Jay Silveira
New member
This latest storm to hit the Northern Rockies dropped some plentiful moisture on Western Montana. Although the bull’s eye appeared to be north of our region up near Glacier National Park, the Saddle Mountain SNOTEL (elevation 7,900’) at Lost Trail Pass in the Bitterroots indicated that 6-8 inches had fallen by Tuesday morning. Tuesday stayed cool, and an additional few inches of snow fell, so my plan was to head up to the pass and catch a few turns on Wednesday. <BR> <BR>Wednesday morning revealed more overcast skies as expected, and a temperature of 38 degrees in town (3,560’). I dropped Ty off at day care, and continued on my way to the pass. Through much of the trip, snow accumulation was only seen on elevated surfaces such as leaves of trees etc., but once I hit the bottom of the pass (5,000’) ground accumulation was present. At the top of the pass (7,000’), the temperature was 25 degrees, and although the big snowbanks from winter were gone, there was a nice new coating of snow on everything. I headed through the vacant parking lot, and parked right at the bottom of the slope next to the lodge. The gravel parking lot hadn’t allowed all the snow to accumulate, but once I got out of my car, I could see that there was a solid 6 inches of accumulation at the base. The snow wasn’t super light, but neither was it wet. My guess is in the range of 10-12% H2O. <BR> <BR>I had my fats pre-skinned in the bag on my ski rack, so I just took them down, got my other gear together, and was ready to go. The ski area was so deserted that it was eerie. <BR>The only sign of recent life was the rail setup that some kids had made the weekend before last when we were skiing with Ty. I made great time skinning in this area and set my first switchback at the rail, since I’d chosen it as a mark. In the 10 days since I’d last skied at Lost Trail, the main face had definitely lost some snow. Previously it had been almost an unblemished slope of white, but now there were many small evergreens poking through. They were mostly covered by the new snowfall, but their presence was obvious. At this point, pole tests revealed that the depth of new snow was about 8 inches. <BR> <BR>When I hit the steep pitch of South Face I broadened out my switchbacks and used up nearly half the trail. Along with the evergreens, I could see large rocks buried below the new snow, so I knew I wouldn’t be ruining anyone else’s fresh tracks with my long lazy switchbacks; the center of the trail was easily skinnable, but you wouldn’t want to ski it. For my ski run, I was eyeing the skier’s right of South Face, where the snow was clearly deep and unblemished, and trees kept the rays of the May sun from ruining the quality of the powder. For some reason, skinning the steep pitch of south face was tougher than usual, but I finally made the top (~7,800’) and got ready to ski. As I got off my skis to remove my skins, I really post-holed down into the snow, much more than I would have though. I’d say there was almost a foot of new snow at the point where I started my run. <BR> <BR>As is often the case, I wasn’t quite sure how the skiing would be until I really got going. I wasn’t too optimistic, since it was May after all, but after the first few turns I knew it was going to be great. I only sunk into the powder a few inches with the fats, but it had the feeling of bottomless powder just like I’d hoped. Any hard base that existed was well below the new snow. Another bonus of taking the line I chose was that it had some terrain features, which allowed me to catch some air. I was a little worried about coming down on a rock or other hard object, but I found nothing but smooth snow over a consistent base. I’ve missed a number of opportunities to catch a May powder day in Vermont, and this was certainly making up for it. If this was my last powder run of the season, it will certainly go a long way towards getting me through to next fall. I hugged the skier’s right all the way down to the lodge, and aside from the one flat region that I had to traverse, it was fall line powder turns all the way. <BR> <BR>My skiing done, I grabbed a sub on the way to work, and made it back a little after noon. I left a phone message with Gerry, one of my colleagues, to let him know I was going to be in late due to skiing, but he got it only slightly before me due to a long night in the lab! Fortunately, nobody needed me for anything anyway. It was nice to get out for the morning, especially since we really didn’t have many (any?) powder weekdays this season that broke the “unofficial” 12-inch rule that Derek and I created. Most of the storms just worked out well for the weekends. But, when it comes to May powder skiing, I think it’s OK to throw the powder rule out the window. 
<BR> <BR>I was alone for this trip, so I couldn’t get any action shots, but I did get a few scenery shots, which can be seen at: <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/12MAY04.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/12MAY04.html</A> <BR> <BR>J.Spin
<BR> <BR>I was alone for this trip, so I couldn’t get any action shots, but I did get a few scenery shots, which can be seen at: <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/12MAY04.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/12MAY04.html</A> <BR> <BR>J.Spin