skiNEwhere
Active member
So me and my buddy jacoby decided to hike up to the top of St.Mary's glacier today to get some turns in.
I planned to ski to the lookers right of this photo
I parked as close as I could get the Subaru to the base and we were off!
It's crazy how different the terrain looks compared to last month when I skinned up this same route. There was actually a little bit of bushwhacking needed at the bottom, I even had a tough time spotting an entry point.
There was a lot of brush to clear through. And way too much ahead. I decided to alter my route and ski about a half mile away from where I originally intended to hike. I took this pic on my ATV yesterday
To get over there, I had to cross this mini rock field which was a PIA due to the fact most of the rocks were somewhat loose
I started hiking up the side of the glacier, still on the rocks until I was forced to hike up on the snow itself.
I wanted to make it to the top of the snowline, but the weather had other ideas. Clouds started rolling in and I could tell thunder and lightning was going to come with the rain. If you see the bottleneck of snow in the previous pic, I probably stopped just after that.
As soon as I started putting my ski boots on, it started drizzling. By the time I was about to start skiing down there was a little hail mixed in with thunder and lightning. Seeing as I was in a hurry I didn't enjoy my turns as much as I could've, but relatively speaking the snow sucked. It was slushy and bumpy, and not the good kind of slush bumps. More like snow melting at different rates which caused a lot of divots.
I swapped over to the regular boots and started hiking back down the normal, conventional trail that people take to get to the glacier, instead of the trail I took up.
It was absolutely pouring with thunder and lightning, yet some people were still hiking up. I even saw one lady intentionally hiding under the lone tree above the lake.
I made it back to my car, albeit soaked. I had a good time and so did my dog, seeing as the only other alternative was not skiing at all. Worth it
I planned to ski to the lookers right of this photo
I parked as close as I could get the Subaru to the base and we were off!
It's crazy how different the terrain looks compared to last month when I skinned up this same route. There was actually a little bit of bushwhacking needed at the bottom, I even had a tough time spotting an entry point.
There was a lot of brush to clear through. And way too much ahead. I decided to alter my route and ski about a half mile away from where I originally intended to hike. I took this pic on my ATV yesterday
To get over there, I had to cross this mini rock field which was a PIA due to the fact most of the rocks were somewhat loose
I started hiking up the side of the glacier, still on the rocks until I was forced to hike up on the snow itself.
I wanted to make it to the top of the snowline, but the weather had other ideas. Clouds started rolling in and I could tell thunder and lightning was going to come with the rain. If you see the bottleneck of snow in the previous pic, I probably stopped just after that.
As soon as I started putting my ski boots on, it started drizzling. By the time I was about to start skiing down there was a little hail mixed in with thunder and lightning. Seeing as I was in a hurry I didn't enjoy my turns as much as I could've, but relatively speaking the snow sucked. It was slushy and bumpy, and not the good kind of slush bumps. More like snow melting at different rates which caused a lot of divots.
I swapped over to the regular boots and started hiking back down the normal, conventional trail that people take to get to the glacier, instead of the trail I took up.
It was absolutely pouring with thunder and lightning, yet some people were still hiking up. I even saw one lady intentionally hiding under the lone tree above the lake.
I made it back to my car, albeit soaked. I had a good time and so did my dog, seeing as the only other alternative was not skiing at all. Worth it
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