Beartooth Pass conditions?

[lucknau]

Was hoping to check out some of the other lines this year that are right off the highway, like Hanging Couloir and Reefer Ridge. Seems like there's still a ton of snow, so maybe more of that whole ridge that drops down to Gardner Lake.

I'm heading out of Portland on Friday morning. Skiing Saturday through Tuesday.

[Djongo Unchained]

Had I not bet on the pass opening, I woulda looked closer at the wydot/NPSYS websites for things like this impeding the flow of my fun chi...




A zoom in shows the closed gates at the base of Dunraven pass.

Dagnabbit.

Buffjams en route...




Beartooth Basin Bash-in 2020. Ya got a year to get yer shize together Mags.

I'll try and set something up with the Basin bosses...


My disappointment has been tempered by the stories here and from my local friends who had their best time yet, 3rd year for them.

SVS and Abraham - my friends said you guys were great and we all hope to see both of you next winter if not sooner. My house is open to you both.

Funny how that super smooth stuff to the skiers left was closed, but then after a little power of suggestion, it was open.

Dookey's describing it to his friends is spot on.

Really not like anywhere else I've been and so refreshing.

It's like a dream staring your reality in the face, and whispering - steeeeeep...

[ACH]

FKNA great SVS and Abe!
Gonna pencil this into my calendar for next year now.

[babybear]

So happy you guys got the goods! jelly and bummed we couldn't connect but something something about a mountain being between us

We approached from Cooke City/ Silvergate and spent the evening there hoping the hwy would open. we drove in late and Pilot peak greeted us in the am


then we drove up as far as we could to the road barriers and hiked for some turns and silly stuff (Andrew skied in his jeans)



weather was sketchy all weekend but beautiful


missed seeing my pnw mags (this wd have been the 3rd time I've hung out with SVS! and he's only joined the board in the past yr) but time in jellystone is always fun so without skiing we had more time for animal binocular hunting



baby bears


and we also saw a rainbow so we've got that going for us


Looking fwd to the BBIBBB2020! Been up to beartooth a couple times but only in the olden days when there was no rope tow- looked like fun and next summer djongo will be able to ski with us too so bonus

[SirVicSmasher]

B bear- we kept looking for your signature green pants or some 22 plates but came up short on both. Next year for sure.

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[Bruce Springskiin]

Nice work you all!!! SVS next time I ski with you I hope is on your home runs, hard angling for BBI20.
I want to see the basin keep spinning the Poma so going to make it one of the next few weekends


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[MontuckyFried]

And how I fell off the Poma when I tried to put my skis perpendicular to the slope and hop/jump turn when the disc came whizzing by. And how, when I went to the back of the line everybody pushed me back to the front cheering me on to do it again (you wouldn't get that kind of non-ironic goodwill at any of the hills in Tahoe, seriously...you'd get "jonged" and told to go home!). I thought it was a fluke, but then on the next day some chick on a snowboard biffed it on the Poma and again everybody cheered her on and was super supportive until she got back on and rode to the top. Awesome.

Whew! Glad I wasn't the only one who fell off the poma. Haha. And I had the same experience. So embarassing, but everyone there was super cool, gave me some pointers (that worked thankfully) and were just encouraging. Really a great crowd out there. Egos seem to be left the door.

BTW, I have NEVER ridden such a steep freaking tow before. That thing's no joke. What a great time, though. That whole place is just magical to me. Can't wait to get back. SO happy to see some of you guys going out there and getting some, though!!! Keep the pics comin'!

[danmelon]

Word I'm loving this thread and dream of being there someday. All this great stoke is keeping the dream alive. A BBI sanctioned event might just push my motivation over the edge.

[anotherVTskibum]

Whew! Glad I wasn't the only one who fell off the poma. Haha. And I had the same experience. So embarassing, but everyone there was super cool, gave me some pointers (that worked thankfully) and were just encouraging. Really a great crowd out there. Egos seem to be left the door.

BTW, I have NEVER ridden such a steep freaking tow before. That thing's no joke. What a great time, though. That whole place is just magical to me. Can't wait to get back. SO happy to see some of you guys going out there and getting some, though!!! Keep the pics comin'!

People tend to be good-natured about it on the first goof, but it can get a bit annoying when someone goofs and then manages to not even try grabbing one or more pomas because they're nervous. I did talk a Cody High School racer into giving me the back of stubbies she clearly wasn't going to manage to get up the lift at one point. I am not disappointed that I've never needed to carry a bundle of gates, a generator, or any of the other miscellaneous stuff that sometimes needs to be transported up that lift.

The pitch also makes it particularly fun when a platter fails and you're suddenly sliding backwards down the track, most likely unexpectedly. And sometimes that also creates the opportunity to participate in the Beartooth Challenge—grab what's left and hang the f*** on when your spot in line puts you on a discless poma. It doesn't seem so bad until you get about halfway up, at which point you're fully committed to making it to the damn top.

Keep up the stoke. I'll have to see if I can talk the wife into a BBI 2020 trip.

[babybear]

I think this is the steepest rope tow I've been up #trainingforbeartooth
Serre Chevalier in France. I swear I got mild whiplash at take-off on this one

[ACH]

This makes me smile.
Carry on.

[abraham]

Oh man I missed the Billy Poole sticker. I haven't seen one of those in years

[MontuckyFried]

Just got green light from wifey to make it up there next year for BBIBBB2020!!! I told her that she can stay in Billings with the fam but I'll be up at the pass for a couple days staying in Red Lodge, to you know, après properly (and safely). Haha. See ya'll up there next year! You better make it out this time, Harry!!!

I'll be good for a few laps but will likely mostly provide many free shuttles and beer since I know I'm not nearly on the same ability level as most of you. I poop out fast. Haha.

These are some old pics I've posted from June 2011. The coverage was insane that year. Coverage all the way down to the parking lot!

[SirVicSmasher]

Wheres the pictures. Last call for Beartooth

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[lucknau]

Wheres the pictures. Last call for Beartooth

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Saturday was the "busiest day of the year" at the resort. These lines didn't form until around 11am, and I was thankful for them, being so oxygen deprived that I was nearly passing out from headrush at the bottom. Also, had a lot of funny conversations with the other frolicking dirtbags.




Gardner Headwall and Basin were gorgeous.




Hanging Couloir lost its snow


I want to play around on Quintuple Peaks some day.


57 Chevy had a bit of a down hike



Reefer Ridge. I never got a look at the main descent. Chicks that Rip Chute is the only name I've heard for this one. Looked skiable, highish consequence, and the climb out looked pretty gnarly. Photo taken from the top of 57 Chevy.


I think Rock Creek Headwall was still skiable, with a couple little down hikes. Keeping in mind, of course, that every cornice out there is sketchy as fuck right now.


Thanks, Djongo, for the campsite directions. We stayed on one of the little walk-in spots along the paved road. The rushing river and loamy soil was so much more pleasant than the rushing ATVs and clouds of dust along the valley road. The river was raging so hard that a bear could've stepped on our toes before we'd have noticed it coming.

[Djongo Unchained]

FKNA lucknau - nice pic stoke. Looks like a classic beauty weekend at 11,000ft. Always an adventure there, glad the camping worked out. That river is so amazingly loud it's funny. Raging and only 30 feet away...nice to walk right up to the car and boogie up or down the pass.

[SirVicSmasher]

Well done...(golf clap)
What a difference a week or two makes in the amount if snow thats left. Glad you got some Lucknau cool pictures, some spots ive never seen. That wait in between pomas can be nice for remembering to exhale lol.

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[lucknau]

Heh. Yeah, I was more exhausted from hot laps on the poma lift than from bootpacking the Headwall. Not what I expected. This year I kind of had a one track mind to support the resort. Can't wait to get over there earlier next year and wander around more.

[SirVicSmasher]

Abraham and i saw enough
"it looks like it goes!"
for a lifetime of wandering. Especially those quintuple peaks and some of the slots a ways west of the Basin.
Finding a way to get back in there in the winter would be about as cool as it gets if you lived to tell about it

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[babybear]

Abraham and i saw enough
"it looks like it goes!"
for a lifetime of wandering. Especially those quintuple peaks and some of the slots a ways west of the Basin.
Finding a way to get back in there in the winter would be about as cool as it gets if you lived to tell about it

If you don't already follow you may want to chk out this guy, Beau Fredlund
He lives in Cooke City yr round and guides Yellowstone ski tours so he gets waaay out there to stuff not frequently skied
https://www.instagram.com/bfredlund/

He's definitely into the brevity thing

[ACH]

Guy gets around...

This is most definitely now on my to-do list.


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[anotherVTskibum]

Abraham and i saw enough
"it looks like it goes!"
for a lifetime of wandering. Especially those quintuple peaks and some of the slots a ways west of the Basin.
Finding a way to get back in there in the winter would be about as cool as it gets if you lived to tell about it

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At least until CGNF completes the new master plan and does over-snow travel management, almost anything non-wilderness in the Beartooth Ranger District is open to sled access. On the plateau, the highway itself centerlines a 250-foot zone where over-snow travel is allowed. Where you can actually manage to get would probably come down to your level of sled handling, and I sure wouldn't want to be up top when a winter storm rolled in.

Getting almost to the bottom of Rock Creek Headwall on a sled is relatively easy, but about half a mile short there's a significant snow drift. If you're confident in your sled handling, it probably isn't a big deal. I lack such skills, so I skinned that last half mile or so.

Facebook has been reminding me of what things looked like in past years, and the photos from this year are making me jealous. Going to have to try to make a trip out there next June, just have to get the wife on board.

[SirVicSmasher]

My main concern with winter time in the Beartooths wouldnt so much be access or my lack of experience on a sled, it would be avalanches. All that terrain is so steep and loaded with snow my guess is i wouldnt make it back alive.
Thats one of the reasons why B bears suggestion is so fantastic is that itd be with a guide. Honestly i had no idea about that guy Beau at Yellowstone ski tours but it looks about as cool as it gets.

thanks Bbear for putting it on my radar!

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[detrusor]

We skied ‘57 Chevy way back in 1993. Mother’s Day. It was awesome. Same day I met the wife to be standing on a switchback hitchhiking!


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[abraham]

Pic dump pt 1.

SVS and I left Seattle pretty early and after some traffic fuckery it was smooth sailing.

I asked an friend where she recommended eating near Spokane and we ended up with BBQ. Damn good.


It was snowing on the day before the solstice in Bozeman. Fortunately there wasn't any more snow on the drive to Red Lodge


Back up plan if the pass didn't open


Rolled into town, went to get a beer to take off the edge before eating. We missed our chance to eat ,might as well drink more beer! Until 5am. Some questionable choices were made


After a late start, and a burger at the snag bar we rolled out towards the pass. Rock creek headwall


Gate was closed so we went for a walk


SVS



Got a ride up with a bunch of hitchhikers in this dude's converted school bus



Everyone else went for a second lap. We retreated to set up camp and recover


Plus we had business to attend to

We met up with Djongo's buddy and family at a sweet secret campsite. Spent some time talking and hanging out before they realized we knew THAT Djongo and not another friend. If Djongo recommends meeting up with people trust him. They will be cool

The gate was closed again so all of us decided to do a lap on the headwall again. As we were loading up and about to start hiking we saw a truck come down. Fuck yeah! Skiers were allowed through the gate by one of the owners. So we threw our shit in the car and got through. To Beartooth!


Security


Cool operation up there.


Djongo's buddy

Friend of Djongo's buddy

SVS

Djongo's buddy's kid

The day was awesome, its a cool spot, great people and the skiing was fun. Three of us decided to do a lap on the headwall while the others shuttled the vehicles down