Jay Silveira
New member
We still haven’t had any recent snow in the Bitterroots, but Andy and Chad were heading up to Lost Trail for some snowboarding on Saturday, so I decided to join in and get my first day out on the board for the season. Without any major storms coming through the area, we’ve been flirting with the dreaded “temperature inversions” that seem to be prevalent in the intermountain west. These inversions generally mean thick fog in the valley, although the mountains are in the sun. Sometimes they can last for weeks, and it can be a bit depressing to not see the mountains or sky for so long. Fortunately, the past couple of weeks have been on and off, with a few days of super thick fog, but enough days without it to keep everyone sane. After a couple of significant snowfalls over the holidays, and some reinforcing cold temperatures, the valleys have held onto snow surprisingly long. In general, it seems that the lower the valley elevation, the longer the inversions hang around, and this has created an interesting phenomenon with the snowpack. Sula, up the valley at an elevation of ~4,400’ actually has less snow than Hamilton (~3,500’) or Missoula (~3,200’) partly due to more time spent in the sun. Usually it is quite the reverse with Hamilton and Missoula having little if any snowpack. <BR> <BR>When I left for the mountain, Hamilton was still in the fog, but about 10 minutes up the valley I broke out of it. The temperature warmed from around 15 degrees to near 30 as well. Up at the mountain, the temperature was somewhere in the low 20s, with overcast skies, and even a little undercast on the Idaho side. Thanks to the magic of FRS radios, I contacted Andy, who said he had been carving up Sacajewea off Chair 4. We decided to meet at the Boomer handle tow and make plans from there. I was surprised to see that it was Telemark demo day, which I’ve taken advantage of the past two years. Today however, I stuck to my plan of meeting up with Andy and getting in some snowboarding. <BR> <BR>Heading around on North Bowl, I found that the groomed conditions weren’t bad. They might be considered a little firm by Lost Trail standards, but it was nicely carveable packed powder. I met Andy at the Boomer lift and we headed down to Chair 4. The connecting trails we took were a bit flat in places, so keeping our speed up was a must. Once on the lift, I could see that many of the trails below still had a lot of untracked powder, especially in the open trees near the top (although the very top is still wind scoured). Very few people were riding the lift (possibly because of the “Experts Only” signs, which Andy confessed he never even saw). As Andy and I were discussing the chattering of boards on hard snow surfaces, I decided that Andy should get a taste of what snowboards were really meant for – powder! <BR> <BR>Although the patrol has now opened up an area near the Ripper which has a skiable surface, it would have been a big challenge for Andy to ride it, so we decided to head back over to Sacajewea. After passing the first steep pitch of Sacajewea, I guided Andy to the right, traversing through the trees over to Lewis and Clark. I was amazed to see that Lewis and Clark was still in basically the same shape it had been for me the previous Sunday, I could even see my tracks still sitting there at the right side of the trail! The powder was settled, but it was pretty deep. When I sat down on my board, it took me a minute or two to get up because my arms couldn’t reach a solid base. Eventually I got myself flipped over, and enjoyed some nice turns on the soft surface. Further down, I stopped and got some still shots of Andy cruising the powder. After a few turns of getting the feel (quite different than groomed snow) he had a nice controlled run. Although the lower portion of the trail was groomed, most of the edges in and out of the trees were untouched, so I had some great fun surfing the powder. Andy stuck to the groomed areas, not yet having enough control to turn in and out of tight spaces. He was also tired from a morning of riding. I actually considered another run since the snow was so good, but I was heading to Missoula in the afternoon and had to get home. Overall, the conditions were surprisingly soft and powdery on Chair 4. After almost 2 weeks with no substantial snow, everyone is getting antsy for a storm. The forecast doesn’t suggest any precipitation until the end of the week at the earliest, and it looks like we’re going to have a couple more days of inversions as well. Just like the northeast, I think we’re ready for a pattern change to more snowy conditions, but fortunately snow surfaces seem to be holding up pretty well. <BR> <BR>Just a couple of still shots for this outing, available at: <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/17JAN04.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/17JAN04.html</A> <BR> <BR>J.Spin