Crazy Peak; North Face BC skiing

BC skiing is a great excuse to not go climbing (and re-injure my shoulder) and Crazy Peak has been on my to do list for a long time. Hoping to ski the Crazy couloir, Merilee and I left Bozeman at 4:15am knowing we had a big day. There was too much snow to drive to the TH so we had to walk an extra 1.5hours round trip. It tooks us about 3 hours of miserable skinning to reach the lakes at the base of the mountain. I was feeling fairly defeated because the snow was sticking to my skins and each ski weighed 20lbs or more. Luckily, a crew of four was booting up the North face so we skied over to their bootpack and got in line. An eassy 1.5hour bootpack put us on top of the shoulder. It was too windy for us to tag the summit and both of us had been there already. A pretty steep, wind affected entry lead to some hero turns down in to the bowl.

Looking up at the false summit. Notice the wind scouring?

The top of the ski line. Its all rocks to the false summit from here (5 mins?)

Crazy Peak is on the left. The right skyline is the right edge of the North face.

Allenspur 2 new routes

Im nursing a rotator cuff injury and trying not to climb. Bolting isnt climbing though! Sam, Manfred and I put up a new 8 bolt route on the Obscurity Crag called New Car Smell 5.10a. Then we put 6 bolts in on the 711 crag, 'Vitamin Steele' 5.10+. Both have been redpointed on top rope.

New Car Smell

Beartooths BC skiing; Project X(?)

One of the lower hanging fruits of Beartooth back country skiing is a couloir called Project X (I have also heard it called Professor X, Super Couloir, Lake Couloir, Pencil Couloir) up East Rosebud. Its about as straight forward, in your face as it gets. I made it up to the rock band but didnt take it to the summit plateau (which Im sure it goes). A little taller and longer than it looks! But thats the Beartooths for ya.

I mean, if youre a skier and that doesnt scream "ski me" than I dont know what does.

Chamonix Couloir in the distance.

California Ice

My truck is on the far side of the lake.

Hyalite Ice: Upper GreenSleeves

Merilee, Manfred and I found an afternoon to enjoy some amazing spring break weather so we scurried up Hyalite for some ice climbing. I figured (correctly) that Upper GreenSleeves would be in the shade and have good ice, plus Merilee had never been. The crux of this route is always simply getting to the ice. Which we did, eventually. I led it, left the screws and Merilee pink pointed it (climbed it with pre-placed gear). We had to leave because I had tickets to the G.Love show at the Rialto!

Merilee heading up.

Hyalite Ice: Bingo Cave; New Route 'Shamrock Monkeys'

I noticed that the Bingo Cave ice curtain was really building up thick on the non-traditionally forming left side. So much ice that two new flows/daggers appeared below the lip of the cave. I checked out where the left most route exited the cave to the ice and wouldnt you know it, I had found a new route! Bull Dog world finishes at least 10ft to the right of my line. I returned with my drill after work one day and bolted up to the ice. I used the same first bolt as Bull Dog but added 4 newbies beyond it. I came back to climb it with Jack T later that week. I gave it a go, no luck but I finished the cleaning and got the tick marks all done. Jack made a great effort but had to sit on a bolt or two. He was able to get to the ice however and pushed the route to the top where he installed a chain anchor. I came back the next day, St. Patrick's Day, with Kyler. I gave it a go and got the draws hung but didnt make it. Kyler, like a boss, sent it onsight! Onsight meaning he had zero knowledge of the route and had never tried it. I followed with a hang dog on one bolt and again once I got to the ice. I almost made it to the ice without sitting. Shamrock Monkeys M8 20M 5 bolts was born this day.

These two flows either never form, or never form this big. Im not really sure.

You can barely see my rope running up to the ice. The last bolt is up high in between the two ice daggers.

Kyler on top post Onsight send!

Tate D. quickly repeated the route to the ice but stopped here.

The Cottonmouth (Ice climb)

Matt and I had plans to go to Hyalite but when we got to the dam, the road was closed. The heavy machinery operators were not sure when they would get it opened so we changed gears and drove to Middle Cottonwood. We couldnt reach the TH so we walked an extra couple of miles round trip but walking on roads is easy. I was actually able to show Matt a chunk of ice he had never even heard of before! Its short and sweet but worth knowing about. I led it first, then Matt.

Hyalite Ice: Unnamed Wall New Dry Tool Routes

I huffed a bolting kit up to the Unnamed wall with a certain route in mind but while I was traversing the cliff over to the target, I noticed a sweet little less-than-vertical cliff of relatively bomber rock that could host a couple of dry tool routes so I started here instead. This is the cliff/wall immediately climber's right of Magically Delicious. I bolted two 15M routes: Borborygmus (scientific term for stomach rumble) D(ry) or M5 8 bolts to chain anchor (left route) and Discoteca D or M5 9 bolts to the same shared chain anchor. Matt Cornell was my partner for the day. These routes are really fun but technical enough to keep you moving slowly and deliberately.

Matt post FA send of Discoteca.

My line post FA send of Borborygmos.