J.Spin
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A link to pictures from the day is available at the bottom of the message.
Lost Trail reported about 6-9 inches of new snow on Thursday and another 3 inches Friday night, which meant that there would be up to a foot of fresh under chairs like 3 and 5 that hadn?t been open all week. Since we haven?t really seen any monster dumps take aim on western Montana so far this season, every modest storm is helpful in raising the base depths.
Last week had been pretty cold by Bitterroot standards, with lows around 0 F, and highs only in the teens at times. Fortunately, temperatures had moderated to the mid 20s for the weekend, which would make for more comfortable skiing. We were catching some of the latest storm to hit the coast, with light dustings of snow making their way through the valley and helping to keep the ground white. My drive up to Lost Trail featured good road conditions for the most part, although a heavy squall hit at ~5,400? on the pass and made things a bit more difficult. By the time I?d made it to the base lodge though, the snowfall rate had tapered off considerably.
I picked up my season?s pass and headed up Chair 1 to start my day. I hadn?t quite made the opening of the lift, but it was still early enough that nobody was around. I headed down Southern Comfort and found that the top half hadn?t been groomed since the latest snowfall. It was deeper than simply 3 inches, so maybe it had been a while since they?d actually groomed there. Off to the skier?s left where they never groom, there was a lot of soft snow (6-12 inches) over an irregular base. I was sort of surprised to find that even the base snow was really soft, with no scratchiness.
After my warm-up on Southern Comfort, I decided to head over and give the new chair (Chair 5) a try. I hadn?t really understood how Chair 5 was supposed to help improve the lift layout on the mountain, but I wanted to check it out anyway. I made my way down North Bowl, and catching a bit of luck, I arrived at Chair 5 just as they opened it up. There was no line, and the only people around were a couple that boarded the lift in front of me. Chair 5 is pretty short (it only provides about 300 feet of vertical) but it?s hard to complain about a lift that you have almost to yourself. I could see that they had left about half of the lift line trail (Bobcat) ungroomed, and it looked like only a ski patroller?s tracks marred the otherwise pristine surface. I hit that powder for my first run. It was about a foot deep, and the trail (blue square) provided just enough pitch to make turns without having to force them. It was all over way too quickly (300 feet of vertical runs out pretty fast) but since there was nobody around, I had to head up again and make some powder eights on my previous tracks. Sweet! A couple more people had showed up, but I decided to head up for one more run and hit a little south facing cut through the trees. I headed a little further down the Bear Claw Ridge trail and dropped into the cut. This south-facing snow was noticeably different that what I?d skied under the lift. There were only about 6 inches of powder, and the base below was crusty. This gave me some nice insight into the conditions I could expect on south-facing terrain for the day. I decided it was time to move on, and made my way towards the Chair 3 terrain.
Another note about Chair 5: There are a couple of new beginner trails that have been cut for folks to get down from the new chair, one on each side of the Bear Claw Ridge. Unfortunately, these cat tracks interrupt some of the tree lines on the ridge, but it looks as though most of the good tree skiing has been preserved.
Over in the Chair 3 area, I made my way to Main Street, which had seen little traffic. I hit the left side on the steep pitch and? BAM! I started getting face shots. I couldn?t believe how deep the snow was there. It seems as though it had barely been touched this season. I hit the bottom of the pitch grinning like an idiot and brushing snow out of my scruff. I was very impressed with the combination of snow and pitch. I was wearing my CMH fats, and it can be tough to get face shots out of them. I just wished I had someone else with me so we could hit it again and shoot some stills or video.
After I rode Chair 3 and got off, I finally ?got? what Chair 5 was about. Prior to the installation of Chair 5, one would get off the top of Chair 3 and ride the Boomer handle tow to get back to the base. Now, the Boomer tow wasn?t running. Instead, when one departs from Chair 3, they can ski down a green trail and arrive right at the base of Chair 5. I didn?t know this was possible. Now I get it though, Chair 5 serves the same function as the Boomer lift (with more vertical rise and some real pitch). I happily made my way over to Chair 5, and explored the options in the woods below the new groomer on the south side of Bear Claw Ridge. There is only a short section of trees available between this cat track and the trails below, but the skiing was great. Although south facing, the powder was protected from the sun and wind by the trees; it was fantastic. It was deep and bottomless, even if it was only 10 turns or so. My first guess at an appropriate line through the trees that would allow me to the base lodge was a little off. Therefore, I had to run back down to Chair 5 and make another trip. I decided to skip the trees until later, and stayed on the trail to get back to the rope tow and the main base
I next decided to head to the Chair 2 area and ski some bumps. I haven?t had many ski days this year, and wanted to give my legs a bit of a workout to get them ready for a trip to Snowbird next week. I hit the right side of Thunder, which had seen a good deal of traffic in the past and developed some bumps. I couldn?t believe the difference in skiing bumps versus powder. I?d skied long shots of powder and not felt a thing, but after a couple hundred vertical feet of bumps, my quads were burning. It?s easy to see why powder skiing is a favorite of so many people. I also skied the right side of Lightning, which had fairly deep powder with plenty of contour underneath. I skied it more like bumps than powder, and my quads continued to burn.
I might have done another run or two in this manner, until I arrived at the base of Chair 2 and found a 10-15 minute lift line. It was now 11:00 A.M., but I couldn?t figure out where in the world all these people had come from. The other Chairs (1, 3, and 5) had no lines at all. I managed to cut the line short by joining up with another single, but there was no way I was going back down to Chair 2 again. I ?unfortunately? had to abandon my plan of getting a workout in the long bump runs and had to return to skiing powder. I think the choice was obvious.
Although Chair 5 services the eastern edge of the Bear Claw Ridge, it still doesn?t access the higher areas that drop you onto the main Elk Basin trail. So, I decided to take the short hike up Oreo and see what the conditions were like. The top of Elk Basin faces north and is well protected; there was a very good chance that the powder would be deep up there. Gaining the top of the ridge, I could tell that conditions were going to be fantastic. A couple of people had already been up there, and as I looked at one ski track, I could see that it was reminiscent of DEEP powder. Sometimes you can just look at a track and you know? that skier was nowhere near touching down.
After taking a couple of photos, I dropped in. The powder was at least 2-3 feet deep, and I honestly can?t tell you how deep because I never came near touching down. This stuff would slow you down on even the steepest of trails, and I had to keep my speed up to avoid sinking in too deep and losing momentum. The lower sections of Elk Basin were also great, and I was really wishing for more pitch in such deep snow. I was actually glad that someone had dropped in there ahead of me, because the gentle terrain at the end would have been a slog if I wasn?t able to glide in their tracks.
I hit Side Street on my way down to Chair 3, but it wasn?t quite as good as Main Street due to less pitch. Still, it was now about noon, and there were plenty of fresh lines left. After getting off Chair 5, I gave one more shot to the trees below the new trail on the south side of the Bear Claw Ridge, and this time I caught a line that could get me back to the base. I stored the location in my memory banks for my next trip.
On the ride home, some Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep were out in the road in the usual area near Sula. It was actually my first chance to photograph them since I?ve had my digital still camera, so I snapped away until they wandered up into the hills. It was a fun treat to top off a day of skiing that was even better than I?d expected.
I could only get scenic shots since I was by myself, but a few images are available at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/08JAN05.html
J.Spin
Lost Trail reported about 6-9 inches of new snow on Thursday and another 3 inches Friday night, which meant that there would be up to a foot of fresh under chairs like 3 and 5 that hadn?t been open all week. Since we haven?t really seen any monster dumps take aim on western Montana so far this season, every modest storm is helpful in raising the base depths.
Last week had been pretty cold by Bitterroot standards, with lows around 0 F, and highs only in the teens at times. Fortunately, temperatures had moderated to the mid 20s for the weekend, which would make for more comfortable skiing. We were catching some of the latest storm to hit the coast, with light dustings of snow making their way through the valley and helping to keep the ground white. My drive up to Lost Trail featured good road conditions for the most part, although a heavy squall hit at ~5,400? on the pass and made things a bit more difficult. By the time I?d made it to the base lodge though, the snowfall rate had tapered off considerably.
I picked up my season?s pass and headed up Chair 1 to start my day. I hadn?t quite made the opening of the lift, but it was still early enough that nobody was around. I headed down Southern Comfort and found that the top half hadn?t been groomed since the latest snowfall. It was deeper than simply 3 inches, so maybe it had been a while since they?d actually groomed there. Off to the skier?s left where they never groom, there was a lot of soft snow (6-12 inches) over an irregular base. I was sort of surprised to find that even the base snow was really soft, with no scratchiness.
After my warm-up on Southern Comfort, I decided to head over and give the new chair (Chair 5) a try. I hadn?t really understood how Chair 5 was supposed to help improve the lift layout on the mountain, but I wanted to check it out anyway. I made my way down North Bowl, and catching a bit of luck, I arrived at Chair 5 just as they opened it up. There was no line, and the only people around were a couple that boarded the lift in front of me. Chair 5 is pretty short (it only provides about 300 feet of vertical) but it?s hard to complain about a lift that you have almost to yourself. I could see that they had left about half of the lift line trail (Bobcat) ungroomed, and it looked like only a ski patroller?s tracks marred the otherwise pristine surface. I hit that powder for my first run. It was about a foot deep, and the trail (blue square) provided just enough pitch to make turns without having to force them. It was all over way too quickly (300 feet of vertical runs out pretty fast) but since there was nobody around, I had to head up again and make some powder eights on my previous tracks. Sweet! A couple more people had showed up, but I decided to head up for one more run and hit a little south facing cut through the trees. I headed a little further down the Bear Claw Ridge trail and dropped into the cut. This south-facing snow was noticeably different that what I?d skied under the lift. There were only about 6 inches of powder, and the base below was crusty. This gave me some nice insight into the conditions I could expect on south-facing terrain for the day. I decided it was time to move on, and made my way towards the Chair 3 terrain.
Another note about Chair 5: There are a couple of new beginner trails that have been cut for folks to get down from the new chair, one on each side of the Bear Claw Ridge. Unfortunately, these cat tracks interrupt some of the tree lines on the ridge, but it looks as though most of the good tree skiing has been preserved.
Over in the Chair 3 area, I made my way to Main Street, which had seen little traffic. I hit the left side on the steep pitch and? BAM! I started getting face shots. I couldn?t believe how deep the snow was there. It seems as though it had barely been touched this season. I hit the bottom of the pitch grinning like an idiot and brushing snow out of my scruff. I was very impressed with the combination of snow and pitch. I was wearing my CMH fats, and it can be tough to get face shots out of them. I just wished I had someone else with me so we could hit it again and shoot some stills or video.
After I rode Chair 3 and got off, I finally ?got? what Chair 5 was about. Prior to the installation of Chair 5, one would get off the top of Chair 3 and ride the Boomer handle tow to get back to the base. Now, the Boomer tow wasn?t running. Instead, when one departs from Chair 3, they can ski down a green trail and arrive right at the base of Chair 5. I didn?t know this was possible. Now I get it though, Chair 5 serves the same function as the Boomer lift (with more vertical rise and some real pitch). I happily made my way over to Chair 5, and explored the options in the woods below the new groomer on the south side of Bear Claw Ridge. There is only a short section of trees available between this cat track and the trails below, but the skiing was great. Although south facing, the powder was protected from the sun and wind by the trees; it was fantastic. It was deep and bottomless, even if it was only 10 turns or so. My first guess at an appropriate line through the trees that would allow me to the base lodge was a little off. Therefore, I had to run back down to Chair 5 and make another trip. I decided to skip the trees until later, and stayed on the trail to get back to the rope tow and the main base
I next decided to head to the Chair 2 area and ski some bumps. I haven?t had many ski days this year, and wanted to give my legs a bit of a workout to get them ready for a trip to Snowbird next week. I hit the right side of Thunder, which had seen a good deal of traffic in the past and developed some bumps. I couldn?t believe the difference in skiing bumps versus powder. I?d skied long shots of powder and not felt a thing, but after a couple hundred vertical feet of bumps, my quads were burning. It?s easy to see why powder skiing is a favorite of so many people. I also skied the right side of Lightning, which had fairly deep powder with plenty of contour underneath. I skied it more like bumps than powder, and my quads continued to burn.
I might have done another run or two in this manner, until I arrived at the base of Chair 2 and found a 10-15 minute lift line. It was now 11:00 A.M., but I couldn?t figure out where in the world all these people had come from. The other Chairs (1, 3, and 5) had no lines at all. I managed to cut the line short by joining up with another single, but there was no way I was going back down to Chair 2 again. I ?unfortunately? had to abandon my plan of getting a workout in the long bump runs and had to return to skiing powder. I think the choice was obvious.
Although Chair 5 services the eastern edge of the Bear Claw Ridge, it still doesn?t access the higher areas that drop you onto the main Elk Basin trail. So, I decided to take the short hike up Oreo and see what the conditions were like. The top of Elk Basin faces north and is well protected; there was a very good chance that the powder would be deep up there. Gaining the top of the ridge, I could tell that conditions were going to be fantastic. A couple of people had already been up there, and as I looked at one ski track, I could see that it was reminiscent of DEEP powder. Sometimes you can just look at a track and you know? that skier was nowhere near touching down.
After taking a couple of photos, I dropped in. The powder was at least 2-3 feet deep, and I honestly can?t tell you how deep because I never came near touching down. This stuff would slow you down on even the steepest of trails, and I had to keep my speed up to avoid sinking in too deep and losing momentum. The lower sections of Elk Basin were also great, and I was really wishing for more pitch in such deep snow. I was actually glad that someone had dropped in there ahead of me, because the gentle terrain at the end would have been a slog if I wasn?t able to glide in their tracks.
I hit Side Street on my way down to Chair 3, but it wasn?t quite as good as Main Street due to less pitch. Still, it was now about noon, and there were plenty of fresh lines left. After getting off Chair 5, I gave one more shot to the trees below the new trail on the south side of the Bear Claw Ridge, and this time I caught a line that could get me back to the base. I stored the location in my memory banks for my next trip.
On the ride home, some Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep were out in the road in the usual area near Sula. It was actually my first chance to photograph them since I?ve had my digital still camera, so I snapped away until they wandered up into the hills. It was a fun treat to top off a day of skiing that was even better than I?d expected.
I could only get scenic shots since I was by myself, but a few images are available at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/08JAN05.html
J.Spin