2012 Montana Conditions, Stoke and Whatev Thread

[toast2266]

FIFY

Which, to be fair, is why a lot of us like it here.

I just want to have my cake and eat it too.

[toastybroski]

Speaking of Helena biking, has anyone ridden from Rogers pass to flesher pass on the CDT? Seems like some good alpine terrain. The ride didn't look too long when I was looking at hiking logs.

[THE_TURK]

If you don't like the biking around here move to some pansy-ass liberal state like Washington. Then you can do your cool guy blogs with all of your other yuppie "friends" who may actually pretend to give a shit

[stealurface831]

If you don't like the biking around here move to some pansy-ass liberal state like Washington. Then you can do your cool guy blogs with all of your other yuppie "friends" who may actually pretend to give a shit

comin in hot!
though this reeks of alias.

[Harry]

Speaking of Helena biking, has anyone ridden from Rogers pass to flesher pass on the CDT? Seems like some good alpine terrain. The ride didn't look too long when I was looking at hiking logs.

I have hiked that section. Real pretty terrain. Never saw a bike on it, but I think they are allowed, not sure. I don’t remember the mileage but it was a long day, finished it after dark. I did it north to south.


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[evasive_MT]

I have hiked that section. Real pretty terrain. Never saw a bike on it, but I think they are allowed, not sure. I don’t remember the mileage but it was a long day, finished it after dark. I did it north to south.


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They are. Bikes are allowed on the CDT south of the Wilderness boundary up by Alice Creek. I’ve never ridden it myself. It takes some logistics and I’ve always had a conflict when friends have set something up. Vigilante did a one-off shuttle on it last summer, but I wasn’t getting into a van during COVID. It’s still on my list.

[yeahman]

I have friends who rode the CD from Rogers Pass to Flesher and they said it's a big day. Bigger than they expected based on mileage (13.4) and elevation gain (3,800). But really cool and worth doing if that's your thing.

And obviously it's griz country more and more up there these days, so standard precautions needed.

[Shredeagle]

I like the riding in MT. When I go to Moab or St George I always miss the long continuous descents we have. I like riding off the high peaks and doing the 3 - 4k downhills non-stop - then you collapse in the parking lot while waives of euphoria wash over your body. Then chug beers!!! Plus it's pretty possible to catch most of these rides without ever having to pull over for other hikers or bikers. Riding the destination rides like the Enchilada gives me anxiety with all of the people. I'm glad we aren't a destination...but I'm also not really into flow trails and that stuff. And I don't mind taking my bike for a long walk.

I also think the Butte-Helena-Deer Lodge zone has some pretty sick uncrowded riding. You just gotta poke around. I ride Friday afternoons and head up that way fairly often if anyone ever wants to ride. Would be down for a group ride on the CDT section too - looks pretty cool.

[skaredshtles]

I like the riding in MT. When I go to Moab or St George I always miss the long continuous descents we have. I like riding off the high peaks and doing the 3 - 4k downhills non-stop - then you collapse in the parking lot while waives of euphoria wash over your body. Then chug beers!!! Plus it's pretty possible to catch most of these rides without ever having to pull over for other hikers or bikers. Riding the destination rides like the Enchilada gives me anxiety with all of the people. I'm glad we aren't a destination...but I'm also not really into flow trails and that stuff. And I don't mind taking my bike for a long walk.

I also think the Butte-Helena-Deer Lodge zone has some pretty sick uncrowded riding. You just gotta poke around. I ride Friday afternoons and head up that way fairly often if anyone ever wants to ride. Would be down for a group ride on the CDT section too - looks pretty cool.

As a resident of the over-run Front Range of Colorado, you should probably keep this to yourself.

Oh - and pro-tip on riding TWE - do it in July. You can thank me later.

[Bunion 2020]

1 post was all it took, congrats on a new personal best.

CDT riding is some of the best around.

[brutah]

Big Belt hut, a trip report from the first week of May

Pretty nice set up with a short hike to some fun ski terrain. Hut is nice and basic, just what you need for a good ski trip. it does have a Sauna that was really relaxing after dinner. Do you think sweating in a sauna makes you more smelly or less? My votes on less.

Townsend locals are pretty cool


the hut at sunset and wood shed


the hut sits about 500 feet below the summit of little baldy and then to the south are Mt Baldy aka big baldy and middle baldy pictured below. Middle baldy in the front.


skiing down to the saddle between little and middle baldys


skiing off the NE face of middle baldy


hiking up to a bench off mt baldy shoulder with the east face of middle baldy in the background


skiing the east face of middle baldy


the cirque off little baldy (most of the couloirs were full of debris but the morre northernly were still smooth)


not the scene you want to see on a hut trip


East face of Mt Baldy (skied this solo after everyone else decided to head home for the day, but the corn was still firing on east faces so I couldn't resist a little bonus vert!)


hiking up the north face of big baldy


there's a ton of goats in the big belts. we saw goat tracks all over the place. and above the hut there's a ledge that's covered in goat shit that overlooks a couloir.
Unfortunately, the bottom of the couloir was blocked by some water ice (I'm guessing it goes in the winter). Luckily, where the water ice starts you can easily traverse back to the hut, so it made for a fun quick outing from the hut. We mainly skied it in firm and icey conditions which really added oto the fun!
Kyle skiing Goat Poop Chute or GPC as the locals call it.


looking down GPC, if you look closely you can see that shit!


Definitely a good hut in my opinion based off the ski terrain offerings even with limited terrain offerings due to snowmelt, I'd go back that's for sure.

[yeahman]

Awesome brutah! Thanks for the TR.

[Bunion 2020]

Nice, thx.

[nest]

Nice! That terrain has caught my eye on google earth before. Thanks for the pics!

[Harry]

I have hiked that section. Real pretty terrain. Never saw a bike on it, but I think they are allowed, not sure. I don’t remember the mileage but it was a long day, finished it after dark. I did it north to south.


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

They are. Bikes are allowed on the CDT south of the Wilderness boundary up by Alice Creek. I’ve never ridden it myself. It takes some logistics and I’ve always had a conflict when friends have set something up. Vigilante did a one-off shuttle on it last summer, but I wasn’t getting into a van during COVID. It’s still on my list.

I have friends who rode the CD from Rogers Pass to Flesher and they said it's a big day. Bigger than they expected based on mileage (13.4) and elevation gain (3,800). But really cool and worth doing if that's your thing.

And obviously it's griz country more and more up there these days, so standard precautions needed.

CDT riding is some of the best around.

The way we hiked it, and this would work with bikes too, was taking two vehicles. One to each pass. Meet in the middle and swap car keys.


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[toastybroski]

As a resident of the over-run Front Range of Colorado, you should probably keep this to yourself.

Oh - and pro-tip on riding TWE - do it in July. You can thank me later.

God damn riding in golden gives me so much anxiety. My record was almost 100 people on a weekday on green mountain.

The big belts look awesome. I wish they were more accessable in the winter.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> green mountain.

[toastybroski]

The way we hiked it, and this would work with bikes too, was taking two vehicles. One to each pass. Meet in the middle and swap car keys.


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Was the trail decent for riding though? Or lots of hike a bike?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Haha.....I rode green mountain....once.....when I was in Denver for a couple days. Took me like 30 minutes to get there even though it was like 5 miles away. Never again.

[evasive_MT]

Was the trail decent for riding though? Or lots of hike a bike?

Not a lot of details here, but you get the flavor. Their trip report covers a longer section but includes Rogers to Flesher.

https://freehubmag.com/articles/few-thousand-miles-go

[montpow]

Got out Wednesday in South Waldron Creek just south of Teton Pass. Absolute 10/10 kind of day. The pics will probably get messed up.
Paging Yeahman to the courtesy phone. Cleanup on aisle 3. Thank you

[senior researcher]

Excellent.

[toastybroski]

That looks awesome, can you skin all the way in?

[yeahman]

Looks great montpow.

[montpow]

That looks awesome, can you skin all the way in?

There was some snow at the road. But had to walk patches of dirt the first 20 minutes. From then on it was all snow. Probably did about 7-8 miles total and traversed a couple drainages. Followed those griz tracks from the truck. But he was going the other way the day before so I was cautious but not scared. He liked the snowmobile trail . Saw tracks from at least 3 other bears from afar.