061 - 2010-01-30 Triple Tree

Never done this in winter before, but its close by and I didn't have a lot of time to play with. Probably went in a mile and half and then headed out. Some interesting fast, tight, twisty bits through the trees. I've had my eye on some snow fields that are above and behind where the bench is, but that will have to wait.
Conditions - Packed foot traffic until the trail turns south, then a little better. Nice clear day and the views are always good here.
Ski - Karhu Dorado 195

060 - 2010-01-29 Sourdough

Got outta work a bit later than I desired, but was more amped because it was Friday. Wanted to finish in timely manner, but was stoked, so I went to the bridge, despite knowing I had to go back to work that night. Hoped to take advantage of the fulll moon, but overcast put a damper on that. Ran into Catherine who is getting a skijoring group together and that would be good fun for Niko and the guy who skis with her. We were able to follow her, and her headlamp, out.
Conditions - Soft and half the trail had been hit by the groomer, who we could hear across the canyon working up to Moser Divide. Didn't seem quite so soft coming down in the dark though.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

059 - 2010-01-27 Sourdough

Three days of no skiing make Jonathan a dull boy, but it sure was good to be back on decent snow. Another quick blast up after work, roughly 3 and a half in and then back to the car before 6.
Conditions - Nice and soft after lots of snow over the weekend and some the day before. Not as fast, but much more enjoyable than last week. And it stood up to a good amount of traffic before I was able to get out. A bit on the chilly side, after a sunny day in the valley that got up to the lower 30's, something changed and it was single digits before 5 at the trailhead.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

058 - 2010-01-23 Moonlight

Bring A Friend Or Two day at Moonlight. Caught it mid storm with John, Gibby, Amy, Allie and Shawn with Ryan and friends making a cameo. About 6" of nice fresh with continual snowfall made for a festive lighthearted day of skiing and quest for the PBR Cow. Highlight of the day was Allie embedding herself on the side of the natural quarter pipe above the top of the Iron Horse lift.
Conditions - About 6" of new on the traveled routes with snowfall through the day. Didn't get a chance to explore the spots that usually see the deeper stuff.
Ski - G3 Rapid Transit 178

057 - 2010-01-22 Bridger

Off to Bridger for $15 day with Yatsuko, Mai and Gibby. Though snow was coming down, the day got off to a terrible start with icy bumps in North Bowl. Had to be the worst stuff I skied this year and it just destroyed me for the morning. For some reason, after lunch I got my mojo back; not for the day, but for the season. When I said, "Don't follow me," in some trees by South Boundry, all the hurt leg crap from the last couple months was behind me. Turned out to be a good day with good folks and a fine finish at Jimmy B's. Nothing beats Bridger on a week day.
Conditions - What turned out to be 2" of fresh over an icy base.
Ski - G3 Rapid Transit 178

056 - 2010-01-21 Sourdough

Today my fear of an icy trail were warrented. Had to make a couple stops on the way home from work, making for a later start, but the days are slowly starting to get longer. Travel up was fast, but not enjoyable, though things got better after the 2 mile marker. Went to the start of the big hill past the 3 mile mark and headed down. Most was doable, but a couple 10m stretchs were point em and pray. Back to the car by 6, last car in the lot.
Conditions - Icy, but skier fluff in many places helped. 3rd turn up past the water works was so icy I couldn't hold a V and had to bail off to the side. Snow in the forecast!
Ski - Fishcer SCS 185

055 - 2010-01-19 Sourdough

Another warm day in the valley where I feared an icy trail, but it wasn't that bad. Skated outta work later than I wanted to and headed up with the pup. But slowly and surely the days are getting longer or maybe I'm just skiing faster. Either way, I was tempted to go past the 2 mile marker, maybe tomorrow. Way down was fast and I just pointed em.
Conditions - Hard packed, but with enough ski fluff on the tricky bits to be in control.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

054 - 2010-01-17 Goose Ck

After a slothfull morning headed over to Goose Ck for a quick run up with the pup. Re-found the skin track through the woods where I bruised a rib a couple Thanksgivings ago. Went up to where the open snow fields off of Chesnut Ridge hit the trees. As always, some of the best views close to town. A good fast run back to the car.

Conditions - Sleds had functioned as groomers on the main two track, soft and not icey. Skin track and upper two tracks were packed and firm, almost too much when you're beeing dragged faster and faster by a husky. Good thing I wasn't planning on grabbing some turns, as upper snow off trail was heavy with a crust.
Ski - Karhu Dorado 195 - Climbing machines, where others used skins, I just went along fine. OK, as far as skin tracks go, it wasn't that steep.

053 - 2010-01-16 Moonlight

Super Ski Saturday with a good crew; John, Yatsuko, Amy and Allie, who'd only lived in Montana 8 days. Good fun day skiing and showing folks around the place. Finished with frosty beverages and nachos at the Moonlight Lodge.
Conditions - What they call packed powder, not too bad actually.

Ski - G3 Rapid Transit 178. Finally starting to get away from the short park skis. In combination with the conditions and a Scarpa T1 boot, a stiff 4 buckle boot rather than the softer 2 buckle Garmont Veloce I had been skiing, I'm finally getting a bit more adventerous and maybe putting this hurt leg thing behind me.

052 - 2010-01-15 Sourdough

Pleasantly surprised by the snow, it had been warm in the valley and I was expecting icey. However a bit of snow a couple nights before and a groomer run the previous night made for enjoyable skating. It was nice to not be washing out on the way up or doing the snowplow of death on the way down. Had planned on going up the 3 mile marker, but it went so well after the outhouse that I ended going all the way to the bridge and got back to the car by 6.
Conditions - Fun
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

051 - 2010-01-12 Sourdough

A quick dusk patrol after work, quicker than I hoped. Another warm day in valley made for another icy day up Sourdough. A big plus was the dog situation synched up nicely this time. A skater with a dog was just enough in front on the way up that Niko pulled like a true sled dog. Turned around at the 2 mile marker and yet again had to do the snowplow of death on the way down, just kills my inner thighs. On the flats another skater and dog were just enough in front for Niko to pull well were she usually slags off.
Conditions - Icy, though some parts seemed downhill both ways.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

050 - 2010-01-10 Stone Creek

A sunny day out for the 50th ski day of the season. Headed up Stone Creek with Shawn, Gibby, Niko, Tesch and John, fresh from snow deprived Texas. Skied 2 1/2 miles in and parked on a snowy knoll with a great view of the Bridgers and just hung out in the sunshine for a while.
Conditions - A little chilly to start, but quickly warmed once things opened up and we got into the sun. Trail was plowed to the first house, tire tracks to the second and foot, snowshoe and ski tracked after that. Off trail was a bit heavy coming down.

Dug a pit on the NE side of the snowy knoll and did a column test. Snow was 8-10 of newer on top of a thin dense layer followed by sugary junk to the ground. Column failed at the dense layer after two light taps. Really scary, the slope there couldn't have been more than 10 degrees. We stuck to the heavier SW facing low angle stuff back to the trail, probably a good thing anyway for some, see pix.
Ski - Germina Tour GS 200 - First time I've had these out in winter conditions. They did OK, but not great climbers and there was a certain buzz on the faster downhill bits. They can't turn worth shit, but I knew that. I'll save them for the wet snow kick n glide.

049 - 2010-01-09 Moonlight

Another fine day at MLB. Tried to get a bit more adventerous, but got quickly cut back to reality after hitting some heavy stuff in upper Horseshoe Bowl. Spent the rest of the day rediscovering stupid routes in out of the way trees. Finished off with pizza and cold beverages at Milkies - is that a new name, doesn't seem any different.
Conditions - Big dump of a couple days previous was mostly tracked out and packed down. But the the big freeze that followed was over and I felt over dressed at one point.
Ski - Movement Joystiq 166

048 - 2010-01-08 Sourdough

It'd been more than a week since me and Niko had a skate up Sourdough and I can't think of a better way to start off a weekend after three days of no skiing. As typical, everybody had their dogs out, but trail and time spacing didn't sync up right, making things at times challenging to the only person that was harnessed up to a dog. Nevertheless a quick run up to the 2 mile marker and back down.
Conditions - Getting to be a bit packed after the big snow a couple days earlier.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

047 - 2010-01-04 Moonlight

Had the day off so I headed up to Moonlight to ride some chairs. It started snowing in the canyon on the drive and didn't stop, though it didn't add up to the much. Thought I might be able to begin to be a bit more adventurous, but binding prerelease problems put a damper on my enthusiasm. Did a couple runs for the first time, including one I didn't even know existed. Ended up beeing a shortish day with an emphasis on the groomers.
Conditions - 2 of fresh on top of solid.
Ski - Movement Joystiq 166

046 - 2010-01-03 Trail Creek

What's the best thing on your birthday? Go Skiing! After standing around for a half hour not beeing able to decide where to go, Niko, Gibby and I headed off to Trail Creek. Despite relative proximity to town, I'd never done this trail and we pretty had the place to ourself, despite some sledders going off trail on signed private land. First mile or so was sketchy with shallow crusty snow on a narrow south facing hillside trail. Once things opened up, the going was a lot better. Went about 3/4 of a mile past the Trail Creek Cabin and then stopped for lunch, festivities and beacon practice fail. Ski out went quick and we took the creek bottom down rather than the disaster waiting to happen hillside.
Conditions - Crusty hillside part reminded me of skiing in the northern part of the park. Snow was deeper and decent after that on a warmish and mostly clear day.
Ski - Karhu Dorado 195

045 - 2010-01-02 Crescent Lake, Hyalite Lake

Went up Hyalite not sure where to ski but knowing there are plenty of options. Turned into the Blackmore x-c parking lot and it was packed, never seen so many cross country skiers. Went to over to the Hyalite Lake parking lot and headed up the trail to Crescent Lake. After a good jaunt through the woods, interrupted by deadfall, we crossed Hyalite Lake and used the picnic tables at the group area for a lunch location. Then we headed back across the lake back to the parking, passing ice-fishers and the previous day's diving hole.
Conditions - There was a skiff of the snow the night before. Through the woods was a good traveled trail ski, despite the deadfall. The lake along the shore had some incredible kick n glide. That changed to wind crust in the middle of the lake and then got better on the east shore. Going back across the lake we ran into some slush in the middle, thanks to some warm temps, the skis did not cake up with ice.
Ski - Kahru Dorado 195

044 - 2010-01-01 Lindley

With the Winter Classic on the tube and a general lack of motivation, I was lucky to get out of the house. Made it over to the close by, groomed, but no dogs, Lindley Park for a spin around the tracks.
Conditions - Well groomed lanes and temps right around freezing.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185

043 - 2009-12-31 Moonlight

Closed out the year at Moonlight with Gibby and Yatsuko the snowboarder, who kept telling us how much cooler boarders are. Still taking it easy on the right leg, but I'm starting to venture a bit more off-piste and nothing bad happened. Closed it out at the Moonlight Lodge, a good fun full day.
Conditions - A bit of fresh came down the night before, 6+ inches in spots.
Ski - Movement Joystiq 166

042 - 2009-12-30 Sourdough

Finally able to make it to the trailhead by 4. Skied up to the bridge and back to the car by 5:30. Probably could do it faster if I didn't stop a bunch of times.
Conditions - Firm and fast.
Ski - Fischer SCS 185