2012 Montana Conditions, Stoke and Whatev Thread

[406]

1) Is Thurs-Sun too long to spend at the Trail?

Depends on snow conditions and what your group is looking for, but 4 days at LT seems like too much to me. I would just do powder Th, BC in Bitterroot Fr, keep going north to Missoula, party downtown Friday, Snowbowl Sat. Off I90 is Discovery, which can be really fun on backside if snow is soft...I90 back to Bozeman. If if you want to stay south check out Maverick Mtn.

That said, tourist typically do not like Snowbowl.

[swimmy]

AITAH?

Standing in the tram line, 4-5 cabin wait. Group in front of me (IKON passholders) waiting and I watch as 1 guy cut the line and joins them, then 2 more, then another. I walked up and pointed out that the back of the line would be the proper place for the new folks. I was told they were "just joining their group". I offered that maybe the group could join them at the end of the line. They seemed offended.

I try to give people the benefit but there is no "place holding" in tram line. Good for you for saying something but sucks that it even has to be said. I hate when contention interrupts stoke.

ICYMI

[swimmy]

Nice capture! You nailed the moment & exposure!

[A part of me wishes the skier didn't have the exaggerated pole plant... would'a made it a *perfect* image.. ]

[Talisman]

This is very surprising:

Bridger Bowl booming: Students rather hit the slopes, than the books
https://www.kbzk.com/news/local-news...than-the-books

Next up students drink, smoke and carry-on on weekends and almost every other night....

[Bunion 2020]

Saw that the other night. 1st reaction was, fucking kids these days, what a bunch of Chachi's.

Then I remembered what I was like at that age and I decided, fuck yeah, get some.

KBZK is really trying hard these days. Love me some John Emeigh. Who else on TV wears cheap suits, says thing like "Dig IT" and waves their arms like a madman. He covers the Butte area very well although maybe he has been drinking the water too much.

[Trackhead]

Flunked outta MSU twice then gave up and spent the summer in Yosemite climbing. I’d say initially Bridger was the problem but that evolved into climbing ice in Hyalite being the problem. Or climbing anything. That, and smoking weed on the night shift while sewing packs at Dana Designs with all my ski/climbing buddies.

[tgapp]

Flunked outta MSU twice then gave up and spent the summer in Yosemite climbing. I’d say initially Bridger was the problem but that evolved into climbing ice in Hyalite being the problem. Or climbing anything. That, and smoking weed on the night shift while sewing packs at Dana Designs with all my ski/climbing buddies.

damn TH, you sewed Dana Designs packs??

pretty much every post you make I gain more respect and admiration for you, fuck

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[Trackhead]

damn TH, you sewed Dana Designs packs??

pretty much every post you make I gain more respect and admiration for you, fuck

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

I’m that old, yes. They had a cool 5pm-9pm evening shift that was pretty much all skiers and climbers. Was a great job for skiing all day and earning barely enough to eat.

Met the late great Hans Saari there and just had a blast feeding each others stoke back then.

[Trackhead]

Yeah it was, and for my parents Also shows you what six months of chemo does to your memory. I’m worse than Biden.

[swimmy]

Family stoke.

[stalefish3169]

Yo MT mags... I'm putting a trip together from Colorado mid Feb and have a few questions, having never skied or visited Montana. We are doing Bridger for a few days, then Thurs-Sun at Lost Trail, then BC/Big Sky/Bridger for another 5 days. Basing out of Bozeman when not near LT.

1) Is Thurs-Sun too long to spend at the Trail?
2) Any good spots to stay near LT for a handful of people?
3) I'm assuming the driving is similar to the high country mid-winter in Colorado. Any notable passes or anything to be aware of beforehand? I'm gonna be driving all the way from Breck, and then in between Bozeman/Bridger/Big Sky and LT.
4) Any low-angle mid-winter backcountry locations willing to share?
5) Good with Whitewalker 116s and Jeffrey 110s? Should I bring a directional charging ski?

Thank you. Feel free to PM for privacy. Will trade for Central CO info

I'd recommend Montana Snowbowl for at least a day at the expense of 3 at lost trail. If conditions are good, the 2600' top to bottom runs down the bowls are hard to beat. The wood-fired pizza is also great and the Bloody Mary drinks are legendary. If you have strong backcountry skills, Point Six and beyond is super fun Snowbowl accessed Backcountry.

If you really want to get after it, Wisherd Ridge accessed via HWY 200 is the best backcountry close to Missoula hands down. Helps to have a sled tho, at least for access.

http://mt-adventures.blogspot.com/20...ccess.html?m=1

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[evasive_MT]

For me this is a no brainer. I'd stay at Jackson Hot Springs, about a 35 minute drive to LT. Great food, great pool, great vibe, and a fireplace in your cabin. Take your sweetie.

Glad to hear that. The kitchen was great before Inga sold the place, and then it went into the shitter for several ownership changes. I haven’t been back in a decade or so. Might be time to take the wife for her first time.

[fatnslow]

I was there about 3 years ago and the new owners (at the time, I think it's the same still) had it running pretty smooth. I never have real high expectations for fine dining there but it's always been a fun experience. There is also a hostel across the street that rent out individual rooms if the "resort" is out of rooms. I think the place is a quintessential Montana gem.

[cat in january]

So made plans around 2/20-24 at the Asulkan cabin but now looking at options with the terrible long term avalanche forecast up at Rogers Pass and Canada. Two of us are driving out from Maine. Plan had been spend a week skiing Montana resorts and lift served bc, then pick third friend up in Calgary airport with ten days around Rogers Pass.

So Whitefish range forecast is looking much friendlier right now. Have not looked around too much at other forecasts. Thinking maybe fallback is pick friend up in Calgary and just drive back down to Northern Montana and ski there along with the panhandle. Always thought a lot of northern Montana bc was sled served. We have all skied Rogers with probably forty sixty days between the three of us but Montana bc is virgin for us.

Send a pm if you don’t want to put it on the www. Still have five weeks to watch snow, but if we are touring instead of resort hopping would rather stay in a place

[toast2266]

So made plans around 2/20-24 at the Asulkan cabin but now looking at options with the terrible long term avalanche forecast up at Rogers Pass and Canada. Two of us are driving out from Maine. Plan had been spend a week skiing Montana resorts and lift served bc, then pick third friend up in Calgary airport with ten days around Rogers Pass.

So Whitefish range forecast is looking much friendlier right now. Have not looked around too much at other forecasts. Thinking maybe fallback is pick friend up in Calgary and just drive back down to Northern Montana and ski there along with the panhandle. Always thought a lot of northern Montana bc was sled served. We have all skied Rogers with probably forty sixty days between the three of us but Montana bc is virgin for us.

Send a pm if you don’t want to put it on the www. Still have five weeks to watch snow, but if we are touring instead of resort hopping would rather stay in a place

I toured in the middle fork yesterday (basically directly south of Glacier National Park along Hwy 2). There's great terrain in there and avy conditions are currently green floor to ceiling. Much of it is accessible without a sled, but the approaches tend to be minor slogs through thick alder (see the 50 project episode on Mt. Stimson for an extreme example) . But it hasn't snowed in two weeks and it shows. South and west facing is sun fucked. Much of the rest of it is wind fucked. Skiing yesterday was ok-ish, but I certainly wouldn't drive across the country for it. Lift served BC in Whitefish is still holding ok snow in spots (as it usually does), but the terrain is pretty uninteresting. I haven't been further north in the Whitefish Range this year, but I've heard it's holding up a little better in terms of the wind-fuckedness. But there's not much in there that you can get to without a sled.

Who knows what things will look like in 5 weeks, but I think it's pretty realistic that this current dry spell puts some spooky layers into the snowpack. There's plenty of safe skiing to be found, but I'd guess that the bigger lines will mostly be off limits once / if / when the faucet turns back on.

[cat in january]

Thanks. If you saw what skiing was like here you might drive cross country. The Asulkan Cabin is sunk cost we can let go of and I guess we could pitch in to cover the sunk cost of the flight. Friend flying is on vacation now so won’t talk about his flight options until he gets back. Just trying to size up options and the five hours Calgary to Whitefish seems doable

[altasnob]

6 weeks is a long, long, ways out to bail on Asulkan and BC. One heavy warm rain event and that avy sketch could be gone. Rogers Pass isn't like farther East in the range (or Montana) where persistent weak layers can stick around for an entire season. No one can forecast more than about five days out accurately so I wouldn't put any weight into any "long term avy forecast." The atmospheric hose has been pointed at California for the last couple weeks but I assume that will move around and start shooting at the PNW (and Rogers Pass) at some point in the next six weeks.

[cat in january]

Not bailing, but looking to line up options. Not a lot of meadow skipping that I know of at Rogers Pass that doesn’t have overhead issues and what there is will surely be heavily skied if conditions persist. Rogers has been a solid bc option, but looking at what else is around. Resorts are nice, but rather not drive across country to spend two plus weeks at them.

Impetus
https://www.avalanche.ca/blogs/the-persisting-problem

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Stupid questions probably already answered many times in the thread: There really is no way to get discounted day tix for BS correct? I have some buddy passes but those won't last long. Buddy of mine is in the area for the winter while his son skis with the freeride team at Bridger.

[Bunion 2020]

@WRG

I have 5 buddy pass you are welcome to use.

[yeahman]

Stupid questions probably already answered many times in the thread: There really is no way to get discounted day tix for BS correct? I have some buddy passes but those won't last long. Buddy of mine is in the area for the winter while his son skis with the freeride team at Bridger.

Not sure if this is legit but says 5 tickets for sale @ $125 each.

https://bozeman.craigslist.org/tix/d...573724690.html

Also, blue pass (Sun-Fri) is still for sale on the BS website ($1,219). If he's going to ski 10+ days it would probably be worth it. Black pass is for sale too but that's more expensive.

[Talisman]

To add to what Yeahman and Bunion offer for solutions there may be depot passes available of you know any BSSP members.

Stupid questions probably already answered many times in the thread: There really is no way to get discounted day tix for BS correct? I have some buddy passes but those won't last long. Buddy of mine is in the area for the winter while his son skis with the freeride team at Bridger.

[altasnob]

Not bailing, but looking to line up options. Not a lot of meadow skipping that I know of at Rogers Pass that doesn’t have overhead issues and what there is will surely be heavily skied if conditions persist. Rogers has been a solid bc option, but looking at what else is around. Resorts are nice, but rather not drive across country to spend two plus weeks at them.

Impetus
https://www.avalanche.ca/blogs/the-persisting-problem

If by the time your trip rolls around and there are still persistent weak layers present at Rogers Pass, you are probably better off driving to Duffey Lake area than Whitefish. It's no farther of a drive and if you just move south down the continental divide, you are likely to have the same snowpack issues where as if you move towards the coast, you get an entirely different snowpack profile.

[Harry]

before Inga sold the place

That chick was a trip. Head-to-toe black leather. Heart of gold.

[Bunion 2020]

To add to what Yeahman and Bunion offer for solutions there may be depot passes available of you know any BSSP members.

Was talking to a buddy who still patrols P/T at the really big. Most depot passes were eliminated when the union contract was signed.