Montana 2/22-3/3

[Barb]

1 hour ago, tarponhead said:

 

Did the winter thing in jellystone back in the 90’s. On the one hand it was this amazing almost primordial experience. Geysers in winter are badass as all hell. Lottsa idiots on snowmobiles though. Do they actually think getting close to a 3/4 ton bison is a good idea?

Overall an amazing experience

 

I did a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone in summer.  In summer, I wasn't impressed.  Too many people and I had already been living in Co for a number of years and the scenery was just meh.  We had a traffic jam due to people being stopped all over the place to see a bear that if you put your finger in front of your face disappeared.  Way far away in a meadow.  We got passed that and less than 1/2 mile later a bear busted out of the woods running full speed and was about 10' in front of us running along the side of our bike on the shoulder.  It was only maybe 10 seconds that he was running along side of us then he dove back into the trees.  It all happened so fast and we were like WTF just happened.

I am hoping I will like the park better in winter. We stayed in Grand Teton National Park a few days before we hit Yellowstone, I enjoyed that more.  Sorry for the hijack, I'm done.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Barb

[toast21602]

Because I don't wanna sit on a bus filled with poor people??  

No because you’re a fucking idiot.


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[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, toast21602 said:

 

No because you’re a fucking idiot.


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I love America the rich get richer!!!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

4 minutes ago, Barb said:

I did a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone in summer.  In summer, I wasn't impressed.  Too many people and I had already been living in Co for a number of years and the scenery was just meh.  We had a traffic jam due to people being stopped all over the place to see a bear that if you put your finger in front of your face disappeared.  Way far away in a meadow.  We got passed that and less than 1/2 mile later a bear busted out of the woods running full speed and was about 10' in front of us running along the side of our bike on the shoulder.  It was only maybe 10 seconds that he was running along side of us then he dove back into the trees.  It all happened so fast and we were like WTF just happened.

I am hoping I will like the park better in winter. We stayed in Grand Teton National Park a few days before we hit Yellowstone, I enjoyed that more.  Sorry for the hijack, I'm done.

Thanks Barb!!!  

[tarponhead]

I lived in Bozeman for 18 months and never went to Yellowstone.  It's just never interested me. I'm really not that into nature I just like to ski. If skiing was an indoor sport I'd do it indoors. 

No surprise here

[tarponhead]

I did a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone in summer.  In summer, I wasn't impressed.  Too many people and I had already been living in Co for a number of years and the scenery was just meh.  We had a traffic jam due to people being stopped all over the place to see a bear that if you put your finger in front of your face disappeared.  Way far away in a meadow.  We got passed that and less than 1/2 mile later a bear busted out of the woods running full speed and was about 10' in front of us running along the side of our bike on the shoulder.  It was only maybe 10 seconds that he was running along side of us then he dove back into the trees.  It all happened so fast and we were like WTF just happened.
I am hoping I will like the park better in winter. We stayed in Grand Teton National Park a few days before we hit Yellowstone, I enjoyed that more.  Sorry for the hijack, I'm done.

I know Indiggio, he’ll be fine with this thread jack.

Agree the summer in jelly is a shit show. Was gonna tell toast to go to sawtooth, glacier, bob Marshall and the like if he is planning on a summer trip. Yellowstone will blow you away scenery wise if you get off the road though. But most don’t. Crazy diversity geo and bio.

[indiggio]

This is fireplace in Jackson hole airport departures area...

Wallets!

[indiggio]

Wallets!

Yo get back on track, woke up at usual o-dark-30 and got shit ready. Googled around for breakfast places and found the Western Cafe opened at 6, so made our way there for some pre-ski grub, which was delicious!

Made our way up Bridger Road to some spectacular scenery which wasn't evident arriving last night. Skies were clear in Bozeman, but the Bridger cloud was causing a little snow as we arrived, which didn't amount to much. Temps were 0 or a bit less and wind was blowing at 8am.

I booted up in lot to the sounds of a helicopter coming in to land, with an ambulance waiting. Not sure what that was all about??

Got second chair on Sunnyside behind some season passholders because we had to wait for ticket booths to open. Ride up with an older couple who had moved to Bozeman from of all places, Bethlehem! Got some lowdown on food & beer places in Bozeman and split from them.

With the direction of the wind and some suggestions from some locals, we headed over to Pierre's Knob right off and lapped that area for the morning. We passed the area to Schlasman's, which was closed. Snow was chalky smooth on groomers and wind-blown crud beyond them. Trees were meh, as they've been skied out and not much fresh to find. Regardless, the area is fun, steep at the start with long run outs to the lifts. Groomers are wide and empty so one can really crank them up.

For lunch, we hit the Jim Bridger lodge bar for some IPAs and white chili. Wow am I farty now!

After lunch it was back up Sunnyside and over to the Bridger lift. They had a competition level mogul run next to Bronco, so we had to check that out multiple times. Between those, we lapped the North Bowl which was mostly moguls.

I like Bridger as it reminds me of Alta and Mad River, but with a slightly different vibe. People are so friendly out here! The problem is that if your a visitor without any avy experience, you're relegated to the lower mountain. I kept eyeing up all the fun stuff at the summit and that served by Schlasman's.

Ended the day back at the bar where we talked to some guys wearing avy transceivers. The guys didn't say much other than, "It was a good day."

The digs...


Ballin' in our free upgrade from a Subaru...


Road to Bridger...


Heli inbound...


Lunch!


Legit soft snow mogul run.


Bronco head.

[Shadows]

Moguls looked taped, youre allowed to run them? 

Thats a legit looking ski town. Real low key, 

[toast21602]

Why can’t you run any upper mountain stuff without avy training? Is it OB?


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[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2 hours ago, indiggio said:

 

Wallets!

 

The wallets are flying private. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

 

I know the royal motel. Did you try any terrain off th high traverse skiers right of the Bridger chair?  Some good terrain there??  

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, toast21602 said:

Why can’t you run any upper mountain stuff without avy training? Is it OB?


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For the hike to terrain above th Bridger chair you need an avy transceiver and also the Schlussmans lift as well which ends along the ridge.  Bridger is essentially 2,000  vert total that you can ski with no transceiver with the bottom  being pretty flat..anything shaded on map you need avy gear

Edited February 24, 2018 by GrilledSteezeSandwich

[indiggio]

Not much to say for today, right from the get-go it was like hurricane force winds. We went back to the far South where we were yesterday, but the winds were blowing the snow so hard you couldn't see anything.
Where we did go, the snow was crusty and wind-blown.

We tried making some runs down the leeward sides of the ridges, but even there the snow was crusty. Also, the light was flat and the bowls had been bumped up from yesterday and now had their troughs filled with some snow. So we couldn't see the bumps and when you hit a trough, you compressed hard into the bump.

We ended up going to the far North runs where the winds weren't too bad and repeated those tree runs.

We had to meet the others who were arriving in the afternoon, so we hit the bar and then departed.

We concluded Bridger is definitely a locals mountain as the lift-serviced runs are steep at the start but flatten out fast. If you're a local, you're gonna have all the avy gear and training required to go to the top (you have to check in with ski patrol before they'll let you in the lift to the top, same with Schlasman's).

Yeah GSS, we went all the way out the traverse and around the corner to those runs. They weren't bad, but they weren't worth the effort to get to them either.

Next stop, Big Sky...

[indiggio]

Moguls looked taped, youre allowed to run them? 
Thats a legit looking ski town. Real low key, 

They were taped. I was talking to the coach and asked him if he'd let us run it, but he refused.

They were also having a mogul comp today and they had run them over and flattened them down from yesterday.

Bozeman is very laid back; like the people too!

[indiggio]

Big Sky Day 1
Awoke at usual 0-dark-thirty to overcast skies, wind and teen temps. After egg, bacon bagel sangwich, headed down to base to pick up tickets using Max Pass. Unfortunately they wouldn't issue us multiple day passes, so this is going to have to be a ritual.

Left the house to the sound of avy guns going off, always a welcome sound! Skies down the White Otter liftline which is right out back of the house and took it up to go down to Mountain Village.

Took Swift Quad up and once we crossed the ridge were met with crazy winds blowing us sideways. Took a quick run down Buffalo jump and went back up to seek shelter from the wind.

Made our way over to the Challenger lift area to find sweet soft bumps under the lift line, so we lapped that a few times. Some took the regal line straight down to the hoots of the lift riders, others stayed in the trees skiers right. The challenge was at the top of Challenger lift due to the wind blown, crusted snow and also the filled bumps that were hard to see in the flat light.

We then went to the Iron Horse quad to find another fun liftline full of perder bumps, so we lapped that a few times.

Decided to stop for lunch. The guys had been out here before, so we headed to an on mountain grill with outside deck. When we arrived, a guy was starting a fire on the deck. As we approached to sit, he asked us if we were members of the club. Evidently some wallets bought out the place and made it private. Down to Madison base...

After lunch we lapped the Six-Shooter to Lone Tree to ski the tree runs out here. This is a great area, but lift service sucks big time as you're forced to take two lifts to get the goods. Oh well, all part of the game.

Departed the Madison area and headed back to the house for hot tub beers, chicken fajitas, Johnny Walker and Super Troopers movie.

Calling for some overnight snow, so might be our only perder day of the week.

[sibhusky]

On 2/23/2018 at 9:20 PM, indiggio said:

Yo get back on track, woke up at usual o-dark-30 and got shit ready. Googled around for breakfast places and found the Western Cafe opened at 6, so made our way there for some pre-ski grub, which was delicious!

Made our way up Bridger Road to some spectacular scenery which wasn't evident arriving last night. Skies were clear in Bozeman, but the Bridger cloud was causing a little snow as we arrived, which didn't amount to much. Temps were 0 or a bit less and wind was blowing at 8am.

I booted up in lot to the sounds of a helicopter coming in to land, with an ambulance waiting. Not sure what that was all about??

Got second chair on Sunnyside behind some season passholders because we had to wait for ticket booths to open. Ride up with an older couple who had moved to Bozeman from of all places, Bethlehem! Got some lowdown on food & beer places in Bozeman and split from them.

With the direction of the wind and some suggestions from some locals, we headed over to Pierre's Knob right off and lapped that area for the morning. We passed the area to Schlasman's, which was closed. Snow was chalky smooth on groomers and wind-blown crud beyond them. Trees were meh, as they've been skied out and not much fresh to find. Regardless, the area is fun, steep at the start with long run outs to the lifts. Groomers are wide and empty so one can really crank them up.

For lunch, we hit the Jim Bridger lodge bar for some IPAs and white chili. Wow am I farty now!

After lunch it was back up Sunnyside and over to the Bridger lift. They had a competition level mogul run next to Bronco, so we had to check that out multiple times. Between those, we lapped the North Bowl which was mostly moguls.

I like Bridger as it reminds me of Alta and Mad River, but with a slightly different vibe. People are so friendly out here! The problem is that if your a visitor without any avy experience, you're relegated to the lower mountain. I kept eyeing up all the fun stuff at the summit and that served by Schlasman's.

Ended the day back at the bar where we talked to some guys wearing avy transceivers. The guys didn't say much other than, "It was a good day."

The digs...


Ballin' in our free upgrade from a Subaru...


Road to Bridger...


Heli inbound...


Lunch!


Legit soft snow mogul run.


Bronco head.

Omg, have stayed at the Royal 7.  Did they ever have a maid do your room?  Probably ten years ago, it seemed to be an issue.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

26 minutes ago, sibhusky said:

Omg, have stayed at the Royal 7.  Did they ever have a maid do your room?  Probably ten years ago, it seemed to be an issue.

I looked up the royal 7...it's $47 a night and the reviews say there were skeet stains on the sheets, bed bugs and all sorts of critters.  Makes where I live and the 49er in Jackson hole look like the Ritz Carlton in comparison. 

[RootDKJ]

44 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

I looked up the royal 7...it's $47 a night and the reviews say there were skeet stains on the sheets, bed bugs and all sorts of critters.  Makes where I live and the 49er in Jackson hole look like the Ritz Carlton in comparison. 

Do you have a bucket list of hotels you want to live out of at some point in your life?

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

17 minutes ago, RootDKJ said:

Do you have a bucket list of hotels you want to live out of at some point in your life?

No...but I don't ever see living in an apartment again. Hotel living is so much better. Where I live now is only a year and a half old..and so modern and secure. 

[Schif]

1 hour ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

No...but I don't ever see living in an apartment again. Hotel living is so much better. Where I live now is only a year and a half old..and so modern and secure. 

What if one of those fly honeys from karaoke night wants to eventually settle down with you? 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

6 minutes ago, Schif said:

What if one of those fly honeys from karaoke night wants to eventually settle down with you? 

I'm not living with anybody ever. I've never believed in monogamy.  I'm not one to settle down and turn every night into a blockbuster night.  I like being a one man wolf pack and going out and having fun. Living with somebody is the perfect way to end up hating somebody. A once a week girlfriend is my ideal. My former karaoke groupie was like that..

Edited February 26, 2018 by GrilledSteezeSandwich

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Bridger bowl got hammered with snow the last two days. 

[sibhusky]

7 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

I looked up the royal 7...it's $47 a night and the reviews say there were skeet stains on the sheets, bed bugs and all sorts of critters.  Makes where I live and the 49er in Jackson hole look like the Ritz Carlton in comparison. 

No surprise.  I'd never stay there again.  It was back when Siblet was racing and the team stayed there.  

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, sibhusky said:

No surprise.  I'd never stay there again.  It was back when Siblet was racing and the team stayed there.  

Sibhusky do you still keep track of vertical?