Jay Silveira
New member
On Friday, Bruce asked if I was interested in heading up to Gash Point for some backcountry skiing over the weekend. E, Ty, and I were heading to Missoula on Saturday, but I told Bruce Sunday would be a good day, especially if Lost Trail didn’t get any new snow. As it turned out, Lost Trail only picked up an inch or so of new snow over the weekend, so backcountry was a great option. I checked the avalanche forecast, which indicated conditions were low in all areas except wind-loaded slopes, and slopes exposed to sun at temperatures above 40 degrees. There were some storms off the Pacific coast, but they were breaking apart as they headed into the high-pressure ridge we were under, meaning that we’d just be getting snow showers. Overall, conditions looked quite safe for a trip to Gash Point. <BR> <BR>I met Bruce on Sunday morning and we took his truck up the road to the trailhead. The snowpack started at around 4,000’, and we had to travel on a few miles of snow-covered road to get to our destination. The great thing about going with Bruce was that he knew the road extremely well, including all the tricky parts that needed special attention. Most of the road was well-packed snow with ruts, but a couple parts had loose snow that made the driving extra tough. Bruce said that the last corner before the trailhead would be the toughest, and just as we approached it, we saw that someone else had his truck stuck on it. We helped them out, and they eventually got moving, but then Bruce got his truck stuck after trying to negotiate the mess they had left. After another few minutes, we managed to get Bruce’s truck unstuck, and reached the trailhead in another hundred yards. With the addition of the guys in the truck in front of us, there were now three vehicles that needed to park, and there was little space to do so. We worked with the other guys and eventually everyone got settled. Bruce even threw on his chains to make the parking a little easier. <BR> <BR>I’ve only been to Gash Point once before, and that was early season in November 2001. In early season, you can drive further along the road and begin the hike at around 5,800’, but this time of year you’re lucky if you can get to this trailhead at 4,800’. This means you have an extra 1,000’ of hiking, but unless you take a snowmobile in (which a lot of people do) you’ve got to do the longer hike. During our approach to the trailhead, Bruce had been in contact with his friends, Rob and Linda, who had gone in by snowmobile and set up a camp at around 6,000’. Rob lives very close to Gash Point and heads up there just about every weekend. Through communication, we planned to meet them higher up on the mountain. <BR> <BR>Our driving and parking adventures had eaten up a lot of time, but we finally got under way some time after 10:00 A.M.. Bruce was on Randonee equipment, and I was using my Alpine Trekkers on my CMH fats skis, which had served me well for sidecountry outings so far during the season. Bruce set the pace, and it was a nice comfortable one, even for my somewhat heavy setup. The trail headed up fairly steadily through the main drainage in the area, and after about 40-50 minutes we’d reached the alternate starting point at 5,800’. From there, the trail hung along the north side of the drainage and eventually swing back to cross the stream in the middle. Bruce knew the area quite well, and could even discern which stream crossing he wanted to take among all the tracks in the area. After another 10 minutes of hiking, we met up with Rob and Linda skiing down, and we all stopped for a quick snack. <BR> <BR>Soon we were back under way, and at 6,800’, we hit the lower reaches of the open areas below the main bowl (or South Bowl as I’ve learned it is called). There was a well-pronounced skin track here, but it pretty much went straight up the hill, and Rob pointed out that this was generally too steep and inefficient. So, Rob re-broke trail on one of his old skin tracks that went up towards the bowl, which was only buried by a few inches of new snow and was a great choice. Bruce had pointed out that Rob was a master skin track maker, and the fact that we were basically in his weekly playground meant that we were in good hands. His track was really easy to follow, and the pitch was perfect for enjoying the trip. During the hike, we met up with another group skiing down, and it was nice to hear that they had done a Rutschblock test, which didn’t fail, even when they took off their skis and stomped on it. That was a comforting thought, although Rob’s presence here just about every weekend meant that he had a good handle on the pulse of the snowpack too. <BR> <BR>The reports from the skiers above indicated that the upper areas of the bowl were wind blown, so we decided to ski the trees on the south side of the bowl (I heard they are called the Swedish Trees). We stopped skinning at an elevation of 7,500’, well shy of the summit ridge (~8,500’-8,800’) but still 2,700’ above where we’d started. We were in an area of trees and small cliff bands, and there was a consistent 6-8 inches of fresh snow over a soft base. Rob and Bruce knew this area was generally immune to the wind, which meant we would get sweet turns for our efforts. We had a quick snack, switched to ski mode, and we were off. <BR> <BR>We started down through a little chute through the trees, and then dropped onto a nice open snowfield with a pitch of around 35 degrees. This persisted for a bit with a few widely spaced trees, and then Rob pulled me over to skier’s right to check out one of his favorite little cliff bands. The cliff band was about 20 feet high where we took it, and actually was shy enough of vertical to hold some snow. I hit it with once nice jump turn in the middle, and caught just a bit of rock with the tail of my ski. It was absolutely fantastic terrain, and it was extra fun having Rob as a tour guide. He knows this place as well as many people know their favorite ski area. Not long after the cliff band, we hit the bottom of the open areas with pitch (6,800’) and the group split up. Rob and Linda had invited us back to their camp, but Bruce wanted to get down and make sure we had extra time to get his truck out if needed. So, we thanked Rob and Linda for their company, and bid them farewell as they skinned up for another run. <BR> <BR>Below the 6,800’ level, the trees are thicker and the pitch is less steep. When E and I were there a couple of years ago in the fall, there was little snow below this elevation, and no well-defined trail to follow. This combination caused us to come very close to spending the night in the woods, but thankfully, the knowledge of our car’s elevation and the use of our altimeter allowed us to contour our way out of the woods in the nick of time. This time however, there were obvious ski tracks to follow, and I was with Bruce who knew exactly where he was at all times. He was taking me on a route over to “The Saddle” on the north side of the drainage, which meant that we would also get to swing past Rob and Linda’s camp and check it out. The route over to the camp was generally rolling terrain. It didn’t require skins, but it was often a flat traverse. The snow remained good, although the depth of the new snow had dropped to just a few inches. <BR> <BR>In about 10-15 minutes, we arrived at Rob and Linda’s camp (elevation 6,000’). They had a teepee style tent set up, with a portable wood stove and other comforts. Rob is thinking of setting up a wooden platform eventually to make it even homier. Outside were their two snowmobiles, one of which had a sled attached to the back for hauling extra gear. Below the camp, the terrain got steeper, although the snow got trickier as well. In areas that had seen the sun, it was quite crusty, and we had to hit a lot of that surface since we were heading to the southeast. In a few minutes we came to the upper trailhead (5,800’) along the road, and then we regained the skin track that we’d taken up earlier in the day. The skin track was actually well packed snow that was readily skiable, but it was very tight in a lot of places so it was really more of a quick way down than an enjoyable ski. Bruce eventually decided to take off his skis as things became too tight, but I kept them on all the way to the car. It was a bit of a bobsled ride, but it was actually really fun to negotiate all the corners. I did keep an eye out for any uphill traffic, but saw nobody. Bruce appeared about 15 minutes after me, and we prepared for the worst with regard to getting the truck out. Bruce felt that his clutch was going, so we didn’t want to push it very hard. Fortunately, we dislodged ourselves from the parking area easily, and the trip back down the road went smoothly. I have to say that my second experience at Gash Point was a lot less stressful than the first. Part of the difference was being able to ski all the way back to the car. The bottom half of the run may not have been anything special, but it sure beats walking! <BR> <BR>I got a few pictures from the day, which can be found at: <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/15FEB04.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.JandEproductions.com/2004/15FEB04.html</A> <BR> <BR>J.Spin