Spring Ski Mountaineering in Glacier National Park, Part 1

[kevino]

You don't appreciate what you have till its gone...or something like that. 2015 started out awesome with some of the deepest powder skiing I've ever had, followed by high pressure, which allowed for some for rare(er) winter summits in Glacier.





But unfortunately, I had a nagging back injury subsequently followed by a knee issue, that required some significant down time. Eight weeks after my knee started hurting me, I finally got the green light from my physical therapist to get after and test me knee. No need to tell me twice!

First up, I lined up a day with my co-workers in the Two Medicine area:


We found some old pow off the summit of Apistoki


Toured into the nearby cirque for some hot laps


Before finally soaking up some corn turns back to the car


The next day I was solo and found my way up to Many Glacier at a ripe early start of 1100.


Walked up the trail and skied some awfully smooth corn off of Henkel


A few days later I met up with some of my usual crew to go tick off a line visible from town:


"Like scrapping crumbs off of burnt toast"


Then my good buddy Mike rolled into town, and as he pointed out in his TR, I battled a head cold while we enjoyed some fantastic skiing.
After getting some bonus vert as pictured here, we walked over and skied the obvious couloir




Third (or fourth) run of the day:


We rolled into Many Glacier the next day...I felt even more sick and I had used up too many good days in a row, so GNP handed our asses to us. But Mike also really likes to come to Glacier to cross creeks with skis on his bag (second year in a row this has happened)


Nevertheless, we found some skiing.


A little while later, I met up with my friend Rob and his friends Mark and Janelle to have a go at this bad boy:


Which of course entailed the ever popular bike to ski:


Followed by the boot to ski:


Then my partners turned around mid face and I skied it, thus the lack of pictures. But it was super good

Fast forward a week or two later. Heard through the rumor mill that the West Face Couloir of Siyeah was in. This is my picture from the previous fall, but its the central depression of the sunlight face:


Yep, it goes:




Then in order to make skiing hard to access, I picked a mountain 14 miles away from where you park. It started with a canoe:


And then some skinning:


And thankfully, some glorious corn as well:

[dschane]

Mighty excellent work, combining no less than 3 sports in 1.

[mall walker]

Impressive... I will have to add "canoe w/skis" to my bucket list lol. Would "Mark and Janelle" be Mark and Janelle Smiley by any chance, the couple going for all 50 classic climbs?

[tone capone]

Very nice to see, would love to hit that west face of Siyeh, and Rainbow probably tops my all time list of peaks I want to ski off of someday.

[Grape_Ape]

Thank you. I can't wait to visit that area (hopefully with skis on my feet).

[garyfromterrace]

Sweet TR. Love the multisport access. Looks like a cool spot, way to get after it.

[406]

Awesome TR!

[brutah]

yea buddy! can't wait for part 2.... the anticipation is killing me!!!

[bumski]

Getting it! Nice job!

[kevino]

Impressive... I will have to add "canoe w/skis" to my bucket list lol. Would "Mark and Janelle" be Mark and Janelle Smiley by any chance, the couple going for all 50 classic climbs?

Yeah, that's them.

Was hoping to slide in a couple more trips but work and weather apparently means I'll have to wait a little longer...

[cat in january]

Saved reading this for my Sunday morning coffee. Glad I held off as it went down very well with the coffee on this last day in May.

[steved]

Glacier sure has the lock on views. Nice pics...what a trip....

[AKbruin]

Missed this earlier. Rad!

[Turfman]

Nice tr, need to make my way up there someday. Mmmm...corn.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Thanks for the bump. This is a great TR!

[whatsupdoc]

Oh hell yes. Glacier is gorgeous. Good stuff.

[grinch]

that was good. real good. damn fine work

[tahoegold]

Awesome!

[jono]

Was the story from this TR in the back of OutThere recently? It was a good story, but the pics look much better here. Nice TR!

[SpeLunker]

I wish I could do something this badass one day