Splitboarding the Beartooth Highway

Never had I ever skied the infamous Beartooth Highway headwalls until now. The highway opened last weekend but since I was in the Tetons and elsewhere, I couldnt get there until weekend 2. My friends Luke and Evan joined me for the skiing and urban camping part while Manfred stayed in 'camp' sun bathing. I say urban camping because we got to stay with my in-law's parents a little ways south of Red Lodge. We stopped in Roscoe for dinner before we got to Red Lodge where we closed down the Snow Creek bar. Needless to say we didnt head up the pass very early on Saturday. We spent the day getting 3 laps on the Gardner Headwall. The longest line is probably about 1k' vertical. This ski requires hitchiking to the top, (obviously) skiing down, then a short uphill walk or skin (depending on your gear) from the bottom. We ended up at the Snow Creek bar again Saturday night but meandered away before it was too late. Sunday was even warmer and our goal was the Rock Creek headwall. We parked at the base of the snowfield/headwall and hitchhiked to the top. You have to walk a short flat ways across the plateau before you can strap in and go. The Rock Creek headwall is a lot longer and gets a lot more steep. According to my phone (Ski Tracks app) I hit a 57* slope at some point. Thats not super steep but its a lot steeper than most skiing you do in the backcountry or on a resort. We managed two laps before we succumbed to the heat and began the long journey home. I cant believe I have never spent a weekend up there skiing like we did. This is definitely going to become a tradition!

Saturday. Gardner Headwall.

Bongwater Ale goes everywhere with me these days. This is the bottom of the Gardner headwall looking up at the walk out.

We skied skiers left of the dotted line for run one. Then the dotted line for round 2. Luke and I tried to get in to the Showtime(?) couloir for our last lap but missed the entrance and skied skiers right of the bluffs.

The Don made an appearance.

I flew a micro kite behind me during our first run (it actually worked!). Here you can see the tails blowing in the wind.

I swear in not peeing. Snow Creek Saloon: Dance to the beat of your own drum!

The Rock Creek Headwall.

You can barely make out the cars in the parking lot at the base of the snow. ~1500'

Some serious parking lot loitering going on. L-R Me, Luke, Evan

Looking over at the highway we just hitchiked up.

Look out below! Evans dropping!

About a 25 minute walk across the flat to the top of the Rock Creek headwall.

 

Village climb day: The Rolling Ramp

Memorial Day found Jeff, Manfred and I hiking out to the village for some on-sight trad multipitch climbing. Jeff wanted something easy so I finally had a partner excited to go climb the easy looking Rolling Ramps that I have been walking by long enough. We climbed an excellent, easy 5.5 line right to the top in 2 pitches. A 70m rope might make it by a c-hair in one pitch. A hummingbird tried to find some nectar in my nose or something because I got dive bombed by one while I was belaying Jeff up the first pitch. It scared the crap out of me! I named the route Hummingbird Heart Attack.

Sitting down at the belay where the Hummingbird confrontation took place.

Such a pretty place to climb.

Climbing is supposed to be fun. Smiles are better than curse words, fear and anger.

Found this season's development zone in the Village

Manfred and I had an incredibly successful scouting mission in to a new zone in the Village. The buttress I am going to start on has one of the original trad lines from season 1 on it that I instantly recognized. I think we called the route Texas Flake. This chunk should provide 6-10 quality routes. The buttress right next to it Im calling the Crack House for obvious reasons; there must be atleast 20 beautiful looking cracks side by side. If they are all as good as the rest of the cracks I have cleaned and climbed in the Village then holy s!@#. The climbing community is in for a treat!

The Crack House. OMG.

Tetons: Mt.St John; Holly(?) Canyon splitboarding

Memorial day weekend snuck up on me this year and as of Friday, I still dint know what I was going to do. My friends Lucas and Bailey were going to spend the weekend in the Tetons and their first objective was to ski Mt.St John. Backcountry skiing sounded like a ton of fun so after work I made the long haul down to Antelope Flats for a quick sleep. We didnt get up very early, 5am, which is a late start for skiing in the Tetons. Luckily for us, Holly Canyon must have the shortest approach of any ski route that I am aware of in the Tetons. We hiked up to Laurel Lake(?) in no time where I put my boots on and began skinning. Lucas and Bailey both had snowboards, neither of which were splitboards. Shortly after skinning, a super thick white out fog overtook us and I had to stop next to a boulder so I wouldnt lose my mind and go in to complete vertigo (the dark rock gave my eyes some depth and something not white to look at. After a few minutes the fog began to lift so we chased it up and off the mountain. We didnt reach the East summit, but we could have. We got to a point maybe an hour from the summit where the snow began to go to deep mashed potatoes which is not much fun to ski down. We could either get a summit, or a ski descent, but not both. We opted for the ski descent. We were able to safely trigger small wet slides the entire way down. We got to ski about 1600' from our high point to Laurel Lake. We were deemed 'crazy' by all the tourists down at the trailhead.

Foggy morn before the sun came up.

Here comes the sun

The Cathedral Group

Mt.St John has the serrated ridge top with many summits. We skied on the backside that can not be seen.

The hanging valley/canyon was our line.

Walking up in to the soup.

Our high point. The top is not far off.

Forget the name or the label, this beer is delicious!

Village Rock development: The Diamond 2 routes

Manfred and I went out to the Village on a mission to establish new routes on a big wafer I call the Diamond. Two incredible routes were born. The route climber's left is a 9 bolt ~25m sport route that might go at 5.9-5.10 called Hometown Heroes. The other route, Cheese Grader, has 5 bolts to bomber cracks where three cams (.75, 1, 2) will get you to the top ~25m 5.8-5.9.

Ropeline is approximately Hometown Heros.

The Diamond. Both routes are far climber's right side.

Allenspur Climbing

Sam, Terra, Manfred and I spent a very warm day clipping bolts out at Allenspur south of Livingston in Paradise valley. Its one of my favorite sport climbing areas around Bozeman; the rock is generally bomber and the views are spectacular. We climbed 5 routes on the Main Crag: Look Ma No Hands 5.8, Blood and Bolts 5.8, Pull it Over or Over the Top 5.10c, the route to the left of the 5.10c, and the route to the left of Blood and Bolts. Some of the routes are new and Mountain Project is so screwed up its hard to tell if they have been added or not. Climbed past a honey beehive that broke in half exposing all the honeycombs, so cool! Never seen anything like it.

Hotdog

Honeycomb half

Terra finished this route this time after getting shut down at the crux last time. Nice work!