Anyone up for Backcountry Skiing in MN

[ElephantMuncher]

I was looking at Barn Bluff, in Red Wing, from a boat this summer and it looks like it would be decent for skiing if we had enough snow. There even looks like there is a set of skiable cliffs on the Southwest side. The North, West, and Southwest sides all look skiable.

North side (from the East):


Far left side of this pic (Southwest Side):


This is another bluff just South of Barn Bluff:


The area from Red Wing to Fontenac looks promising.

If you have skins and would like to go trekking with me, let me know. We can skin up the hiking trails. A lot of the bluffs in this area are covered in thick forest, so a lot of it may be unskiable. But I think we can find are spots.

Of course the first few times will involve more surveying than skiing, but I think there is definitely some possibilities if we get a good amount of snow this winter. I plan on heading out in January to scope things out (of course if we have enough snow).

-Shaun Johnson
shaujohn@yahoo.com

[RootSkier]

The 10th tee at Minneapolis Golf Club is pretty ill with a retaining wall drop, even.

[Fritz]

I hear Buck Hill just put in exit gates giving backcountry skiers access to the back side.

[ElephantMuncher]

(laughing)

I was hoping to get a little more vert than that.

I have a feeling my trek is going to turn into more of a comedy or Darwin Award Nominee than a cool adventure. But we'll see. I plan on filming the whole thing with my VIO.

[ElephantMuncher]

Fritz....

Yes, the back bowl of Buckhill just opened up. You must have a beacon to gain access though. Also, beware of kids sledding and the golden retriever.

[mn_teleswede]

Find the power line routes that lead up from/ to the river. Precut and usually wind blocked. There are some ok meadowskipping routes to be had. The Lacrosse crew knows the most me thinks. POV = classic.

[Telekóptero]

actually, lutsen's bc and hole barnloads of stuff just over the border up above Grand Marais has never been skied. first descents midwest baby. my buddies and i used to hike all over GM doing what we now know as BC. the old ski hill lines in GM are awesome too. 1000 feet of vert if you hunch.

actually, the over the border canadian lines are quite hairy. there's a whole system of buttes up there. plus river skiing's quite the trip, near GM. dangerous as #$%^ but fun. bring rope, and a little bit of iceclimb gear on the cascade river. quite fun.

[Jag]

You must have a beacon to gain access though. Also, beware of kids sledding

Pure comedy.

[ElephantMuncher]

5 hours to Grand Marais...... But I like where your head is at Telekoptero.

[coldsmoker]

Ten years ago I got kicked out of Buck Hill for skiing the backside, those bastards.

[Jer]

The bluffs around Redwing are pretty cool. Too bad you guys hardly get any snow.

[bushman]

Drive to Bohemia, it will save a lot bad hikes. Best i've seen East of the Beartooth range.

[jwolter7]

if we had enough snow.
shaujohn@yahoo.com

Deep snow would help...

[LoloB]

Barn Bluff is pretty darn steep. If there were enough snow it would be pretty sweet...which I don't think there will be any time soon to cover bushes, rocks enough.

[29]

I was just down in Red Wing, Lake City, etc 'scoping lines' a few weeks ago. Barn Bluff has about 200-300 feet of fairly steep vert before the trees ruin it. It's all short prairie grass, so all you need is about 8-10 inches to ski it. No rocks up top.

There's a community park across the valley from Barn Bluff that also has a couple of skiable lines covered in prairie grass, so coverage is less of an issue.

If we really get dumped on, the wisconsin side of the bluffs would be the place to go. We'd need historic snows for that.

No need for skins. Just boot up.

[gmdesigner]

That's hillarious. Post a TR if you hit that up. Specially if you huck those rocks.

[ElephantMuncher]

I was just down in Red Wing, Lake City, etc 'scoping lines' a few weeks ago. Barn Bluff has about 200-300 feet of fairly steep vert before the trees ruin it. It's all short prairie grass, so all you need is about 8-10 inches to ski it. No rocks up top.

There's a community park across the valley from Barn Bluff that also has a couple of skiable lines covered in prairie grass, so coverage is less of an issue.

If we really get dumped on, the wisconsin side of the bluffs would be the place to go. We'd need historic snows for that.

No need for skins. Just boot up.

I'm in! I'll be patiently waiting for the next storm. Redwing just got 8 inches last week, right? One more storm should do it....unless it melts in the mean time.

Hopefully we don't rip the shit out of our skis.

[Skipig25]

Backcountry skiing in MN.

I think people call that cross country skiing

[Core Shot]

Is "ELEPHANT MUNCHER" a euphemism for knob gobbling?

[wanghoeby]

Damn, this is too bad. The first year I'm gone, there's finally someone in the area who is up for some backcountry skiing.

Find the power line routes that lead up from/ to the river. Precut and usually wind blocked. There are some ok meadowskipping routes to be had. The Lacrosse crew knows the most me thinks. POV = classic.

True

Deep snow would help...

Ding ding ding

... No need for skins. Just boot up.

IMHO, also correct. Unless you are doing it for practice or scouting, it's a waste of time.

If you are ever skiing in the La Crosse area, let me know and I can give you some beta. From experience (did my undergrad at UWL), I would just say that things look drastically better from a distance than when you are actually skiing them. Most of the goat parries that you pointed out, are south facing. This means lots of sun. Because of the infrequent precipitation and frequent temperatures near freezing, they generally turn into one solid ass crust. And although the grass gets knocked down, there's normally a good amount of small shrubbery that makes it through. Thus, giving you a sort of Plinko effect as you try to ski down it.

I can't guarantee this stuff is true everywhere, but here's my advice:
1. If goat parries are your thing, get after them while it's snowing, or within the next day or so.
2. I know this may sound obvious, but try to find open north facing slopes if at all possible. Look for recent mudslides, fires or old growth forest that doesn't have a lot of underbrush. If you can find a good north slope (especially one that's in a small valley), I promise the powder will stay fluffy for days on end, even if temperatures get into the mid 30's.
3. Watch out for who's property your roaming on. Some people care way more than others.
4. If hucking is your thing, be sure you know what the landing is like without snow. A 5 inch rock can mess you up pretty good when your base is only a foot or so.
5. Get after it and just keep exploring. Most of the best spots, were in places I wasn't expecting to find anything.

Best of luck to you. With the right amount of snow and right terrain, it can be a total hoot and you'll entirely forget what state you're in.

That's hillarious. Post a TR if you hit that up. Specially if you huck those rocks.

Dude, when you live in the Midwest, you work with what you've got.

[ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78316"]TR: Hixon Forest, Whale Ridge 2-27-07 - Teton Gravity Research Forums[/ame]

And the following year:

[ElephantMuncher]

Is "ELEPHANT MUNCHER" a euphemism for knob gobbling?

(laughing)

It's curious how gay is your first interpretation. Is that something you think about a lot? It's ok, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just not something I was thinking about when I came up with the name. Is elephant some kind of code word?....You seem to be an expert in homosexual lingo.

It was more of a "I guarantee no one has chosen this name" kind of thing.

[Downbound Train]

Fritz....

Yes, the back bowl of Buckhill just opened up. You must have a beacon to gain access though. Also, beware of kids sledding and the golden retriever.

It helps if you can get it before they salt the Cul-de-sac too.

[Clownshoe]

I don't know how far you are from Thunder Bay (that's in Canada), but when I was in university there we used to hike and ski one of the "couloirs" on Mt. McKay. I couldn't find a great pic of the skiing, but this shot kind of shows the bottom half... bootpack up, ski down. If there's lots of snow, it's actually pretty decent (for the East it's pretty epic!)

Also, Mt. McKay is the last in a series of these flat top hills... We always used to talk about doing a pretty cool traverse from the other side, crossing all the hills, and then finishing with the chute in this pic...

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...a%3DX%26um%3D1

[montanamike]

anyone wanna go shred spirit on thursday afternoon?

[midwesterner]

actually, lutsen's bc and hole barnloads of stuff just over the border up above Grand Marais has never been skied. first descents midwest baby. my buddies and i used to hike all over GM doing what we now know as BC. the old ski hill lines in GM are awesome too. 1000 feet of vert if you hunch.

I've scoped out a bunch of sidecountry around Lutsen and the thing seems to be if it's steep enough to not be covered in brush it's too steep for snow to stick. Lots of delicious looking lines on the back side of Moose Mountain if someone got in there with a chainsaw.

plus river skiing's quite the trip, near GM. dangerous as #$%^ but fun. bring rope, and a little bit of iceclimb gear on the cascade river. quite fun.

Okay, that sounds awesome. Well, the inevitable death part would be unfortunate.