Madison, Gallatin, Absaroka Archives

So I took my tools for a long walk up to the sphinx yesterday. The trail was in good shape except for the holes made by all the horses. They made walking akward even in tennis shoes. By the time we got to the switchbacks it was blowing semi hard in the 10-15mph range. At the top of the col it was consitent 20 mph, with gusts over 40. We thought that the side that the route was on would have less wind to we headed over. At the start we noticed a 1 inch wind blown top snow layer as we go farther along the wind got better but then it got worse. Figure it was wrapping around the other side.

It looks as though Blue and Green Gullies need some more time and colder weather. They were barely formed as of Nov. 2 -Olin

I was up Pine creek on Nov. 2nd and noticed they have the main trailhead OFF LIMITS due to the construction of a new day use area. Does anyone know what the expected completion date is for this? There is an alternative trailhead but it adds roughly an extra half mile and a good bit of elevation gain and loss to a round trip. The extra hike is tolerable for the sake of calling it a better workout but what I am worried about is the parking.

Has anyone been up Mission Creek? My spidey senses are telling me the routes up there could be really good right now.

Any word??

I was up on the Sphinx yesterday, October 8. Sad to report that there was no ice. There was actually even very little snow pasted to the face, and it was difficult to make out where the climbs started. There was about 10-15 feet of an ice blob in the cave at the crux of the Lowe route, but nothing flowing over the top. The second pitch was just a thin white line of snow. Perhaps this new weather will help. About 18" of snow on the plateau above the ice routes. We hiked to the pass in sneakers, should still be good hiking by next weekend unless we get ridiculous amounts of snow.

Howdy; I'd like to come to Montana to play on the Beehive. J.J.'s book states that any time from Mid April to June; I've been told that this year, there's lots of snow. I can try to watch the Bozeman weather, but if anyone has any input as to when to go for a Portlander, that'd be great. Maybe we could even turn this into an ongoing conditions thread? Thanks in advance, Chad

Our group had fun on Pine Creek Falls, although ice deteriorating throughout the day. We heard a large avalanche on Blue Gully and were told a smaller one occured on Green. Two groups of climbers were lucky to escape injury. Blue went unclimbed, Green was climbed by the leader followed by rapid retreat. I would say that avalanche risk was severe and the gullies are best avoided.

I'd say this is the last weekend to get out there. We were knocking off small saucer sized plates and were under constant bombardment by random ice. The ice is rotten and really is more like snice than ice. If you want to get out I'd suggest this weekend be the last one.

Climbed in Mission Cr. on Sun 2/12... ROAD: We were able to rally through the drift at the ranch (after ~20 min. of digging), and make it to the trailhead, avoiding the 1.5+ mile slog from Bruffy Ln. After the initial drift the road is either bare ground or the occational snow patch, with some potential for sliding off. The road is narrow - we were in a Tacoma and still were hitting brush on the sides, so a full size truck might have trouble. The trailhead is pretty snow covered, but there is space to park.