2012 Montana Conditions, Stoke and Whatev Thread

[total_immortal]

Thinking about cleaning out the ski closet and curious if any one here would be interested in the following before I try and sell them through the usual channels...

182 Dynastar M-Free 108
185 Armada JJ UL
184 Moment Deathwish
188 Fischer Ranger 116
186 Volkl Blaze

All are in fair condition with multiple mounts and could use tune so I'll sell them cheap. DM me if you're interested or want more info

[Trackhead]

Working on a summer project that involves large quantities of crack cocaine and a cooperative wife:

[byates1]

What in the flying fuck is that

[Trackhead]

What in the flying fuck is that

Think about my name here…

[stealurface831]

What in the flying fuck is that

obviously yer not a golfer.

[byates1]

Lol

[Bunion 2020]

Just back from the prestigious Y/C when I am overcharging the rich and famous.

Snow about 8800', steady rain below.

[byates1]

Charge em out the ass. It's the going rate

[Bunion 2020]

Pretty soon (72 days +-) I am done with driving to BS/YC to work and turning it ALL over to my protege.
About fucking time.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

I still have PTSD from that drive.

[swimmy]

Crazy day in Glacier. I'm back in Kalispell working this week and today we snuck up to hike the Highline again.

We were a couple of groups behind a guy who got mauled by a grizzly between the turn off to Grinnell overlook and the Chalet. Saw the chopper land at the Chalet and fly the guy out. Later on, we say the same bear chasing people down the trail.

Park closed the trail and we ended up having it all to ourselves on the hike out. Will try to post a few pics later.

[yeahman]

Gnarly. I had a really scary hike on the loop trail once years ago, thought I might get mauled below the chalet in what they call "bear alley," which is where one of the deaths in Night of the Grizzlies occured. They're thick in that area. Hope the guy is okay.

[swimmy]

I just listened to a great podcast on Night of the Grizzlies: Tooth and Claw 3 part series. Insane

[swimmy]

[singlesline]

Any sense of what scenario led to the attack?

I’ve seen nothing but speculation. Stupid tourists getting too close, etc. But nothing concrete.

Non life threatening injuries though.

[Bunion 2020]

Anyone that dances with a Grizzly and comes away whole is one lucky human.

[Trackhead]

We used to get pretty close to the browns when I lived in SE AK but only when they had plenty of fish to eat. This was about 8-10ft away with my kid and some other folks. We were up on a little cliff. She was just walking by. Coastal brown’s behavior is quite different than the lower 48 or interior bears.

[swimmy]

Any sense of what scenario led to the attack?

I’ve seen nothing but speculation. Stupid tourists getting too close, etc. But nothing concrete.

Non life threatening injuries though.

Here is what we heard from the group in front of us who spoke directly to the party involved in the incident.

Morning started off with low clouds and visibility wasn't great. There was a group of four but they were widely spaced out. All of a sudden, bear comes running down the hill and tackles dude on point. Sounds like it happened in a blink of an eye.

I've read that they used bear spray and it was not effective. Maybe they hit him after the attack but hard to believe guy had time to draw and deploy spray.

As we were headed out we ran into rangers that were going to the scene. Their theory, based on the reports they had so far, is that the bear was likely feeding on huckleberries and the guy startled the bear. So basically they surprised a bear feeding. The bear did not kill the hiker and feed on the corpse so the rangers said they would not kill the bear. They will close the trail for a bit and hopefully the bear goes back to doing bear things. If it had killed the guy and fed, or if it becomes a repeat offender, then other measures are taken.

The mistake seems to be they weren't really in a group (since they were spread out) and not making enough noise. With as many folks that hike that trail, you can understand why some would let their guard down.

When we saw the bear, we were actually headed back down the Grinnell overlook spur trail. He was digging in the talus about 50 feet above the trail, and maybe a 1/4 mile from the junction with the highline. There were about 10 of us. We just chilled for about 20 minutes watching the bear.

The bear then took off on a sprint and ran back down towards the junction. There were a half dozen folks sitting at the junction having a snack or just taking a break. By the time they saw it, it must been 100 yds away and closing. They picked up their shit and took off on a sprint. That's not what we are told to do but hard for me to judge others in that situation. That's when I got the photo of the bear running down the trail after the hikers. We all just thought at least one of those guys would become another victim but the bear jumped off the trail and back down into the berry patch he'd been feeding on that morning.

It always amazes me how fast they can move. I bet at least one of those folks had to clean out their britches.

[byates1]

Got these for sale local to bozone. 28/ schnee size 12. Winter boot. Never used. New. Paid 335$. Looking for 275$ thx.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

[Trackhead]

I guess so many people in prime bear habitat skews the statistics a bit…

That’s the thing about carrying a gun, most people don’t have time to draw, let alone squeeze off multiple rounds, most of which will not stop a 450-800lb bear anyway. Assuming they even hit their target.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

From those pics it looks like that bear isn't carrying much fat. That's not good.

[yeahman]

Thanks for the bear story, swimmy. Definitely not a good trail to let down your guard. They should have stayed in a group and made a lot of noise. As for the people running, for all we know that was the exact best thing to do in this situation. GTFO

I have to say that Highline Trail has always seemed a bit trippy to me. It's an awesome route. I didn't realize when I hiked it alone exactly how much of that trail is exposed to very steep drop-offs. Hiking it with my kids when they were little really opened my eyes to that. I was a bit freaked out one of them was going to trip and go over the edge. That plus the bear factor made it a hike to remember as a dad. Just a little bit more intense than your average hike.

[singlesline]

I don't know if it makes me feel better or worse that it wasn't tourists being total idiots (obviously there are always things you could do better in hindsight, but it wasn't clueless people pestering a bear). Good because people weren't dumb...but more frightening because it could happen to anyone.

Good reminder to not feel bad when the trail you want to hike ends up closed for bear activity.

We'll see how I feel when my kid gets mobile. When I was doing trail work in Alaska, my takeaway from the park service safety talks was that us adults don't look like food to them so they only care about us if they feel threatened...but something like a 5 year old looks like a perfect snack.

[zion zig zag]

When I was doing trail work in Alaska, my takeaway from the park service safety talks was that us adults don't look like food to them so they only care about us if they feel threatened...but something like a 5 year old looks like a perfect snack.

I've heard that too, but I've also seen video of them running down full grown bull elk that looked pretty healthy. So....?

[stealurface831]

...then other measures are taken...

re: one way ticket to the gravelleys.


or kilt.