sibhusky

Or...the ignore button.

It varies. When I first moved here, they attempted to open by Thanksgiving and one year beat that. However, it was COSTING them big time and people would show up that weekend and then not show up again until the front opened. Then Foley took over and the new word was "profit". They pushed back the opening until the first weekend in December and...guess what, the snow gods agreed with that opening until last year. Then last year we got a TON of snow and for the first time we opened with not just the back, but close to 100% of the terrain open. Clearly we could have opened earlier and let people get their legs back until we had 100%. But, when they were doing that, they were using snowguns to do it and they were drawing down their agreed allotment of water from the Haskill Basin drainage faster than they liked, leaving them in a precarious position for the rest of the winter. Plus, since they opened not just for Thanksgiving, but every day after that, they were running lifts and not putting butts in them. This year's opening (if the website is up to date) will be Dec. 4. ... But since that's a Sunday, I'm thinking it's a leftover, but it gives you an idea of the likely weekend. Last year they stayed open a week longer than they had recently due to the La Nina that was forecast. We actually got more and more snow after they closed, reaching the highest snow pack for the year AFTER closing day.... and it lasted and lasted. Since last I looked there was no or only maybe a weak La Nina forecast for the coming winter, I'm not expecting much. I'm hoping it's colder, frankly, the snow is better then. It was on the warm side last winter.

I figure the exact "halfway point" here is August 7.

And maybe fall (Autumn)... I think there are a number of out here who include ski patrolling as part of a patchwork of jobs like river or fishing guide, etc. that can make a livable wage. Siblet's boyfriend is a patroller, a fishing guide/ranch manager, and edits a magazine in his "spare" time. I can tell you, though, that he doesn't have a lot of "play time" because he is pretty much booked up with work most of the year. The work is "fun work", though. And he has managed to invest some money over the last few years. His brother is a fishing guide, Iditarod guide (for tourists watching the race) and a bartender. He's pretty frantic as well. His guiding is all over the country now as he's freelance, so he's always off somewhere or other. I think there are a ton of people out west living like this. I think it takes some commitment and connections to be able to sustain this life and eventually have a family. I was typing this as the above posting came in...

Four months and two weeks here. Of course, since it's neither El Ni

NO. Too out of shape. Siblet is able to keep up with these other mountain goats, not me. I just noticed I said they approached from the left...should have said right as can be seen in the route maps...

Some pictures. I've jiggled the pics a bit to show snow consistency and tracks better. These aren't all of them. The companion has his own ski company and those are some of the skis he sells. First pic is from below, standing about I'm thinking, a third of the way between the parking lot and the ridge: They will approach the ridge from the left and climb along the ridge itself to a notch, then down-climbed the rocks (IN SKI BOOTS!) and skied from the area the snow begins. One view from the ridge back to what they came over to get to it: Adventure companion (not the boyfriend): Climbing up the ridge line in ski boots. Friend had mountaineering boots, Siblet did this in RACE boots! Looking down from the ridge. Red arrow shows the buildings and parking lot in the distance (Logan Pass) Companion putting on skis after downclimbing to a ledge (there were several) below the ridge line. Below him is a "non-hoppable" crevasse they had to find a snow bridge (two skis wide) to get across. You can't tell from the pic, but it's about 12 feet across. Companion pointing up to their tracks. Where they hiked to is visible as the notch in the ridgeline above his head. They did figure 8's down, but the snow was coming down with them, so it just looks like a snow slide, but the tracks are pretty much at the end of where he is pointing the pole. Close up of tracks. Used Paint Shop Pro to emphasize them better. You can sort of see the figure 8's. Friend skied down through some connecting paths through the rocks. Siblet skipped that. She says she had a great time and would do it again in a heart beat. The snow consistency varied quite a bit all over, but she had a blast.

Route:

Headed down

I'm following Siblet's SPOT tracks as she goes across a ridge to get to some snow: In the pic below, you can see the ridge in the distance (this a pic from yesterday): Update: She's started down, crossing diagonally from that notch from left to right. I hope there's lots of pictures!!! I think the notch must have stopped them for some reason.

They are just "regulars" here. Between the daughter and myself, we cover a lot of "skier categories". Siblet skis with a lot of "cliff jumper types", the ski patrol, the other alpine coaches, etc. I ski a lot, so know people who ski a lot. After all, we talk to each other on chairs here. The film was shot all over Montana, but much of it was here.

Well, it obviously WAS able to be profitable for at least 30 or so. I just think the down economy has impacted vacation home purchases, recreation, etc. and it didn't have the cash flow to weather the economic downturn. You know, Camelback years ago was in the same boat, that's why the Village at Camelback was sold off early in its days to someone else and the Camelback-linked real estate today is actually Northridge. They had to sell off the Village to cover their bills.

Scan of ancient (1975) ski map showing where it is: A 1982 ski brochure from Pa said it was 415'. A weekend day ticket for an adult that year was $11.

I've skied there like 30 years or more ago.

Well, I am sure there are places you can do both in the same day other than here.

Who says the jobs out there are lower-paying? Or that late season is BS skiing? Certainly not this year in Rockies. We closed with a record base that got deeper and deeper. There is still snow half way down the mountain even now and the altitude here is nowhere near as high as Colorado.

Well, a full time job in CO, still gives him maybe a week vacay plus 6 x 4 x 2 weekends minimum ski time, say 54 days...of COLORADO skiing? C'mon, you can't count days at Blue in the same breath as days in Colorado.

Yeah, Jeff, there is such a thing as day-tripping to ski. You might even be able to go in with others on a shared condo so you don't have to drag your gear up each time.

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/104000/so-you-like-computers-and-wanna-be-a-ski-bum-job-within Early warning here.

Untrue. You just have to know where they are.

It looks like they are carving mountain bike trails into the hill here:

Yeah, about a month back I was sort of looking forward to the end of the season...but it had gotten boring. Would have liked to have gone back to early March even more than that, tho.

I'd rather get there by night time. I HATE driving at night. Too many critters jumping in the road.