SkiSickness

I am not nearly as lucky as the PNW crew on here in choices of sweet places to go. Here in Idaho, we have the Sawtooths... and they are 3 hours away and usually an overnighter. Most of our other choices within a 3 hour drive have become threadbare, so I have been trying to explore. Google Earth has fucked me a few times. This time a six mile skin back into snowmachine country paid off with some sweet terrain.



It would be easy to get back here with a snowmachine, you can see the tracks at the bottom of the coolie. I don't have one, though. After talking with a friend that sleds up in this area, he said that nobody skis back there. I know I'll be back.
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The weather forecasted a 40% chance of snow. Yeah, right...


On the way out, we skinned up to a feature that I call "The Maze". It's A LOT closer to the road, so I have been here a few times. It has numerous line options and choices on the fly. This is a shitty picture from another tour:


This area has sweet corn skiing since the ridges run west to east. The corn was overcooked, but I wasn't complaining.


Very soon there will be options. Hell's Canyon will be in prime form for some Limestone climbing (my favorite), before the snake, ticks and poison oak take over!

Looks like some good terrain. What is tick season there? I wonder how similar it is down here; there's one learning curve I'm not anticipating with glee.

Our tick season at 4000 feet and lower is around April and lasts until September. If it is warm AND moist, it could start in March. Also depends if you guys had a drought the previous year and what the water year looks like this year to gauge the severity of the initial hatch. Two good water years in a row is bad news.

I can't stand ticks. My daughter usually picks them up (maybe they don't like the Hornitos & PBR in my bloodstream). I still have to remove them, though. I bought a gadget that actually works last year.

http://www.rei.com/product/407279

I just fill a small cup with alcohol and pop the little bastard off into it and then dump it out and light it on fire.

Looks sweet over there. I've wanted to ski the Sawtooths for a long time. Where are you out of, Idahoalpine? We should plan a trip some time. Maybe soon....

I'm out of Boise. I have a couple of "classics" that I want to do this year.

One is the N. couloir on Mt. McGown (lookers left coolie).


The other is The Sickle on Horstmann.


Both lines will have more snow than is shown! They would be easy overnighters. Not more than 5 miles back in. Probably do each one in a day, if motivated. Both lines should stay in good conditions until almost June. They are both north aspects. Lot's of other lines, as well. Lot's of lines together around Thompson and Williams peaks.

I'm a worker drone M-F, but usually drop things on short notice when things need to be skied! Drop me a text when your schedule allows and I'll keep an eye on the weather.

Ralph
(208)eight six six - seven one six three

NIce stuff man. It's cool to see you taking the initiative to get deep. I find it strange that there are bad ticks in Idaho; living in UT for a while, I never really had a problem with them. Maybe they forgot their full-faces.

Based on his comment about wet years, I'm no longer worried about seeing any ticks this year in Northern NM. Ahhh, the good life.

Very cool. Don't downplay your home, Idaho is rad!