The Skiing Forum

On sunday I went skiing up RockCreek.  I had heard rumors that the gate on the pass was open and you could drive to the base of Rock Creek Headwall but unfortunately the gate had been closed.  So instead I drove up the Rock Creek road.  I was able to drive a long way, past the huge boulder to the base of Reefer Ridge.  This is further than Memorial Day last year.  A few inches of new snow and blue sky made for awesome conditions.  Time to hit it before it melts early this year.

I'm looking to talk to anyone in the Bozeman area who has skied the Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt.  Please contact me at hellenga_gary AT bah DOT com, or at 587-9271. 

Pinnacles Area, Bridger Range. I've heard the name "Mordor" for this line.

Approach: From BB base area, up Slushman's return road past the bottom of Slushman's, then continuing south beneath the east face of Saddle Peak. Skinned up through some trees on the far south edge of Argentina Bowl to gain the Ridge.

Avalanche considerations: Three to four inches of high density new snow over supportable corn base. Surprisingly well adhered, with only a few snowballs moving with ski cutting and small cornice drops.

I went up to Frazier on Tuesday April 28th in the middle of the snowstorm. We wanted to ski in the Frazier Cirque, but found poor avalanche conditions. It was quite clear that there was a lot of wind loading and we found the instability on these wind slabs. We dug a pit at the top of a North-facing chute that drops down into Frazier. The first column released at the most recent crust while I was isolating it. The second and third Compression tests revealed CT5 and CT7 both quality 1.