|
info@cowboyhvn.com |
Past Month's Moccasin Telegraph
February2004
| 2/29/04 | It’s February 29; a rare day indeed, or at least one that only comes
around every four years, and one should really make the most of it, eh? All fine and good,
but for me the 27th is going to be hard to top… We’ve had scattered reports of Cabin Fever, and had a case of it going right here. The days are getting noticeably longer, it’s been getting above freezing with some regularity, and there’s even tantalizing glimpses of green appearing from whence they went dormant under the white blanket. Interestingly, it appears the ground is not frozen, at least in places where the snowpack is undisturbed, here in our neighborhood. The snow came early and deep, and it’d be nice if the melt soaked in. Either way, it’s going to be messy for a time, and we’ve had hints of that lately. Unfortunately, we’d been finding time for outdoor recreation in wholly inadequate supply lately. Not to complain, as this is a fun job…. Plus there was the outdoor show at the fieldhouse  here last weekend, which was hugely enjoyable and added vastly to our store
of Gossip, News, and Hot Tips! Still, my required presence in the booth there
precluded getting out, and a mutiny was imminent. Compounding the situation was a stretch of archetypical late February/early March weather; generally gray and a tad windy, with schizophrenic samples of everything from rain to ice pellets and near-spring to deep winter, usually in the span of a few hours. It'd been conspicuously short on nice, sunny, calm blue skies, though. I’d cracked under the deprivation late Wednesday, and against better judgment made a quick cross-country ski run up Middle Cottonwood, here off the west slope of the Bridgers. We’d gotten nearly half an inch of rain about a week ago, and with constant freezing and thawing since; that snow would test high on the Rockwell Scale! In fact, in further evidence of their remarkable candor, the Avalanche Center guys reported the  skiing in the Bridgers to be fully awful. So I was thinking I might have to
swear off skiing, at least in the immediate neighborhood. Friday afternoon rolled around,
and with the workload resolving itself into a semblance of order, a quick outing and
hopefully a bit of exercise was in order. A brief survey of the usual compatriots revealed
lack of interest or conflicting commitments, time precluded driving very far, and so I
sort of unenthusiastically grabbed skis again and set forth by myself for North
Cottonwood; yet another of this country’s myriad Cottonwood creeks. It’s still
basically in the neighborhood here, just a ways further north in the Bridgers.Lo and behold, it turned stunningly gorgeous out; upper 30’s, blue sky, no wind, and about an inch and a half of fresh snow on top of the bulletproof base! It made for absolutely great cross-  country ski conditions, since you could kick and glide along like some
Scandinavian Sovereign of Slip, and all in all it was so outrageously fun that I laughed
out loud with some regularity…. Doing that by yourself is right up there with singing
while driving as a way to convince people you’ve lost it, but to heck with ‘em!
Both can be evidence of serious fun going on, too…. In fact, I was questioning why I
don’t make a quick late-afternoon ski/hike/horseback ride up there on a regular
basis, a deficit I’ve vowed to resolve.So here's one of your hot tips. If you’re looking for a nice, publicly accessible spot to get out & about (but particularly cross-country ski), North Cottonwood Canyon is a good one. There’s an easement for access across private property for the first mile, courtesy the Half Circle Ranch, and a nice parking area has been developed. To get there, go north out of Bozeman on 19th, and after crossing I-90 it will T into Springhill Road. Turn north, and you are on a gorgeous drive through a portion of the Valley of the Flowers that still retains a decidedly rural, agrarian flavor, and with the Bridger Mountains looming to your right; it’s a view I’ve loved since I first laid eyes on it, some 40 years ago. Springhill turns into Rocky Mountain Road (and gravel) shortly after a couple of 90-degree corners. For much of the drive you’ve been able to see a road running straight north up over a broad ridge, and now you’re on it. The trailhead is near the top of that big hill you’re climbing, and from there you will have an exceptional view across the Gallatin Valley, not to mention a half-dozen or so mountain ranges beyond. I’ve gazed over a reasonable number of landscapes, and this one is right up there with any, anywhere.  But best, at least on days like last Friday, it’s a wonderful place to cross-country ski! It seems the majority of my ski ventures entail ascending some sort of canyon, and all too often the descent can resemble an Olympic luge track! Rocketing along on cross-country skis is a most disconcerting sensation (for me, at least, and I’m not exactly a novice to it). It has that certain knowledge that if you don’t find someplace to slow down, like right quick, that a crash is imminent! Oh, it can be like some sort of wonderful dance, with graceful telemark turns along the inevitable creek, but for me the more common sensation is that of being right on the ragged edge of control, with it slipping away…. (and I really must upgrade my cross-country boots to something more closely resembling modern tele boots versus 60’s-vintage hippie hikers). Fortunately, at North Cottonwood, the ascent and descent is largely through big, open meadows. You can pick your line (and consequently, speed level) as you wish, and I’m telling you, it’s a wonderful spot for the skinny skis. Of course, the trail easement goes through private property, and you can’t traipse about willy-nilly, but on the descent I feel quite certain that you’ll find the available room for turns entirely satisfactory. And the view….!! Even after you get up in the canyon, and onto Forest Service land, you’ll discover it’s not as narrow as a lot of canyons, with plenty of room to scrub off some speed on the descent. I skied up the canyon a fair ways Friday, but failed to throw in the GPS (and haven’t consulted the topo map) so am unsure just how far, but I’m thinking it was at least four miles, round trip. Enough to ensure an adequately long run back out; timed to arrive at the canyon mouth near sunset. Those with more time and the recommended fortitude (plus some camping gear) can continue into some of the more rugged and remote country in the Bridgers; places like Hardscrabble Peak, Ainger and Frazier Lakes, and other locales predominantly favored by mountain goats. With the glacial crust below, and the dusting of lubricant above, I still had a pretty rapid trip out of there Friday. In the canyon portion a few times I had that sense of an impending dire need  for a spot to slow down, like those runaway truck ramps you see on mountain
passes. A couple of times I hit a wide enough spot to execute one of my trademark
trembling telemark turns to trim off some speed, and a couple of other times I ignomiously
crashed and burned. On one corner I could see that holding course would preclude returning
to the realm of control, and in one of those split-second decisions thought I could veer
up the side and get stopped. It turned out to be like heading up the side of a snowboard
halfpipe, but instead of catching the big air at the top of the wall, I stalled and fell
backward like a bug off a window, landing flat on my back(pack). After the momentary
system check and resulting prognosis of no physical harm done, even that resulted in a
chuckle, although also concern for the survival of camera, binoculars, and spotting scope.
I can state with absolute certainty that if I’d had a multi-thousand dollar digital
SLR, that it’d have been smashed to bits like a cheap toy, but the antiquated film
box (not to mention binos and Leupold spotter) came through with nary a glitch.Arrival at the canyon mouth revealed a visual extravaganza, with the sun going down over the Tobacco Roots. Earlier the temperature (and calorie burn of ascent) had necessitated stripping down to shirtsleeves, but with sunset February once more asserted its grip. For a few hours, though, Montana had given up one of its incredible gifts. Various mental logjams had been swept away, and satisfaction was replete. See you on the trail….
|
|
| 2/11/04 | Flyfishing in February is clearly fool’s folly, but my son Cody
reported it to be a fun way to spend a couple of frosty hours today. It’s absolutely the dead of winter here, with what could be considered record snowfall, except that actually it’s only close to long-term averages. A lot more than we’ve been having, though…. Definitely skiing (or even just staying indoors!) weather. Earlier today, the forecast for tonight was 14 below, although they’ve raised that a few degrees since. A bracing +5F right now, at 10:29 PM. But this afternoon for a while it was just gorgeous out! Blue sky and sunshine, and all
that white snow….! And remarkably, even tolerably warm. Not above freezing, and
officially lower 20’s, but in places… So that was a rare moment, and the more reliable recreation this time of year is
certainly skiing. I made it out backcountry skiing last weekend, just more or less in our
back yard here in the Bridgers. Still skinned it up there a fair ways. Good thing those
climbing skins were fully depreciated, because blast the But a fairly rapid trip out of there (with as I recall four substantial headers)
reinforced my opinion that Alpine Set to keep an keen eye on the avalanche conditions, for one thing. Last Saturday in the Bridgers, I hit one of the rare Low ratings. I wasn’t in the prime avalanche terrain anyway, but with more touchy conditions I still wouldn’t have gone as high as I did. There’s a big bowl above, and…. Well, I’m not saying it couldn’t avalanche, but I really doubt it has in a long, long time. Maybe never. Now half a mile away, you get avalanches galore, but this bowl doesn’t have quite as much pitch, and that SW exposure tends to stabilize a little quicker. Anyway, speaking of Alpine Touring gear, I am going to turn this column into blatant advertising, but I guess that is my prerogative, eh? I have a pair of Secura-Fix AT binding adaptors for sale. They’re sort of like the
Alpine Trekker adaptor, but these are Austrian made, with And as long as I’m selling stuff; we have some really exceptional big game hunting opportunities right now, including several options for early-season elk and deer hunts in the Bob Marshall and Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness areas. Those seasons open September 15, and as a lot of you know, offer one of the few opportunities to hunt bugling bull elk with a rifle. Not to say that it’s as easy as it sounds, because that is big country, elk densities aren’t that high in a lot of places, wolves are having an impact, and generally we urge caution on those hunts. But, we’re pretty excited about these…. These outfitters are producing, when some aren’t. It’s a big-time adventure, and Hey! Even if you don't want to hunt elk; how about a packtrip through the Sun River Game Preserve during the height of the rut?! We’ve got one. You talk about a wildlife exhibition almost beyond parallel…. I just have to tell a quick story about a friend of mine, Paul Seuk (and hey, Paul, long time no hear….), who backpacked through that part of the Bob coming & going on an epic mountain goat hunt. That’s a whole story in itself, but he was passing through the same country that this packtrip I’m trying to sell you goes through. Camped one night below a chute, or one of those narrow clearings going up the mountainside. Sleep proved scant, since there was an absolute frenzy of bugling and elk lunacy going on up above him. In the morning, the elk were mostly bedded, and arranged by hierarchy up the mountain. Lower down there were a cluster of raghorns, moving up into the bigger 5’s and those smaller 6’s, up to some pretty darn nice bulls, to a handful of real nice bulls, and on top, the undisputed king of the canyon. Now would that be a sight or what?! Elk densities in parts of the Bob are not that high, but as you might expect the
security of the Game Preserve has not gone unnoticed by your higher intelligence strata of
elk in the vicinity, and you will almost certainly be into lots and lots of elk on that
trip. Not to mention the fishing is great, too, We also have some very good bowhunting opportunities, starting at $2800. Considering they’re toward the lower end of the price spectrum, there’s some very good trophy potential and success rates with bulls up into the 350 class. There’s just a handful of slots open, so pick up the phone…. |
Like along the East Gallatin River,
where thanks to an early release day from school we have a deemed reliable report of a
midge hatch this afternoon, and a few smallish trout caught and released, and one kinda
half decent one besting the angler. Unfortunately, I’ve thus far failed to impress
upon him the necessity of photo documentation of these little ventures, and thus; that one
will only live in his memory. A fine February afternoon, for sure!
luck, but I lost one. It had to
have been just before I turned around, as had been making good headway on some not
scary-steep but still steep enough terrain; not bad for a guy on what used to pass for
telemark gear fifteen years ago! Anyway, when I stopped I noticed the missing climbing
skin, & dug around in the snow near the turnaround point. No skin, so I figured it was
back down the way (it wasn’t). That’ll be a good excuse to go for an early
spring hike in the Bridgers. And if a small critter makes better use of it in the
meanwhile; those skins took me up and sometimes down an awful lot of winter landscape over
most of twenty years, and I sure got my money’s worth out of them. 
Touring gear sure makes a lot of sense. With sort of a hybrid of regular
alpine ski gear, the uphill touring capability of Nordic, less the thigh burn and superior
balance requirements of telemarking; AT or Randonee gear strikes me as the ideal way to
get around on the winter landscape. Ski technology has really improved in recent years;
with shorter (and lighter) skis, with enough sidecut to carve any line you like, but
stable at speed, and the spine to blow through the crud as necessary. You take a set of
skis like that, some decent AT boots, bindings, and some climbing skins (not to mention a
pack with sundry essentials) and you, intrepid snow traveler, are set. 
that Teutonic sort of bombproof
thing going, and thought by many to be of superior construction to the Alpine Trekkers.
Those go for around $180 new, and the Secura-Fix for more, depending on exchange rates
& such. These are brand new, in the box, complete with carrying bag, and can be yours
for the rock-bottom price of one hundred dollars, or barter of services deemed desirable.
These snap into your regular alpine bindings. You click into the free-heel upper portion,
and away you go… Spring heel lift assist, plus heel risers 
to
help save your calf muscles undue hardship on those long, steep approaches. These are
Mediums, to fit boot soles 26-30.5 cm. They run a tad small, which is why you, intrepid
gully jumper, are able to score such an incredible bargain on ‘em. They should take
up to size 9 men’s. My Salomon alpine boots fit ‘em, but alas, the Scarpa
Denalis, with the lug soles, won’t quite fit…..
and you’ll camp
under the famed Chinese Wall. Truly a world-class venture…. Dates are 9/1-7/04.
Limited to eight people, so if that sounds like fun drop us a