I haven't posted a blog entry in three months, not because of a lack of content, but because of a lack of motivation, and as I sit here typing this, I realize that trying to recap in narrative form would very likely be tedious and unfocused. To that end, I'm just going to post some (captioned) pictures in rough chronological order of some fall and early winter hijinks.
Actually, reviewing my collection here, it looks like it's just going to be early winter on the picture front. During fall, I mucked around in the brush looking for deer, worked too much, and went on some good (if not objectively successful) runs with Brian in the Missions.
Scrambling up the tricky headwall between North and South Glacier Peaks in the Missions. We had intended to make a go at traversing from here to East St. Mary's, but the deep and hard packed snow, and lack of adequate mountaineering equipment deterred us. I also admit that the exposure had me a little bit nervous.
First ski of the year, up Gash Point. As always with these early season journeys, the low elevation log vaulting was frustrating. Also, we set off an avalanche of non-negligible size.
Shenanigans atop Brundage near McCall, ID, where Molly and I spent Christmas with family. Over the week we went skiing so many times, drove a snowmobile for the first time (to Burgdorf!), shot skeet in a neighborhood, all while enjoying tremendous views of the Lick Creek Range.
While in McCall, Louie and I enjoyed a skin up the locally prominent Jughandle Mountain, where we enjoyed some of the most magical glade skiing I've had the privilege of shredding. It was sort of deep for Louie though, because he has short legs. He still enjoyed the powder and sunshine.
On New Year's, Austin and I skinned to Point Six in some eerie clouds, before dropping a few laps down Jenny Bowl. I am now in love with the Snowbowl backcountry, and especially these machine groomed skin tracks that they set with their tractors.
Annual Molly's birthday cabin trip, this time to Zip's cabin on the south border of Glacier National Park, in the Flathead Range, more or less. Big country, dense trees, great snow, good weather. Mickey and I happened upon a moose, but it wasn't big enough to try and kill us.
Looking towards the southern border of the GNP from an unnamed peak on the south side of US-2 near Zip's cabin. I got a new camera, and it does panoramas.
Early mornings atop Point Six with clear skies always put ideas in the head. 1h15m to the Death Star by the way. I'm hoping to hit an hour by the end of the season, but that might be a tall order on the splitboard.
Harscheisen! Le Couteaux! The only reason we had a good day on that albedonous Mission sastrugi. E. St. Mary's lifetime summit number five in fine style and 8800' for the day. Also, despite expectations, my IT band (which has been a source of major consternation for the last month) did not explode on the icy descending bootpack (or is it just called a hike?)
Shadows on the No Fish Lake basin. My favorite backcountry green circle.
Louie was attacked by a sled dog yesterday. It pretty much toothed him drive-by style at 15mph. The musher was legitimate with us though, and is splitting the veterinary costs of getting this handsome fellow (ladies, he's single) stitched up. And how big a baller is he? He still ran five miles back to the truck without complaining.
Looking forward to more days pirating Snowbowl's access road, hut trips in the Bearteeth, Sawteeth, and Swanteeth, and Louie's leg fur returning.
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