plastic mat was put down to cover the rocks. Loading of the upper poma was tricky as you had to get on top of a mound of snow and still reach over your head to grab the poma. Liz had some trouble with this, and combined with a stiff knee from paddling on the Salmon River she had a fairly short ski day.
I then traversed far left (right line in the overview pic) and had this view down.
I skied fall line down to the end of the snow patch at center. View back up.
Now I had to hike up this to get to the lower poma.
This was 210 vertical and took me 15 minutes.
About noon we had some thunder so we were instructed to take the pomas up ASAP, then wait for the storm to pass. It snowed graupel on and off for ~1.5 hours but they let us start skiing again just before 1PM.
The best skiing IMHO was from a couple of the chutes. I had several runs down this one on the other side of the fence from the main bowl.
From the same entry you could traverse above the rocks to this line.
Several skiers in that area.
I quit at 2PM with 8,300 vertical. Quantity is not that much with the lift setup but as noted before terrain quality is quite good. In bigger snow years there would be more variations as well.
Beartooth Basin is well worth a visit if you’re visiting Yellowstone at the right time of year as we were. It would be a great family trip for Patrick to get June/July sometime. However if you ski Memorial Day or early June for better snow coverage you will likely not be able to drive the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone. You’ll have to backtrack out to I-90 and drive into Yellowstone via Mammoth Hot Springs.
The Beartooth Highway is also famous for backcountry skiing. Bob Peters advised us that if the lifts were closed that the snow usually lasts the longest on an east slope down to Christmas Lake. We took a walk over there to check it out.
It’s maybe 100 vertical walk down to the snow from the road, then the skiing would be 400+ to the lake, followed by a hike back out. Bob has a monthly ski streak longer than Patrick’s and this is one of his summer spots.
There are 2 poma lifts at the eastern summit which typically operate from Memorial weekend until the snow runs out in early July. The road from Red Lodge up steep switchbacks to the Wyoming border at 10,400 feet is usually plowed by Memorial weekend, so the Red Lodge International Ski and Snowboard Camp http://www.rlissc.com opens with snowcat transport the last couple of miles to the top. In early June sometimes there is tempting road shuttle skiing on the switchback drive up from Red Lodge.
I’m taking this pic at 8,500 feet, and in this below average snow year it’s too late to be skiing here.
With its short season and remote location Beartooth Basin barely breaks even with the camps, so the public is welcome to ski on a $45 lift ticket. However unlike most summer/glacier skiing the terrain is skewed expert. Although lift served vertical is only 470 feet, the terrain is rather like the upper half of Mammoth’s chair 23. You also buy your ticket at the top and make your first turns on Climax/Drop Out type terrain. Liz on top with dropoff and twin lakes below.
Top of upper poma:
We started skiing about 10AM per recommendation of our knowledgeable waiter the night before at the Pollard Hotel (amazing dinner, don’t miss it if you’re in Red Lodge). View down mogulled bowl of both pomas.
Overview of Beartooth Basin skiing with my ski routes in red.
This pic was taken the next day in better weather.
Upper poma and bowl from below.
There were a few gates set up along the lower poma, taken down by 11AM or so.
Nearby was a jump for park training.
Temps were about 40F but it was overcast and windy on top. The snow was very supportable but with a soft surface, and it did not get slushy during the day due to lack of sun. This was a low snow year and when I first inquired in May there was concern the camp might not last until our visit. Fortunately May/June weather was mostly cool, but Beartooth’s last day was June 25. About 20 feet of the upper poma track burned off so a plastic mat was put down to cover the rocks. Loading of the upper poma was tricky as you had to get on top of a mound of snow and still reach over your head to grab the poma. Liz had some trouble with this, and combined with a stiff knee from paddling on the Salmon River she had a fairly short ski day.
I then traversed far left (right line in the overview pic) and had this view down.
I skied fall line down to the end of the snow patch at center. View back up.
Now I had to hike up this to get to the lower poma.
This was 210 vertical and took me 15 minutes.
About noon we had some thunder so we were instructed to take the pomas up ASAP, then wait for the storm to pass. It snowed graupel on and off for ~1.5 hours but they let us start skiing again just before 1PM.
The best skiing IMHO was from a couple of the chutes. I had several runs down this one on the other side of the fence from the main bowl.
From the same entry you could traverse above the rocks to this line.
Several skiers in that area.
I quit at 2PM with 8,300 vertical. Quantity is not that much with the lift setup but as noted before terrain quality is quite good. In bigger snow years there would be more variations as well.
Beartooth Basin is well worth a visit if you’re visiting Yellowstone at the right time of year as we were. It would be a great family trip for Patrick to get June/July sometime. However if you ski Memorial Day or early June for better snow coverage you will likely not be able to drive the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone. You’ll have to backtrack out to I-90 and drive into Yellowstone via Mammoth Hot Springs.
The Beartooth Highway is also famous for backcountry skiing. Bob Peters advised us that if the lifts were closed that the snow usually lasts the longest on an east slope down to Christmas Lake. We took a walk over there to check it out.
It’s maybe 100 vertical walk down to the snow from the road, then the skiing would be 400+ to the lake, followed by a hike back out. Bob has a monthly ski streak longer than Patrick’s and this is one of his summer spots.
