This has been an exceptionally poor snow year in the northern Rockies. We got maybe 8" total in all of January, and only a little more than that so far in February.
That said, there is still plenty of skiing to be had, it's just not waist deep powder. We found nice powder a couple weeks ago in Middle Basin, but all three skiers had camera troubles. If the cameras had been working the snow probably would not have been as good. Last weekend Kerstin and I skied the same area and found some very maritime "powder", as it was pushing 50 degrees farenheit. Sloppy and soggy were the adjectives of the day, but it was still pretty fun.
Superbowl Sunday I went up Blackmore with Kerstin, where we found everything from corn snow to bulletproof wind crust to breakable sun crust. Blackmore is a beautiful mountain, though, and a good skin. We started very early and were able to get three laps in before we saw any other groups, which is always nice.
Kerstin and I skied up Bradley's Meadows the Sunday before that and found 4 of the 8 inches of snow we got in January. It was super light champagne powder, the real "cold smoke" on top of frozen crust. That was fun too.
This week is looking extremely hot, and I won't be surprised to find spring-style skiing this weekend.
That said, here are some pictures of skiing this year.
Kerstin in and around Bradley's Meadow:
Early start at the Blackmore trailhead:
Ridge up to the peak of Blackmore:
Negotiating the crust:
Soft and wet in Middle Basin:
Mid turn, farther down the same slope:
More crust on the Western Exposure:
We're getting pretty good at this crust thing by now:
Flat eastern exposure, soft and wet:
All things considered, any skiing is good skiing, especially you're sharing the slope with only one or two other people. So we'll keep heading out, and one of these days we'll find some soft and deep.
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