Jay Silveira
New member
On Saturday I headed up to Lost Trail for some turns, eager to check out more of the newly serviced terrain off Chair 4. There had been 5 inches of new snow since it was last open on the previous Sunday, so even though we were starting out with a dry period, some soft snow was expected. I had made plans to meet Jon at Chair 1, but since it wasn't running at opening time (mechanical difficulties I guess), I headed down to chair 2. Conditions were OK on the groomed surface, not as soft as the usual Lost Trail base, but edgeable. The Thursday and Friday skiers had already skied on the 5 new inches, so it had been well worked into the rest of the base. <BR> <BR>Arriving at the summit from Chair 2, I checked with patrol and found that Chair 4 was running. I waited a few minutes to see if I could catch Jon at the summit, then I was off. I sampled Main Street along the way, and found great untracked powder; it seemed more than just 5 inches. There was a short line already at chair 4, but soon I was on and up at the summit. My first thought was to check out Hollywood Bowl, since it gave us such an amazing day the previous weekend. As soon as I dropped in, it was obvious that it had been worked by the sun. The new 5 inches since last weekend had been baked and was well crusted, and the base had hardened a bit as well. Fortunately, I had a backup plan on where I expected to find good snow and cut hard left onto the east facing terrain of Saddle Mountain. I traversed into the area of "The Ripper" and found great snow. Everything here was pretty much as it had been left last weekend, with the extra five inches. It was great powder skiing! I enjoyed turns in the open until I gradually fell into the groomed lift line run. The groomed surface was much softer than what I'd encountered back at the main mountain, and there was plenty of powder on the edges to hit. I continued working in and out of the groomed/powder, venturing onto the "Two Dot" trail. Before I knew it, I had been skiing continuously for most of the run and had to pull to stop. I was definitely not used to such long runs here at Lost Trail. I finished off the run and loaded for another run on Chair 4. This time I wanted to explore some new terrain and find a nice long sustained run of powder. <BR> <BR>I noticed Jon getting in line just as I started up on the lift, and decided I would wait for him at the top. I hung out at the top for quite a while (~20-30 minutes) talking with Mike Parnell, one of the vets from the lab, and a fixture on the Lost Trail Ski Patrol. Eventually I decided that something must have happened to Jon, so I ventured off on my own. My plan was to check out the terrain off the skier's left boundary of Saddle Mountain. There is a huge expanse of treed terrain over there that should have nice protection from the sun and hold great snow. I traversed across the summit to the Sacajewea Trail at the area boundary. There was a rope up for the initial 50 feet, and then I cut to the left into the trees. The trees were awesome, spaced about 5-15 feet apart with a blue pitch to the slope. The snow was totally powder and there were maybe one or two other tracks in the whole area. Since it was my first time in there, I decided to play it safe and stick relatively close to the trail until I had a sense of the terrain. I just kept going and going and going, for what seemed like 1000' of vertical, all the while finding perfectly spaced trees and untracked powder. <BR> <BR>Finally, I had a sense that I needed to pull out onto the trail, mostly because the terrain told me to. I pulled out and found Patroller Parnell kneeling on his snowboard right at the edge of the trail. He jokingly said "Hey, you're not supposed to be in there 
", but in fact I guess I wasn't. I let him know that I'd waited until after the rope to enter, but as I looked back up the trail, I could see that there were ski area boundary signs all along the edge of the trail as well (although no rope). Mike filled me in on the policy they're planning for this boundary. From what he said, it is actually closed (bummer). The plan will be to give people one warning, and then if they're caught in there for a second time that day, they get a 4 put on their ticket and they can't ride Chair 4 for the rest of the day. Individuals who hike up to Saddle Mountain will still be allowed to ski that terrain (which of course would mean they wouldn't need to ride chair 4 anyway). I guess there is a finger ridge (as Mike called it) in there, that will send people way down into the valley if they don't know what they're doing and go off the wrong side. He explained it by saying that people will of course keep going further and further to get fresh tracks (as always happens), and some people will probably get in trouble. During our discussion, he also agreed that "That is some of the sweetest snow on the mountain isn't it? " That question gets a definite yes from me. I think it's a combination of tree protection, and the beginning of wrapping around to the north side of the mountain that makes it so good. The terrain had naturally pushed me back onto the trail, so I had planned to go that way, but I especially didn't want to cut back in now that I knew the policy. Mike was very friendly (it's nice to know some folks on patrol) but I don't want to set a bad example for others that may not be quite as well versed in exploring new terrain, especially at this stage where Lost Trail is still setting up policy and working out things at the infancy of Chair 4 operation. Talking with Jon a couple of days later, he suggested that a gated policy, checking out with patrol etc. might work. Although the terrain I was in wasn't avalanche terrain, you could most definitely find some off the north side if you looked. If you head directly north, the terrain seems quite steep. Thus, beacon/probe/shove etc. might be something that patrol could require/suggest. Anyway, we'll have to see what develops, but hopefully something can be worked out for access to that terrain. There are many acres there that will offer great skiing with a simple traverse back to Chair 4. <BR> <BR>Since I wasn't going to go exploring off the north boundary now that I knew the rules, I decided to check out another area of interest. Along the ridge that leads from the summit of Saddle Mountain back to the top of the main base area, many steep shots drop off the left into the Hollywood Bowl/Elk Basin area. I was curious about how access would be gained to these shots now that Oreo (the trail that traverses the ridge) was open. I checked with Mike, and he indicated that you couldn’t access these areas from Oreo (I didn’t go look, but I assume there are signs and or ropes). He said that the thing to do was to get high in Hollywood Bowl, and traverse as high as you could from there. There are many cliff areas in this region, which appears to be why they limit the access, but I’m not sure. So, I traversed across the top of Hollywood Bowl, but eventually got stopped at a rope just before a large cliff area. It wasn’t as far as I wanted to go, but the snow here at the edge of the bowl was untracked so I figured I’d drop in. The snow looked great, but it turned out to be crust city just like the rest of the bowl. Once I got below the open areas of the bowl, I jumped into the trees and explored terrain to the right. The snow was nice, but I didn’t find any really good lines with much pitch; this is the bottom flat part of the bowl before one heads to Elk Basin. It’s just not steep enough for many sustained shots, although a few short tree shots are present. After that, I skied some trees I knew to the right of Elk Basin, and worked my way to some of the trails off the north side of Bear Claw Ridge. The snow is awesome there, north facing and deep. Powder turns will be available there for the foreseeable future. I finished off the run down on some Chair 3 terrain, then rode the lift up and headed to the parking lot. <BR> <BR>We’ve been dry this week, and I’ve been a bit worried about how conditions will be for an upcoming ski trip next week to Lost Trail, Big Mountain, Fernie and Kimberley. However, it looks like the high pressure ridge is going to break down and moisture will come ashore. I’m hoping the snow can hit Fernie, since it sounds as though conditions are quite hard there at the moment. Reports will be on the way as the trip develops and time permits. <BR> <BR>J.Spin
", but in fact I guess I wasn't. I let him know that I'd waited until after the rope to enter, but as I looked back up the trail, I could see that there were ski area boundary signs all along the edge of the trail as well (although no rope). Mike filled me in on the policy they're planning for this boundary. From what he said, it is actually closed (bummer). The plan will be to give people one warning, and then if they're caught in there for a second time that day, they get a 4 put on their ticket and they can't ride Chair 4 for the rest of the day. Individuals who hike up to Saddle Mountain will still be allowed to ski that terrain (which of course would mean they wouldn't need to ride chair 4 anyway). I guess there is a finger ridge (as Mike called it) in there, that will send people way down into the valley if they don't know what they're doing and go off the wrong side. He explained it by saying that people will of course keep going further and further to get fresh tracks (as always happens), and some people will probably get in trouble. During our discussion, he also agreed that "That is some of the sweetest snow on the mountain isn't it? " That question gets a definite yes from me. I think it's a combination of tree protection, and the beginning of wrapping around to the north side of the mountain that makes it so good. The terrain had naturally pushed me back onto the trail, so I had planned to go that way, but I especially didn't want to cut back in now that I knew the policy. Mike was very friendly (it's nice to know some folks on patrol) but I don't want to set a bad example for others that may not be quite as well versed in exploring new terrain, especially at this stage where Lost Trail is still setting up policy and working out things at the infancy of Chair 4 operation. Talking with Jon a couple of days later, he suggested that a gated policy, checking out with patrol etc. might work. Although the terrain I was in wasn't avalanche terrain, you could most definitely find some off the north side if you looked. If you head directly north, the terrain seems quite steep. Thus, beacon/probe/shove etc. might be something that patrol could require/suggest. Anyway, we'll have to see what develops, but hopefully something can be worked out for access to that terrain. There are many acres there that will offer great skiing with a simple traverse back to Chair 4. <BR> <BR>Since I wasn't going to go exploring off the north boundary now that I knew the rules, I decided to check out another area of interest. Along the ridge that leads from the summit of Saddle Mountain back to the top of the main base area, many steep shots drop off the left into the Hollywood Bowl/Elk Basin area. I was curious about how access would be gained to these shots now that Oreo (the trail that traverses the ridge) was open. I checked with Mike, and he indicated that you couldn’t access these areas from Oreo (I didn’t go look, but I assume there are signs and or ropes). He said that the thing to do was to get high in Hollywood Bowl, and traverse as high as you could from there. There are many cliff areas in this region, which appears to be why they limit the access, but I’m not sure. So, I traversed across the top of Hollywood Bowl, but eventually got stopped at a rope just before a large cliff area. It wasn’t as far as I wanted to go, but the snow here at the edge of the bowl was untracked so I figured I’d drop in. The snow looked great, but it turned out to be crust city just like the rest of the bowl. Once I got below the open areas of the bowl, I jumped into the trees and explored terrain to the right. The snow was nice, but I didn’t find any really good lines with much pitch; this is the bottom flat part of the bowl before one heads to Elk Basin. It’s just not steep enough for many sustained shots, although a few short tree shots are present. After that, I skied some trees I knew to the right of Elk Basin, and worked my way to some of the trails off the north side of Bear Claw Ridge. The snow is awesome there, north facing and deep. Powder turns will be available there for the foreseeable future. I finished off the run down on some Chair 3 terrain, then rode the lift up and headed to the parking lot. <BR> <BR>We’ve been dry this week, and I’ve been a bit worried about how conditions will be for an upcoming ski trip next week to Lost Trail, Big Mountain, Fernie and Kimberley. However, it looks like the high pressure ridge is going to break down and moisture will come ashore. I’m hoping the snow can hit Fernie, since it sounds as though conditions are quite hard there at the moment. Reports will be on the way as the trip develops and time permits. <BR> <BR>J.Spin