J.Spin
New member
The Missoula National Weather Service had said that the next snowfall was likely to be measured in feet instead of inches, and in the case of Lost Trail that turned out to mean 2 and 1/3 feet (A.K.A. 28 inches). It felt like winter storm warnings were up continuously for two to three days as back to back systems came plowing ashore. The bulk of the snowfall fell from Monday 1/9 to Wednesday 1/11, and the whole Bitterroot Valley was abuzz with the talk of what Thursday?s skiing would be like when Lost Trail opened. A large contingent from the lab was planning to hit the slopes, including Andy and Jon from our group. I don?t think anyone?s powder rule could withstand 28 inches, and even though I was smack in the middle of fighting off a stomach virus, I was going to drag myself up to the hill for at least a few runs in the morning. With the timing of the storm coming near MLK weekend, visions of the ?White Room? day that Derek and I had experienced on MLK day back in 2002 were dancing through my head. I even contemplated finding a snorkel, because if the day was anything like MLK 2002 where Derek and I were choking on powder and had to stop after our first few turns, it would be worth it. But, the storm had been rather warm, and even up at Lost Trail?s elevation the temperatures had approached freezing. Did the chance for deep blower pow get ruined by warm temperatures, or did it stay cold enough that we would spend the day choking on our own wakes? I was eager to find out, and either way, the skiing was going to be great.
I got into line for Chair 1 with patroller Steve Powell, who said the skiing was so good, that he had even hit North Face (which he said he almost never skis). Steve eventually got pulled away, and I wound up paired with Jeremy Lurgio, the photographer for the local paper who I?d met before. He was out with Dana, one of the reporters for the paper, and her friend Brian. Technically, Jeremy and Dana were working on a story about the Lost Trail ski patrol, but at this point the skiing was too good to focus on their story. Jeremy had lost his group momentarily, so I joined him and we hit Thunder and Corkscrew. After the first few turns, I could already tell it wasn?t a white room day. Only about the top foot of powder was very light, and a foot of powder isn?t quite going to get snow up and over your head on every turn. But, 28 inches is still 28 inches, so the skiing was really good and we had a blast ripping up the snow down to Chair 2. It felt like everyone in the valley was out on the hill however (28 inches will do that I guess), and the untracked snow was disappearing especially fast for Lost Trail on a weekday. We headed over to Derek?s Moose Creek entrance for our next run, and since we were some of the first people to ski in that area, Jeremy got out his camera and took some shots of me skiing in the untracked powder.
On the next run we finally caught up with Dana and Brian, and they took us into one of the steep chutes above Femur Ridge. We hit the first open area to the left of North Face, which I heard referred to as the ?Redneck Run?. I?d been in this area before, but this was the first time I?d ever heard a name for it. Someone had strung a bunch of prayer flags right near the entrance, which made it easy to identify. Brian knew the terrain really well, and we set up for a few photos with Jeremy. At the bottom of the chute, Brian said there would be a load of untracked powder if we cut left below the big rock face, and he was totally right. That stash will definitely go into my memory banks for next time.
On the next run we cut a little further left into the steep terrain, and I ended up near Outlaw, separated from the others. I popped out of the trees and was flagged down by Andy. Claire had done something to her knee on Outlaw, and they needed a radio to call ski patrol. I knew that the ski school?s FRS channel was 3-3, but I couldn?t raise anyone. Fortunately, an instructor came by with her group and put a call in for patrol. She informed me that the ski school channel had been changed to 4-2 this year because everybody know the old one and they were just getting too many jokers playing on the radio. I?d lost the folks I was skiing with, so I did a run with Andy and we looped around below Outlaw to check on Claire?s progress. Getting her out of the steeper ungroomed terrain had been slow, but once below that she was quickly down to the base.
I was fortunate to catch back up with Jeremy and the others on the next run, and I explained why I had lost them. Jeremy had been worried that something had happened to me in the trees, and he was glad that everything was OK. He was actually bummed that he missed the chance to get some photos of the ski patrol in action, as it could have been great material for the article. Our group grew with the addition of Jon, Jenny, and some other folks I didn?t quite get to meet, and we headed back to Moose Creek near the Derek entrance. The overall snow on the mountain was getting pretty tracked up, but there were still some fresh lines in our area because we were in infrequently used terrain. The group finished off with another Thunder/Corkscrew run before people started to head their separate ways. Jon and I took the skier?s right of South Face since we were both heading to work, and it was now totally obvious that the snow been worked by the crowds of people. Lift lines had been pretty long (~10 minutes) throughout the morning, and the snow really showed the traffic. It hardly looked like it had been a powder day when we left. However, the dense snowfall (which turned out to be between 2 and 3 inches of liquid equivalent as reported by the Saddle Mountain SNOTEL) did push Lost Trail?s reported summit snowpack to around 90 inches in depth. At 90 inches, you can count on just about every woods shot and even Hollywood Bowl and the steep rocky Darwin Chutes to be covered, so that is really good news for the rest of the season.
Jeremy was shooting stills with his camera so I never pulled mine out. But I did catch a little head cam video from later in the day. It?s pretty ordinary footage, and a bit lower resolution than usual because I had to do a little rotating and cropping of the video, but it at least gives a feel for what the conditions and group atmosphere were like in the early afternoon. The video clip can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/12JAN06.html
J.Spin
I got into line for Chair 1 with patroller Steve Powell, who said the skiing was so good, that he had even hit North Face (which he said he almost never skis). Steve eventually got pulled away, and I wound up paired with Jeremy Lurgio, the photographer for the local paper who I?d met before. He was out with Dana, one of the reporters for the paper, and her friend Brian. Technically, Jeremy and Dana were working on a story about the Lost Trail ski patrol, but at this point the skiing was too good to focus on their story. Jeremy had lost his group momentarily, so I joined him and we hit Thunder and Corkscrew. After the first few turns, I could already tell it wasn?t a white room day. Only about the top foot of powder was very light, and a foot of powder isn?t quite going to get snow up and over your head on every turn. But, 28 inches is still 28 inches, so the skiing was really good and we had a blast ripping up the snow down to Chair 2. It felt like everyone in the valley was out on the hill however (28 inches will do that I guess), and the untracked snow was disappearing especially fast for Lost Trail on a weekday. We headed over to Derek?s Moose Creek entrance for our next run, and since we were some of the first people to ski in that area, Jeremy got out his camera and took some shots of me skiing in the untracked powder.
On the next run we finally caught up with Dana and Brian, and they took us into one of the steep chutes above Femur Ridge. We hit the first open area to the left of North Face, which I heard referred to as the ?Redneck Run?. I?d been in this area before, but this was the first time I?d ever heard a name for it. Someone had strung a bunch of prayer flags right near the entrance, which made it easy to identify. Brian knew the terrain really well, and we set up for a few photos with Jeremy. At the bottom of the chute, Brian said there would be a load of untracked powder if we cut left below the big rock face, and he was totally right. That stash will definitely go into my memory banks for next time.
On the next run we cut a little further left into the steep terrain, and I ended up near Outlaw, separated from the others. I popped out of the trees and was flagged down by Andy. Claire had done something to her knee on Outlaw, and they needed a radio to call ski patrol. I knew that the ski school?s FRS channel was 3-3, but I couldn?t raise anyone. Fortunately, an instructor came by with her group and put a call in for patrol. She informed me that the ski school channel had been changed to 4-2 this year because everybody know the old one and they were just getting too many jokers playing on the radio. I?d lost the folks I was skiing with, so I did a run with Andy and we looped around below Outlaw to check on Claire?s progress. Getting her out of the steeper ungroomed terrain had been slow, but once below that she was quickly down to the base.
I was fortunate to catch back up with Jeremy and the others on the next run, and I explained why I had lost them. Jeremy had been worried that something had happened to me in the trees, and he was glad that everything was OK. He was actually bummed that he missed the chance to get some photos of the ski patrol in action, as it could have been great material for the article. Our group grew with the addition of Jon, Jenny, and some other folks I didn?t quite get to meet, and we headed back to Moose Creek near the Derek entrance. The overall snow on the mountain was getting pretty tracked up, but there were still some fresh lines in our area because we were in infrequently used terrain. The group finished off with another Thunder/Corkscrew run before people started to head their separate ways. Jon and I took the skier?s right of South Face since we were both heading to work, and it was now totally obvious that the snow been worked by the crowds of people. Lift lines had been pretty long (~10 minutes) throughout the morning, and the snow really showed the traffic. It hardly looked like it had been a powder day when we left. However, the dense snowfall (which turned out to be between 2 and 3 inches of liquid equivalent as reported by the Saddle Mountain SNOTEL) did push Lost Trail?s reported summit snowpack to around 90 inches in depth. At 90 inches, you can count on just about every woods shot and even Hollywood Bowl and the steep rocky Darwin Chutes to be covered, so that is really good news for the rest of the season.
Jeremy was shooting stills with his camera so I never pulled mine out. But I did catch a little head cam video from later in the day. It?s pretty ordinary footage, and a bit lower resolution than usual because I had to do a little rotating and cropping of the video, but it at least gives a feel for what the conditions and group atmosphere were like in the early afternoon. The video clip can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/12JAN06.html
J.Spin