We decided to squeeze in Sunday at Great Divide as it’s one of those Montana areas not open every day of the week. Monday and Tuesday Great Divide is closed.
Sunday was a big day for snow in much of Montana. Flyover and his daughter enjoyed two feet new at Discovery, and Big Sky/ Bridger had accumulated 20 inches since Friday. The big winner was Red Lodge with 43 inches. Great Divide had a more modest 7 inches total over day and night Saturday. However, it’s primarily intermediate pitch, so it skied quite well. The intermediate pitch and primary east exposure also meant the majority of the mountain had a sun affected subsurface. But we were there at the right time with most of it well covered with new snow.
The skiing was good but the picture taking not so much. There was thick overcast all day with occasional snow flurries. We stated up the Belmont Chair and skied into Sunshine Bowl.
The scattered trees assist orientation in flat light.
While there were few tracks in Sunshine Bowl at 11:30 we moved on to the Wild West lift for a several runs as that area faces more northeast. We entered via Wild Acres.
Wild West liftline:
The short inflection where the fall line is steeper contains the runs Rogue, Draino and North Forty.
I pursuit of more consistent powder we skied a couple of runs far skier’s left in the Outlaw/Missing Lynx area.
We took a short lunch break.
None of those New Zealand nutcrackers allowed here!
After lunch I skied 3 runs on the Belmont chair. The first was far skier’s right near the trees for visibility. I couldn’t resist this trail marker.
I continued into the Lower Big Open to the Rawhide lift.
Next run I started down Treasure, which runs along a ridgeline. View south into area of my previous run:
View toward the base area:
I continued along the ridge, hoping to find a north facing drop through steeper trees. But the ridgeline became rougher and was interrupted by this abandoned mineshaft.
I got off the ridge for a short shot through the trees near the Mine Dumps.
I took a final run through Eldorado and Hard Luck, finishing with 15,100 vertical. This was about the same as at Pebble Creek a week earlier, but in almost 50% more time. Great Divide’s mellower pitch meant the slow chairs covered less vertical (1,200 or 1,300 vs. 1,900) in similar time. But that mellow pitch also meant that about half my turns were of the powder variety.
The large horizontal sprawl at Great Divide first reminded me of Pajarito. But Great Divide has more vertical and more variation in pitch. For late March powder Pajarito was better as it’s nearly all north facing and we almost never hit a crusty subsurface there. With Montana’s latitude and temperatures, I’m sure this was only an issue at Great Divide due to being late season.
Great Divide was area #276 for me and #211 for Liz.
Sunday was a big day for snow in much of Montana. Flyover and his daughter enjoyed two feet new at Discovery, and Big Sky/ Bridger had accumulated 20 inches since Friday. The big winner was Red Lodge with 43 inches. Great Divide had a more modest 7 inches total over day and night Saturday. However, it’s primarily intermediate pitch, so it skied quite well. The intermediate pitch and primary east exposure also meant the majority of the mountain had a sun affected subsurface. But we were there at the right time with most of it well covered with new snow.
The skiing was good but the picture taking not so much. There was thick overcast all day with occasional snow flurries. We stated up the Belmont Chair and skied into Sunshine Bowl.
The scattered trees assist orientation in flat light.
While there were few tracks in Sunshine Bowl at 11:30 we moved on to the Wild West lift for a several runs as that area faces more northeast. We entered via Wild Acres.
Wild West liftline:
The short inflection where the fall line is steeper contains the runs Rogue, Draino and North Forty.
I pursuit of more consistent powder we skied a couple of runs far skier’s left in the Outlaw/Missing Lynx area.
We took a short lunch break.
None of those New Zealand nutcrackers allowed here!
After lunch I skied 3 runs on the Belmont chair. The first was far skier’s right near the trees for visibility. I couldn’t resist this trail marker.
I continued into the Lower Big Open to the Rawhide lift.
Next run I started down Treasure, which runs along a ridgeline. View south into area of my previous run:
View toward the base area:
I continued along the ridge, hoping to find a north facing drop through steeper trees. But the ridgeline became rougher and was interrupted by this abandoned mineshaft.
I got off the ridge for a short shot through the trees near the Mine Dumps.
I took a final run through Eldorado and Hard Luck, finishing with 15,100 vertical. This was about the same as at Pebble Creek a week earlier, but in almost 50% more time. Great Divide’s mellower pitch meant the slow chairs covered less vertical (1,200 or 1,300 vs. 1,900) in similar time. But that mellow pitch also meant that about half my turns were of the powder variety.
The large horizontal sprawl at Great Divide first reminded me of Pajarito. But Great Divide has more vertical and more variation in pitch. For late March powder Pajarito was better as it’s nearly all north facing and we almost never hit a crusty subsurface there. With Montana’s latitude and temperatures, I’m sure this was only an issue at Great Divide due to being late season.
Great Divide was area #276 for me and #211 for Liz.
.