2012 Montana Conditions, Stoke and Whatev Thread

[Gnar_Shralp406]

Spring stoke. Closing weekend -> Moab



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[Bunion 2020]

You are in the right place. + 1" of H2o last night when an energetic cold front rolled through. Snowing in 4 corners this morning.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Yep, this is good for later on in the summer, but really gonna set MTB back another couple weeks for some stuff.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Anyone know the status of Going to The Sun Road? Would like to time it to bike it without cars but go up to Logan if possible. That's probably not doable until the day or so before car opening in mid to late June?

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

Seems like they keep this up to date: https://www.nps.gov/applications/gla...plowstatus.cfm

[Ted26]

Dropped a ski crampon somewhere near the top of morning glory today. If anyone happens to find it shoot me a message

[toast2266]

Anyone know the status of Going to The Sun Road? Would like to time it to bike it without cars but go up to Logan if possible. That's probably not doable until the day or so before car opening in mid to late June?

Yeah, the link Kathleenturner posted is updated. I think they'll have it plowed up to Logan early this year. They're pretty close as it is.

[muted reborn]

Attachment 373588

Classic MT photo, ha.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Seems like they keep this up to date: https://www.nps.gov/applications/gla...plowstatus.cfm

Sweet thanks. They have plowed pretty damn far already.

[SUPERIOR]

Bridger probably still skiing well today. Quality smooth pow up high, yesterday pm.

Had a rare ski day with Nest, so all the better.

[yeahman]

^^Hell yeah.

[J_Berg]

Does anyone have beta on the big belts? My late march hut trip to the big belt hut got bumped to 5/21-5/23 because we all got covid. I was wondering if anyone has been there recently or even in the general area. Hoping it's not just a glamping trip with a skin approach and that there will still be some skiing. Looks like some good North facing terrain near the hut so I'm hopeful. Thanks all

[SUPERIOR]

Judging by the snow we just got in the Bridgers, you should have something to work with in the Big Belts. That range picked up more early season snow than the Bridgers too, which I regularly saw from the tobacco roots this year, which probably saw the least snow in the area.


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[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Throwing this out there to the Maggot masses. Anyone have or know of a rental available around June in the 1300-1500 range? 2Bd/2Ba ideally with a garage.

I love the place I am in now but they cranked up rent big time. I am also running a business out of here storing a bunch of inventory and trying to not move to a smaller place then have to rent storage somewhere which would kind of defeat the purpose.

I know this market is brutal for everyone, but the maggots have come through time and time again. Thanks!

[brutah]

Does anyone have beta on the big belts? My late march hut trip to the big belt hut got bumped to 5/21-5/23 because we all got covid. I was wondering if anyone has been there recently or even in the general area. Hoping it's not just a glamping trip with a skin approach and that there will still be some skiing. Looks like some good North facing terrain near the hut so I'm hopeful. Thanks all

I was just there actually. I'll post some pics up tomorrow. Could be good, could be pretty melted out, either way I bet you can drive to the 3 mile mark in 10 days, (where you're supposed to park your snowmobile). Pretty sick terrain up there tho

[RootSkier]

Isn't it already the MTB mecca of MT?

Whitefish might like a word about that.

[toast2266]

Whitefish might like a word about that.

Helena has easy access to a big trail network. But all the trails are kinda the same, and most of them aren't particularly interesting. The Flathead has a better variety of trails, but they're spread out, not well interconnected, and the loop options are limited. Bozeman has some good trails that are melted out and dry for at least 5 weeks every year. Missoula has a ton of awesome trails provided you're mostly excited about the challenge of riding switchbacks.

Mostly Montana just doesn't have any particularly good mountain bike meccas.

[evasive_MT]

I’d agree with that provided you define Helena as the South Hills. As you expand into the broader landscape there’s a lot more variety. That’s not what gets marketed, and I’m fine with that.

I don’t think many residents want to be considered a destination, here or in other riding spots in Montana. I know I don’t, but I’ll use the increased pressure to try and improve our trails.

[J_Berg]

I was just there actually. I'll post some pics up tomorrow. Could be good, could be pretty melted out, either way I bet you can drive to the 3 mile mark in 10 days, (where you're supposed to park your snowmobile). Pretty sick terrain up there tho

Yeah send in them pics! Yeah pretty huge bummer we all got covid the week before the trip but I would say we kinda had it coming.... Anyway, Still get to get out in the woods for a weekend, pop some tops, and catch some rays. Thanks

[toast2266]

I’d agree with that provided you define Helena as the South Hills. As you expand into the broader landscape there’s a lot more variety.

I don't mean to shit on Helena because there's a ton of nice trails there, and maybe there's stuff in Helena that I'm unaware of, but there isn't really any alpine riding, there isn't really any lift served, and there aren't really any flowy / jumpy trails. From what I've seen / ridden, everything is more or less natural, below tree line single track that was originally built for hiking / horses, or is newer and was built to pretty mellow multi-use specs. Some of it's a bit rockier, but I don't think of any of it as being overly technical (at least compared to, say, British Columbia standards).

[Shredeagle]

While you hosers argue about who has the shittiest mountain biking - conditions at Bridger were freaking epic this weekend. Some of my best runs of the year. Saturday morning met Ted26 breaking trail up Bridger and skied a Nose/Toilet Bowl/Test Face. Went flying down into Toilet Bowl and the slough starting pulling my feet down. Instead of wussing out like I usually do, I pointed into the chaos and came nuking out super stoked. Sunday got up for first storm tracks down Colters - unreal. Perfect stability. Kinda shitty viz at the top, but I knew it would clear just before the choke. The fall line slowly pulled me in to faster and straighter turns as the chute narrowed - by the time I hit the choke turning wasn't even a consideration. Just flying. Apron at the bottom was unreal - at least until the wiggle they put in S Bowl came up on me Probably top to bottom in under 60 seconds. That's the kind of run I wait all year for. I wish somebody would just hook that shit straight into my veins. Then I took the family back up for Mother's day and we skied more pow - Fingers to S Bowl. My wife says "its kinda hard until you just let yourself go, then it's pretty addicting." Ha. Right. That's pow skiing!! It was sick to see her make some big turns and see the kids put in a decent skinning effort.
I will win the award for the shittiest I phone pics here:


You can kinda see my tracks down the Apron below Colters

[evasive_MT]

While you hosers argue about who has the shittiest mountain biking - conditions at Bridger were freaking epic this weekend.
I will win the award for the shittiest I phone pics here.

It’s funny but the new iPhone is the best camera I’ve ever owned.

I don't mean to shit on Helena because there's a ton of nice trails there, and maybe there's stuff in Helena that I'm unaware of, but there isn't really any alpine riding, there isn't really any lift served, and there aren't really any flowy / jumpy trails. From what I've seen / ridden, everything is more or less natural, below tree line single track that was originally built for hiking / horses, or is newer and was built to pretty mellow multi-use specs. Some of it's a bit rockier, but I don't think of any of it as being overly technical (at least compared to, say, British Columbia standards).

No worries; I didn’t read it that way. I’m not sure how much you’ve ridden here outside the OG Helenduro courses, but there’s a lot more than most people know. This part of the state doesn’t have a lot of alpine country, but there’s riding in what we have, and some of it is pretty steep (unclimbable) and rocky AF. Lift-served is a couple years away. But you’re right in that we don’t have much BC-style purpose built tech lines. There isn’t a lot of flow/jump trail, and what we recently gained freaked out a handful of boomers who demanded the city commission put a stop to it.

[Norseman]

bravo, shredeagle

[toast2266]

There isn’t a lot of flow/jump trail, and what we recently gained freaked out a handful of boomers who demanded the city commission put a stop to it.

Hah, that's kinda funny. We've definitely had some of that as well. Nothing like old guys complaining about things that they didn't plan, fund, or build.

Mostly I think Montana as a whole is fairly behind the curve on building good bike trails. For how many trails we have, how much open space we have, and how many bikers we have (both local and visitors), there's a depressingly small amount of trail that's really built with bikes in mind. There are some nuggets here and there, and there's certainly some non-purpose built trail that works really nicely for bikes. But compared to anywhere that I'd consider an actual bike mecca, Montana is a couple decades behind.

[Bunion 2020]

Montana is at least a couple decades behind.

FIFY