BACKCOUNTRY SKIING

Went up to the St Marys area backcountry skiing with Mike, Hana, and Jeff.  Had a great time but showed my age when it come to skinning up the mountain.  Oh, to have young legs and lungs again.  They were very patient waiting for the old guy to catch up.  Mike is not that much younger than I am, but in much better shape for climbing.  We got to ski some great powder, mostly tree skiing, and the powder was really sweet in there.  Mike has an old 1955 "Sno-cat" that he uses to go up to the trailhead.  What a treat it was to ride in that machine.  It was used by the soil conservation service for many years.  Anyway, sure had a great time and will be putting the skins on in the future.  As we talked about while taking a break, it is so much better up there skiing than skiing groomers at a ski resort.

The sno-cat warming up (the exhaust fog gives you an idea how cold it was).  Carries your gear and some people in the back and the skis on top.

Skinning up to ski back down - we skinned up to this area twice.  A lot of the skiing was in trees like this.

Hanna taking in the views.

This is where we started skiing back down.  St Marys Peak in the background, but you can't see the lookout because of the blowing snow.  It was 8 degrees above with a pretty good wind so the wind chill was quite cold.

A must have item (GPS) when skiing through the trees and trying to find the sno-cat at the bottom.

Some of the trees were a little tight.

If you click to enlarge, you can see Hanna and Jeff's tracks down the middle of this boulder glade.

COLD AGAIN

We are having another cold spell here.  It was 5 below this morning when I got up.  For this late in February, that is below normal, but not a record.  The animals are getting a little extra food when it is this cold.  It is supposed to warm up by mid week and get above freezing - even 45 by next Wednesday.  This cold weather is making Connie get more anxious to get down to Arizona.   We have even started to get a few things ready.

 The cat spent the night in the house last night so had breakfast with the dog.

When it is this cold, the magpies sit on the horses while they are eating and warm up their feet I guess.  Baylee was not impressed!

HELMETS ARE GOOD

Went up to Lost Trail today and skied some pretty good powder - although it was rather cold (one lady said it was 1 degree above when they drove into the parking lot).  Skied with Brenda and Dave for a few runs and then with Mike.  Mike and I ventured WAY out of bounds and skied the best powder of the day.  Really soft and not wind blown as much of the area was.  On our way out traversing along side of the mountain, I hit something under the snow and it knocked off my right ski.  I was thrown into a pine tree and if it had not been for the helmet, I would have had some blood flowing.  Made some pretty good scratches in the helmet and lots of little pine needles stuck in the breathing holes in the helmet.  And somehow hit my wrist which is a little swollen and getting black and blue this evening.  But I am now a real believer in the helmet for backcountry skiing.

Weather forecast is for more cold around here.  Maybe even some record lows for this time of year.  Connie is packing for Arizona!!!!

Mike just about to head down the ridge line in the far out of bounds area.

Our tacks coming off the top.

SKIING AT SNOWBOWL

Went up to Missoula to ski Snowbowl with some friends of Ike and Brenda's - Shawn and Annette.  Ike is gone on a trip so rode up with Brenda and son Rustin.  Had a great time skiing powder.  Shawn and Annette really know the mountain so we were able to hit some powder stashes I probably would not have found by myself.  Quite of bit of tree skiing.  To bad it is so far away or I would be driving up there more often as they are open 7 days a week vs 4 days for our little resort.  And they have 2700 feet vertical which is nice.  Lots of steep terrain and mostly expert runs and very, very little groomed runs.  Had a great day.

Annette, Shawn, Brenda, & Rustin

Rustin is a telemark skier and looking pretty good in a little powder.

Brenda cruising through the powder.

Rustin skiing some trees.

Like I said, great tree skiing.

 Just coming out of our lane onto Willow Creek Rd.  That is Margee ahead of me checking out the elk.

UPDATE 19 FEB

We are doing well up here in Montana.  The weather is a little weird as it is across all of the USA.  We have had some very strong winds that have blown down some trees, very warm weather - then cold and snow - then rain, and it is now back to snow, but not quite as cold.  We really had some warm temperatures last week. The moss and fungus are really doing well with all this moisture.  Connie continues to improve and is really starting to look forward to going south.  She is outside walking at least three times a day even if there is snow on the ground.

Skied on Thursday with a little powder.  Skied most of the day with Brenda as Ike was busy coordinating projects he is involved in.  Found some really good powder in the out of bounds area and hardly anyone was skiing over there - so much different than last week. 

We have a few mountain lions hanging around the last few days.  There are tracks by the haystack, and they killed a yearling deer about 600 yards east of our place.  This morning when I was out walking I spooked two off the kill site.  Saw their tracks where they run through the crusty snow, but did not see them when they were being made.  There seems to be one adult and two last year cubs.  Hope they move on soon. 

 The little world.

Brenda making a few turns out of bounds.

Lion tracks and the kill site.  See how they covered it up with pine needles and duff.  Click to enlarge.

FIRST POWDER IN A FEW WEEKS

Went skiing yesterday and got to ski some pretty good powder right at first.  But it got tracked up pretty fast.  It amazes me how many powder hounds show up at our little resort on Thursdays when we have some powder.  It is a long drive from Missoula, but they make the trip.  Skied with Dave until he had to head out.  We made a few good runs in untracked powder.

Connie is continuing to improve.  Is walking outside now so her dog is much happier.

Some good powder in the out of bounds area.

 

2 WEEK CHECK UP FOR CONNIE

We headed up to the big city of Missoula this morning for Connie's 2 week checkup.  We had about 5 inches of fresh snow this morning and some of the roads were slick.  They had more snow in Missoula though.  Most of their snow fell yesterday.  Anyway, Connie's checkup went very well.  The doctor was really pleased with her progress.  She got her staples out and now can shower without wrapping her knee in cellophane.

When we were driving out, we saw about 50 head of elk in the hayfield just across the road from our meadow.  They have been hanging out over there for the last week. And when we came back this afternoon, they were still in the hayfield all bedded down.  They usually go up into the timber on the south side of Willow Creek during the day.  We are hoping they will stay on that side of the road and not come over into our meadow and start living in the trees on our place again.  They seem to knock down the fences when they do that.  As you can see from the pictures, there are a few bulls with their antlers still attached.  Click to enlarge.

NOW IT IS COLD

Well, we sure had a change in the weather.  It went from 60 degrees above zero to below zero the last few days.  The high yesterday here was about 10 degrees.  But the rest of the nation is really getting hammered with a big snowstorm.  Catmay is thinking this is nice as she is a house cat 24 hours a day when it is this cold.  Zeus gets his little booties on when we go for our walk in the mornings so his paws don't get so cold.  Do we spoil our kids (animals) or what???? 

Connie is still doing good with her recovery.  She is helping me feed the horses now by driving the pickup while I feed.  I drive it into the barn and help her in.  Her exercises are doing the trick again as she now has her bend at 90 plus.  The extension is what still needs work - just like it did on the last knee. 

High yesterday.

Catmay and Zeus hanging together waiting for a treat at lunch.

Frost on the window.  Click to enlarge any of the photos.