TR: Mt Zimmer Yurt

[kevino]

Last fall, when planning this trip, we dreamt of sunny, warm spring days with glorious corn in the wild setting of the Beartooth Mountain Range. The weather had it's own plan, as usual.

Day 1: We arrived to rain/snow mix, spent the day getting into the yurt and skied one run of isothermal mush. We drank, bitched and moaned and played cribbage.

Day 2: Cooler night with some new snow saw us out the door and gunning for the alpine. We saw plenty of evidence of recent wet slides, debry and crowns. Part of the group went straight ahead for a snaking line up the south face of Wolf, while Stefan and I ventured toward a sheltered line.

On the Approach
DSC01302 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

We skied the "Cavity Lake Col" in surprisingly good powder conditions, but in poor visibility as the snow storm ramped up.
DSC01310 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

DSC01312 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

We ended up having to navigate across the Goose Lake landscape by compass only (long story). But once closer to the yurt, we ran up (then down) the Whale's Tail, followed by a short pillow lap in the trees on our way back.
DSC01317 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Day 3: Continued poor visibility, but improved snow conditions mixed with some significant wind effect.
DSC01321 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Up we go.
Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

We topped out on Mt Zimmer and made the best of it.
Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Clouds lifting as the day went on.
DSC01322 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Day 4: The last time we saw the forecast, today high pressure was suppose to start building. We decided to go for it. Very cold winds and low clouds kept us off our main objective.
DSC01329 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Nevertheless, we pushed on to other nearby peaks. We skied the S face of Sawtooth in low light, but as we ascended Iceburg, things started improve. Our tracks visible on the right, with our first ski run (on Day 2) visible straight ahead.
DSC01332 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

We ran up to the summit, and with good lighting (finally), quickly dropped in and skied the NE Couloir.
Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

DSC01335 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

DSC01341 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

We circled back and decided one last summit was needed for the day.
DSC01357 by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Followed by one last pow run.
Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Day Five: Our exit day, of course was the nicest weather of the whole trip. We cleaned up the Yurt and quickly found our way to the top of Sheep Mountain.

Not even broken bindings would keep Ben out of the mountains.
Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

Until next year...
Untitled by Kevin Oberholser, on Flickr

[WMD]

Nice!

[Mike Pow]

Top of the notch.

[danmelon]

nice work!!

[hoarhey]

beautiful, way to persevere...

[::: :::]

thx for sharing...nicely done

[m4doyle]

Sick dude

[tone capone]

Sweet! Looks like a fantastic time!

[grinch]

Good one!! Looks awesome

[bigasshair]

Good luck comes to those who wait, drink, bitch, moan and ski.

[brutah]

Hell yea!
kevino got this TR up faster than he travels up skin tracks!
great trip as always and great write up and photos
can't wait to do it again with ya

[Danno]

tasty

[406]

Nice!

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Excellent. Thanks.

[10729]

Nice lines!

[kevino]

Thanks all...getting excited for the next trip!