Endless winter 2008 – October Update
I’m 10 months into my dream of an endless winter within 75 miles of my house – only two months to go!
My October ski trip wasn’t as hard as Sept, but what it lacked in distance it made up for in weather. Trevor, Jess and I drove up the Going-to-The-Sun Road in Glacier three days before it closed for the winter season. Our drive up the road was a little dicey. For all of you that have driven this road before know it’s not for the faint at heart. Let alone driving it in the dark with a couple inches of fresh snow on the road. It was my first time on the road with snow, ice and drifting snow. It was a fun drive.
After making it to the top of Logan Pass we had the parking lot to ourselves, after all it was 6:45 a.m. 33 degrees, rainy, snowy and windy. Just what the doctor ordered. We packed up our gear and hit the trail to the Oberlin snowfield, only about an hour approach in nasty weather. On the way up we saw some fresh bear tracks, reminding us we are not alone. We reached the snow area and went straight up. It was on this snow spine I was reminded why people use crampons. With winds gusting 30+mph and balancing between a bad fall either way I opted to drop to my knees when wind made it hard to stand. Now crampons are in my bag for good. The things I like to ski sometime require them and without them toeing in teleboots is pretty much worthless if its hardpack or ice, like this day.
Trevor and Jess went up just a little higher than me so I could shoot them coming by. It’s amazing that one of the hardest things about these trips is the simple task of getting in your tele bindings on 35 degree pitches. After they took some turns we went back up to another chute.
We ended up playing around on the snowy area about the size of 4 football fields. Not the biggest but well worth it with a few inches of new snow. After all it’s Oct. in the lower 48, we were still skiing on last years snowpack.
Enjoy the photos. Sorry for so many, but it’s a photo blog.
Trevor and Jess getting ready in the parking lot.
We were the only car in the parking lot. If you have been here before you know this looks odd. But its kind of off season.
Trevor follows bear tracks toward our snowfield as we leave the parking lot area.
Trevor’s Scarpa boot with some bear paws.
Cloudy, wet and fresh snow. Umm… so nice.
Working our way up the trail going past some frozen waterfalls.
Trev and Jess wondering what route would be the best since we are off trail at this point.
This way Trev yells in the howling wind! It was a hard day of shooting. It was so wet and misty that I only had a few seconds of dry lenses before it was covered.
Now the fun part… toeing in teleboots on mixed hardpack ice.
Where there was fresh snow it was much easier to go up vs. the ice.
Jess and Trev going up a little snow spine to get to the top of the chute.
Trev making some turns, 60 days after we skied Jackson Glacier on his birthday in Aug.
Now the fun part, put your skis on.
Jess throwing up some October powder, well it was kind of powder. It’s fresh snow!
Up again for another run.
Trev again freeing it.
Up again for yet another run! What animals we are.
It’s 8:27 a.m. in this picture, most people are just getting to work. I welcomed what little sun we got at this point.
Heading up the face with Logan Pass in the back left tree area.
Trev catching some air of a rock outshoot.
Making our way down back to the trail.
Trev making backwards turns. BEEP BEEP BEEP
Taking off the skis next to a little frozen pool.
Down is not always easy.
Going down.
Driving down GTS Road, most of the new snow melted off but you can still see the drifted snow on the edges.
