Black Mountain, Absorakas- Montana

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ryanl

Black Mountain, Absorakas- Montana

Post by ryanl »

Like many good trips, this one began the night before with an invitation from a local in the know. In this case it was my dad. He asked if I wanted to go to a friend's house to taste some wines. I said "Sure". When we arrived we were given the following. Thanks Dad for letting me tag along!
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About 8 hours after my last glass I was driving east on 90 out of Bozeman with an upset stomach and a beginner’s mind. In the 20 years that my folks have lived in Bozeman, I’ve strapped on skins three times. Each time, I started and/or ended in the Bridger Bowl parking lot. Today I was headed to the Western Beartooths in the Absorakas, excited to explore.

I haven’t been feeling very strong lately so I wasn’t sure how I’d handle the altitude. The trailhead is at 5659, the summit at 10,950'. I was also unsure about the snowpack. Since the last storm a few days prior, winds had been ripping steadily at 30-40 mph while the temps rarely got out of the teens.

At the trailhead the temperature gauge on the dashboard read 14 degrees and my car shook with the wind. Mine was the only car there. Hmmmmm. Part of the joy of exploring is seeing. I waited for the sun to creep up before setting out.

For the first few miles I followed a snowshoe track along the summer trail, but broke off onto my own once it made sense to do so. Right away I noticed the difference between a maritime and continental snowpack. For one, my pole would plunge through super light snow all the way to ground. And not 20 minutes into setting a track I felt the first of many "whoooomfs" as the area around my skis would dinner plate and settle. But the coverage was thin at this point so I wasn't too concerned.

Last summer a major fire ripped through Pine Creek. I could see the effects in the charcoal like sticks protruding all around.
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As I climbed higher I got suckered into thinking the snow might be good:
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I eventually rejoined the snowshoe track only to see it stop at about 8000'. Here, the headwaters to Pine Creek took shape in the form of several source creeks, each carving out its own steeply sided ravine. Route finding became an issue. I knew I was shooting for a point along the west ridge so I tried to veer in that direction. This ultimately made for a more......scenic day. Once I got within eyesight of the Alpine I got my first view of Black:
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Truth be told, I became discouraged at this point. I wasn't feeling fresh, and I questioned whether I had it in me to get there, let alone to ski the beautiful looking couloir dead center. The combination of steep rocky ridges and low snow hid any obvious route to the base. Plus, I'd made the mistake of researching where I was going and had learned that line staring me in the face had once been deemed too steep to ski by Doug Coombs, but had later been skied by Hans Saari, who called the first few turns 60 degrees and the rest 50. "Well," I thought to myself," let's just try to make it over there." I looked at the map and decided to contour.

Which lead to some rock,
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on the way to a view which changed my discouragement to enouragement. "Hmmmm......maybe I can summit this thing"
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I made a bee line for the West Ridge, give or take a few terrain features, on snow perfect for ski crampons. Once on the ridge I got a view which made me want to visit my parents more often. Taken about 7 hours from their front door:
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By this time I'd already reached my turnaround time. I'd told my folks I'd be be back by a certain hour and didn't want to cause alarm. But I also spied what looked to be a more direct way back to the car. So I skinned as high as I could, ditched the skis, and scrambled to the summit:
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On the way to the summit I'd gotten good looks at the entrance to the two branches of Black's Y couloir(s). I had serious doubts about windloading and couldn't see all the way down to know whether or not they were continuous. Plus, the remoteness and solitude were getting to me. Epic'ing wasn't an option today so I hardly flinched as I downclimbed back to my skis, intent and content to save the the goods for another day.

And that's exactly what I did, 'cause except for the first few hundred feet the skiing was anything but good. This is what a beginner's mind can lead to (red is up, blue is down):
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Even though the skiing was marginal, it was great to get out in a new, beautiful place.
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Last edited by ryanl on Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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skykilo
olikyks
from Santa Fe
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Re: Black Mountain, Absorkas- Montana

Post by skykilo »

Thanks for something different. How much wine did you drink? Oh yeah, and you call that altitude? ;)

naomig
naomig

Re: Black Mountain, Absorkas- Montana

Post by naomig »

Nice trip Ryan! Looks like a beautiful area.

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Diamond Dachshund
from The Future
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Re: Black Mountain, Absorkas- Montana

Post by Diamond Dachshund »

Nice words and new part of the country. Looks real thin up there. I bet the experience would be a whole lot different (and probably scarier) with a fat snowpack.

ziff

Re: Black Mountain, Absorkas- Montana

Post by ziff »

love reading your writing, Ryan, thanks.

PeteH

Re: Black Mountain, Absorkas- Montana

Post by PeteH »

Amazing wine list. Amazing scenery.

danhelmstadter
voluntary admission

Re: Black Mountain, Absorkas- Montana

Post by danhelmstadter »

beautiful pictures! sounds like you made a lot of good decisions up there, that continental snowpack is so sketchy! this brings back great memories from a summertime hiking trip i did with a friend up in the same area way back in 03, we didn't get higher than the highest lakes though.

JoshK

Re: Black Mountain, Absorakas- Montana

Post by JoshK »

Very cool writeup and photos, Ryan. That's some great looking terrain up there. I've only ever climbed in Hyalite when out in the Bozeman area, and would love to get back to explore the big mountains more. Nice job getting a summit even if the skiing wasn't great.

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