What's it like in Libby, MT?? skiing and paddling

[peeforward]

What's the skiing like around Libby? Turner Mt.? How far to Big Mt or other areas? Good backcountry access anywhere around there? The website says only 250 inches per year. I might end up there Jan-May 06-07 and have to make a decision on it soon.

Also, paddlers out there: How much of the year can you run Kootenai and play at the wave (superwave? or something like that?) ??

Thanks for your help!

Cheers,

paul

[rossibandit]

Fernie is only under a 2 hour drive away.

[powndnstein]

Bit of a super small town as far as skiing goes turner open on weekends Big Mtn in whitefish is an hour or so away or going west schweitzer an hour and a half away, i'd say its not the greatest place to be for skiing unless you don't mind commuting big time and hopefully you get a decent winter. paddling i don't know,but there's lots of water around.

[Jumper Bones]

heads up, Libby is an incredibly fucked up town populated by kooks and asbestosis victims. if that doesn't bother you, then give'r.

[acostiga]

libby is a WAY small town, about an hour or so away from whitefish/kalispell. those are the main population centers in the region, kalispell being more of a western farming town and whitefish being more of a growing resort community. if you're out in libby, be sure that you have a full gas tank because it's a long drive to anywhere.

i went out to a bar in kalispell and watched big dudes rip phone books in half, saw no real female talent that was noteworthy and listened to some rough looking dudes tell stories about running over deer with their harleys. there are many, many farm supply stores where one can purchase carhartts and a live chicken under the same roof. they've also got walmart, home depot, etc...

up in whitefish, there are many more young people and upscale type places. many more smaller businesses, but more spendy, but in my opinion a much better time. tons of rich out-of-towners who have massive vacation homes, or relocated californians with tons of cash, both of whom kind of create a tension with the local montanan population. it's still affordable, but not compared with other places around northwestern montana.

these two towns are about an hour east of libby on rt2, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere and somewhat isolated as far as roads go. fernie is north, but north on 93 through eureka across the roosland crossing.

don't know much about the skiing yet, 'cause i haven't been here that long... but check back in a few months

[L7]

I was in Libby a little back. Nice little place, didn't see to many lung incapitated freaks. Spew is your man for input on this but he may be restricted for subversive message board surfing. Didn't paddle and didn't ski but looks like there is paddling that would be consistent year round due to dam outflow. Skiing sounds good in an old style, old lifts rippin' good terrain kind of way. ( If you like that sort of thing).

[Spew]

I leave in one week, L7, so here's the story.
you can paddle on the kootenai year round, if you've got the balls. the falls and the wave go all year. Another thing the kootenai is famous for is the fly-fishing; it is worldclass. I don't know if it's made it into any of those mecca-of-flyfishing books, but i hope it doesn't.
The skiing is totally local, but the terrain is fun and when the snow is good, i wouldn't rather be anywhere else. The backcountry is pretty accessible. most of it is really close to town. 2 hours to big mtn in the winter, 2 hours to fernie, maybe 1.5 hours to schweitzer. 2100' of vertical that is all fall line. skiing up at Turner is really cheap. maybe 300 people on the busiest day of the year.
The town is small and the demographic is aging, the only punani to snag is under the legal drinking age. and voting age for that matter.
the asbestos thing is no-risk now. it's all about compensation for past injuries. the logging and mining are picking up again. the two old sawmills here have some gnarly skate spots hidden in them.
in the summer time, there is Bull Lake which warms up fast and the reservoir behind the damn, which is huge. The cabinet mountains are pretty nice for hiking.
who would you work for if you moved here?

[peeforward]

Hey thanks for the info. that's what i was hoping to hear (except the part about girls but i expected that too. i grew up in AK.)

I'm a med student at the U of Washington and they have a 5 month training site and faculty at the hospital in Libby. They have them in a few other place too including McCall, and Hailey but I think I might like to check out Libby. It sounds a little more remote. Might be interesting. Definitely a change from Seattle. And the paddling all year sounds perfect but cold.

Thanks again for the feedback. We'll see how it works out. Either way I wouldn't be there until 06/07.

Cheers,

Paul

[peeforward]

i can't believe what a tool i sound like in that last message. disregard. this is what too much studying on a weekend does to a person.

libby sounds good.

[L7]

Oh yea I forgot about Libby falls. We took your Dad's advice spew and checked it out. It was pretty cool and a gang of pretty core looking paddlers were just heading down with their rodeo boats.

Don't mean to imply all season paddling. I'm guessing water flow would allow but cold may be a factor. Meant to refer to water flow for all of boat season.

The way I hear and I'm sure Spew has heard it too is they alway could use more medical staff down there. Should keep it interesting.

[406]

Anyone know how conditions are at Turner as of last weekend? Thinking of going there this Friday 1/11.

Also suggestions on backcountry spots? Was looking at going from Flower Cr road (how far can we drive in?) to Indian head...but that is just based on looking at topo maps.

Looks like Flat Iron mtn is the go to spot for easy backcountry?

[Jah Praise]

Not sure how their winter has been going. It's only open Friday-Sunday so as long as it snows sometime during the week, its fresh. It is also great fall line skiing, suprisingly good for a single lift. The Cabinet Mountains nearby have every type of backcountry from cruising to high alpine. If you have a snowmobile, there's lots of logging roads.

[406]

Awesome day at Turner today, upper half of mountain was powder, lower was mostly not so good but zip down groomers. Crazy amount of acreage for so few skiers.