Jay Silveira
New member
For pictures, go to: <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/11JAN04.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/11JAN04.html</A> <BR> <BR>The last real snow we’ve had in the Bitterroots was a few inches around midweek, so after 4 days worth of skiers, I knew even Lost Trail would have most of the easily accessible terrain tracked up. Therefore, I decided I’d hike over to Saddle Mountain and make some untracked turns off Chair 4. E had somehow managed to hurt her foot on the stairs at home a couple days earlier, and it was still too swollen to fit in her ski boot, but she decided to tag along and let Tyler walk around in the snow and the lodge. Lost Trail is currently reporting a base of 74 inches, but it seems that the wind has scoured the above treeline areas on Saddle Mountain to such a degree that they are holding on the opening of the expansion terrain. <BR> <BR>Arriving at the lodge, we found Andy and his friend Chad at one of the tables. Chad has only been snowboarding a couple of times, so Andy was helping him with tips and trail suggestions. They were heading up Chair 1, so I joined them for this part of my journey. At the top, I bid them farewell, but we were going to be on the same radio channel, so we’d be in touch. From the top of Chair 1 (7,800’) I traversed across North Bowl over to Speedway and Lower Oreo (7,600’). I then did the short hike up to Bear Claw Ridge (7,700’) where I put on my skins. A couple of other skiers (apparently not from the immediate area) soon arrived, and inquired about where I was heading. I said I was heading over for a run on Saddle Mountain, and let them know that the hike was only about 500’ of vertical, but it was a mile or so of distance. They decided that was a little far to go hiking in ski boots, so they headed out along Bear Claw Ridge for some easier powder. Technically, doing laps off the Bear Claw Ridge would be the most efficient way to get plenty of powder turns, but I was interested in checking out the Saddle Mountain scene. <BR> <BR>The skinning went smoothly on the groomed Oreo trail, and I was occasionally buzzed by snowmobiles as maintenance workers went back and forth between the top of Chair 4 and the base area. I got a call from E just as I was about to scale the last 200-foot pitch to the top, and I informed her of my progress. Andy was also on our channel, so I got to hear his discussions with Chad as he was guided to certain sections of trails. After about 40 minutes, I’d reached the summit (8,200’). I took a look back down at the base area, and let E know I had hit the top. I was surprised to see that Chair 4 was actually running, so I guess there was potential for an opening. <BR> <BR>I headed under the lift to pick a route, and was amazed to see that although there was generally good coverage on the open slopes at the top of the peak, they looked like a moonscape. The snow must have been beaten by a number of storms. It was hard windpack; there was no powder to be found. The ski patrol had actually roped off all the windswept terrain, and I had to traverse all the way over to the Sacajewea trail to go down (no big loss actually, as I soon found out). Once around the ropes, I traversed back underneath them to the right. Now that I was actually on the snow, I realized that the surface was as bad as it had looked from above. I quickly scratched my way down into the trees, and THEN I hit some good snow. The powder had settled since the last storm, but there was a nice six inches and the skiing was great. The powder continued right to the bottom, and I mixed it up going in and out of the trees and eventually heading right onto Bob’s Run. The beauty of the overall run was that Chair 3 was right at the bottom, so I’d managed 1,800’ of skiing for only 600’ of hiking, not a bad ratio! <BR> <BR>On my way back up to the main base, I noticed that a couple of ski patrollers were riding Chair 4, so they may have actually let people on in the afternoon. The first couple of days this week, the western Montana valleys have been under an “inversion”, but it finally broke today. It’s always weird when the valley is socked in with incredibly thick fog and you can’t see a fraction of a mile, yet you can head up to the ski area and be in full sunshine. This week offers the potential for some new snow, but only minor disturbances. We may have to wait a bit for the next really big system. <BR> <BR>I captured a few pictures from the day, which can be viewed at: <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/11JAN04.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/11JAN04.html</A> <BR> <BR>A couple of them may come across a bit dark on some monitors because I used certain shutter and aperture settings to enhance the contrast of the tracks in the snow. <BR> <BR>J.Spin