It’s not ski season, but this might be just enough to tide you over until the fall.

I’m bummed that Dendrite won’t be releasing another film this year, since Out of the Shadows was by far my favorite of 2010. But, it sounds like the sponsorship dollars just aren’t there. Too bad…

TGR: One for the road

MSP: Attack of La Nina

Level 1: After Dark

Barely had enough time to get up to Bridger today, but I made it up Schlashman’s and out to D-route, where I witnessed some guy billy-goat his way into one of the most difficult/awkward lines I’ve seen–not a bad way to finish it out, I suppose.

Gotta love the scene at Bridger Bowl…more people drinking in the parking lot than on the slopes today.

It seemed like the first day in a long time where the sun was out. And during that golden 30 minutes around 11 am when the snow had softened up but was still fast, the skiing was oh so good. Just…1…more…day.

I skied King’s Couloir today. Though it is somewhat south facing I made it out before the snow became total mank. Definitely one of the most fun lines at Bridger.

With our enormous base you now have the option of a nice little straightline or a 15 foot air over some cheese-grater cliffs–I opted for the straightline. I stitched a couple cell phone phones together. I kind of like the perspective it give because this couloir just keeps going in perfect fashion…all…the…way…down.

This season just doesn’t stop! NW Direct is fast becoming one of my favorite lines at Bridger. This season it has skied SO well. This gem is located at the extreme north boundary of Bridger Bowl. Walk past Hidden Gully and you’ll see the patrol’s (rescue?) cable on your right. Keep going to the end of the cable and it is the large gully beneath you. Most years you are lucky if you are able to billy goat your way down it. This year things are a little better. Thanks to La Nina, the entire mountain is shellacked with snow allowing you to fluidly link turns all the way through. It’s an intense shot that makes me feel very small when I drop in. I fought my way through the 60mph wind on the ridge line to make it out there today, but as usual it was worth the hike.

I like to drop in on the right side, but you can try you luck on the left side as well. The lip drops away quickly at 55 degrees, meaning it is well above your head before you even get your skis around for the first turn. After 5 or 6 turns it mellows out so you can line your skis up for the choke. Let ‘em rip and check you speed in the sluff pile at the top of NW passage. And remember to tell that onlooker that you are the raddest skier on the mountain before linking turns down the 1000 vertical feet of powdery goodness.

Sidenote: I dug a pit today out in Bradley’s and there is 3.3M of snow! And it is bomber!!! There is a weak(er) layer down about a meter but I couldn’t get it to go without popping my shovel in behind it. Might be something to look for if you are taking the sleds out though. The other worry is a rain crust about 20cm down, but right now it’s not a huge concern. Looks like we will be skiing well into the summer!

We are closing in on the end of the season for Bridger Bowl, but the snow gods are still delivering. We’ve got close to 3 feet of snow over the past week. Today was the day after the last 15″ dump and it seems that all my friends spent their fun tickets yesterday, while I was stuck in Bozeman. So although today was a solo mission, I got to ski some new lines in the hero pow. There was no way I was going to truck my SLR around solo today, so just a couple shots from the cell phone.

This is the first contest I’ve seen in North America where the terrain is on par with the Europe’s freeride events. And they are going HUGE on day 3. Unreal.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like fall here in Bozeman. The cool weather combined with an above average dose of ski flick watching has gotten me itchy for the snow to really start flying. I got out on one little tour with the 2 foot dump we received at the end of October and was excited to find that the snow that will form the base for this year was a very solid pack. If all goes well, we shouldn’t have to contend with such a dicey avalanche season as last year. In that spirit I decided to put up my backcountry tick list for this year. The chances of all these lines coming together is almost nil, if only due to their geographical separation, but we all can dream.

1. Banana Couloir, Ross Peak, MT
2. Furher Finger, Mt. Rainer, WA
3. Notch Couloir, Granite Peak, MT
4. West Couloir, Grey Wolf Peak, MT
5. SW Couloir, Beehive Peak, MT
6. Lethold Couloir, Mt. Hood, OR
7. Whitetail Couloir, Whitetail Peak, MT
8. The Scalpel, SW MT
9. Chamonix Couloir, Beartooths, MT
10. The Bottleneck Classic, Pinnacles, WY

Yesterday, an enormous avalanche occurred just outside of the southern boundary of Bridger Bowl. I saw it go from the lift, but unfortunately did not have my camera with me.For photos check out the GNFAC gallery.

The entire NE face of Saddle Peak slid leaving a six foot crown that propagated more than 1000 feet. The layer that failed had formed in mid-December and had persisted until yesterday. Scarier still was the fact that there were “hundreds of tracks” on the slope that slid. Fortunately, no one was buried or injured in the avalanche. For photos check out the GNFAC gallery.

I hadn’t skied Saddle Peak this year. There had been a couple times when my group got to the southern gate and discussed hiking the additional 15 minutes to the top of the peak. Each time I pushed hard to stay in bounds. It wasn’t that I thought the slope was unsafe, it was the fact that I didn’t know how stable the slope was–I hadn’t dug a pit in the area, I didn’t check the avy report, I hadn’t had a chance to gather the necessary information to make a good decision. Thousands of people however headed out the gate and dropped in oblivious to the consequences.

Now I have no problem with people who truly evaluated the conditions and made an informed decision–it is their life and they should be able to take risks they feel are reasonable. A few of those thousand skiers knew that there was a realistic possibility of that slope going and taking their life. However, not everyone in the ass-to-nose line out to Saddle Peak on a powder day was making an informed decision.

I have seen singletons walk out the gate, without a pack (meaning no shovel or probe), and proceed to drop in on Saddle Peak on top of another skier. Each of these decisions is progressively worse. And the last decision not only endangers the the single skier, but those below him as well.

Walking out the gates into the sidecountry make me much more nervous than pure backcountry touring for many reasons.

First, if you have a couple hour skin in front of you, you have a lot of time to ponder the conditions and open your eyes to the consequences of a poor decision. Second, is just the fact that you have more time to study your line and you want to make it count. Easy access inspires a lot of “I think it goes” decisions. Finally, on a full blown tour your group (usually/hopefully) feels alone and you automatically adjust your risk tolerance because you are self reliant. That just doesn’t seem to happen in the sidecountry.

I think as you gain experience you are able to force the mindset. But, you often can’t make up for the lack of information you get when you are out for a tour. Maybe you didn’t get the avy report? You definitely didn’t hear the cracking and woofing as you skinned in. And it is much harder to get your less experienced buddies to stop and dig a pit.

I think that Bridger Bowl has done a fantastic job balancing the risks and opening up some of the gnarliest terrain in the lower 48. Given the current setup, I think the management of Slushman’s is as good as it can be.

But, perhaps there is a constructive (albeit radical) solution to the management and education of sidecountry skiers. Close Slushman’s to the public (leave the lift in for patrol access), but keep the terrain inbounds. This change would force people to look around at the terrain as they skin up. It would make it much more difficult to get in over your head in terms of risk management. And most importantly it would allow people to practice safe backcountry travel in a controlled environment. This would be especially valuable with the recent explosion in the popularity of backcountry touring.

No activity (especially in the backcountry) is without risk, but it comes down to how you evaluate and manage that risk. Risk management is a difficult skill to teach and learn. The only real teacher is experience. I’d like to naively hope the Saddle Peak slide will teach the necessary lesson. At best, people might be a little jittery going out the gates for the rest of this season. But, come next winter the memory will be too distant to matter for most.

I got back about a week ago from a 10 day schralp fest in the Wasatch. Yeah, it was deep.

Oren and I have been going on Spring Break ski trips for about 5 years. And this one had the best snow by far.