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Or better yet, you meet a local. Our local was enthusiastic as can be. We met him at the coffee shop, and then later at the bar. With a town of only 50 people, it’s easy find someone when you want to. With a one-tooth crooked smile, his passion was contagious. He loved Cooke City and wanted to share it with us. “We gotta figure out how you can get yourselves out to Daisy Pass tomorrow,” he said. “I gotta work tomorrow… But… Ah screw it. You can just take my sled. I’m not using it. It’s that red Yamaha in front of the Soda Butte. Just don’t take it past Daisy Pass. And only take two of you at a time. It’d be appreciated if you filled it up when you’re done.” He even took the time to introduce us to two other visitors who did have sleds, who also offered to tow Doug and Tony while Frank and I rode Big Red. That’s how it went. That’s how the world works in Cooke City. And that’s how we found ourselves in a sled caravan the next morning, on our way to Daisy Pass.

We admired Republic from afar, which we’d skied the day before.

We left Big Red and our sled-tow at the top of Daisy, and skinned around Crown Butte to Crown Butte Pass, admiring lines the whole way.

Chutes off Miller.

Wolverine – looking fun, but a little too far for us without a sled past Daisy.

At the top of Crown Butte pass we pondered our options, and decided to head into the northeast basin below to check out more terrain.

It wasn’t long before this coulior caught our eye. This quickly became our target for the day.

We skinned up the apron.

But as it steepened we switched to booting.

From the top, we drooled over more amazing lines we wished to ski.

Frank dropped in first.

Tony.

Needless to say, the skiing was great. Me.

Doug.

Below the apron, though well tracked from sleds, offered some good skiing as well. Frank.

Me.

A look back up at where we’d just been.

As we rounded out the finishing touches on our run, we ran into a solo sled-skier, a local who was admiring our ski. And the magic that is Cooke City ensued. We were not looking forward to the hour or so skin back to Daisy Pass. So,for the cost of a few bucks, this good local towed our butts up there with his sled. It took two trips, but it saved us effort, energy, and time. We were ready for more skiing.

Tony, gracious as he is, decided to let us have the better end of the deal. We headed up Henderson while he drove Big Red back to it’s home in front of the Soda Butte. So, back up we went, as weather began to close in around us.

As we scoped out lines off the ridge, the wind howled in our faces. It was miserable at times.

But, then, views like these brought us back to our happy place. Republic, from a different view.

Scotch Bonnet seems made for skiing.

But then there’s this – what dreams are made of. Wolverine and Sawtooth towered along the horizon, suddenly high on my list of “must ski”.

We’d hoped to drop in on the northeast side of Henderson. But, cornices and recent wind-loading had us a little worried. So, we opted for the safer, yet fun, ski on the southwest side, back to the road. We enjoyed milking some fine powder turns along the way. Frank, looking rather ghost-like.

Doug.

After following the road for a bit, we diverged from it to ski the burn more directly towards town. Doug.

Frank.

And we skied right into town, straight down main street, and to the door of our hotel room.

There are some places that I’m happy to have visited. And then there are those places that I’m sad to leave. Cooke City was one of the latter. Four days in Cooke City was only enough to get a small taste of what this area has to offer. With easy access, friendly locals, and fantastic terrain, we are bound to be back

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.

Cooke City Posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

The post Cooke City Day 3 – Sled Access appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

Our approach to the face was aided greatly by an older skintrack, weaving its way through some of the burn areas from 1988. We transitioned at the base of the couloir and started booting up. There was a bit of wind, so we kept getting hammered be spindrift avalanches falling off the cliff faces above, giving the ascent a strong alpinism flavor. Tony:

The interesting thing about this couloir is that the end of the couloir is basically overhanging, looking something like this:

This was easily one of the more interesting spots I’ve ever been in my ski career- simply medieval in character and a tremendous location at the top of an amazing line. Hans Saari, Kris Erickson, and Stephen Koch continued to the summit of Abiathar via the “AC traverse” from here, but the vast majority of skiers will skip that climb/downclimb/traverse and ski from the top of the couloir. The start of the AC traverse:

Tony gave me first tracks, which I happily accepted. The first 50′ or so were fairly steep, around 50*, and a bit affected by the spindrift and platform digging. Below that, however, it went super blower.

Tony in the steep and deep:

Continuing into the abyss…

Spot the skier exiting the cooler…

Abiathar’s North Couloir easily ranks on my list of top 10 couloirs, even though it’s pretty short and it doesn’t start on a summit, or even a ridge. It’s simply very aesthetic. We made our way down and passed this near the trailhead:

I told myself it was a wolf kill- they are plentiful in the area, and the scat on the skintrack looked a lot like a dog’s- but with fur in it. Tough to say, though, since I’m no scat expert. At the very least it was nice to be in an area where even the possibility of it being a wolf kill was real- something that sadly cannot be said here in CO. The drive back to Bozeman took us through Yellowstone and plenty of wildlife:

Traffic jam in Mammoth Hot Springs:

Thanks for reading- there’s still more to come from Cooke City…

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.

Cooke City Posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

The post A Yellowstone Steep Skiing Classic- Abiathar North Couloir appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

Frank and I headed out with our friends Tony and Doug. We made the slog through the forested skin track which eventually opened up to this:

Yes, the Fin had been skied – quite a lot lately. But, the tracks didn’t make it any less alluring. These “spines” looked particularly interesting.

From the eastern side of the basin, there are several ways to approach the Fin, which lies on the west side. Not being very familiar with the area, we were happy to skin all the way around on the ridge to check out other potential ski lines, both near and far.

Woody Ridge.

Abiathar.

The couloirs that lead off the summit of Republic tempted us, but we decided to save those for another day.

But, the Fin was simply beautiful.

The boys, at the top of the Fin, ready to ski.

Somehow, I convinced them to let me go first

I let out a long-drawn “woot”. The snow was as good as it gets.

From below, it was difficult to get pictures, except for the lower, more playful terrain. Frank.

Doug.

Tony.

At the bottom, there was no discussion. We were going back up for more. The skin track, already well-established, was both beautiful and intimidating.

But the second run was just as delicious as the first. Tony.

Though the light was turning flat from an approaching front, Frank ventured over to the spines we drooled over. He has dubbed them State Line Spines, as these lie on the border between Wyoming and Montana. He started out in Wyoming…..

And crossed the border into Montana a few turns later….

But, the day was not yet done. We still had to make our way out of the basin, and descend the couloirs we skied the previous day. The skin.

The ski.

Republic delivered and we skied three fantastic runs that day. With it’s easy access and proximity to the town, it beckons skiers who arrive in Cooke City. But, we knew a whole lot more was waiting for us. We just had to head a little bit more northeast. We went to bed with dreams of powder turns in our heads…..

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.

Cooke City Posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

The post Cooke City Day 2 – The Fin appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

Cooke City is mostly known as a snowmobile destination, though it has a small and committed group of sled skiers there as well. Cooke City is located more or less between the Absaroka mountains to the South and the Beartooths to the North. This convergence of ranges leads to snow- and a lot of it- in the Cooke City area. If you’re there for the first time, you can use Beartooth Mountain Guides as you get familiar with the area. Plenty of snowmobilers end up in Cooke City from places like Minnesota and the Dakotas, so if the thought of waking up every morning to the smell of two-stroke sounds appalling to you- well then you’ll miss out on the great skiing the area has to offer.

From Colorado and other points South, it’s a pain to get to. Highway 212 from Red Lodge over Beartooth Pass is closed in winter, as is 296 over Dead Indian Pass from Cody, WY. This means that the only way in is via 89 from Livingston, MT through Yellowstone National Park- a two and a half hour drive to a dead-end in Cooke City, home of roughly 50 year-round residents. Because we were going for only a short time, we decided not to bring our snowmobiles, instead relying on whatever shuttle services, friendly locals, snowmobile rentals, and road trailheads we might find. (Note: If we go again, we might choose to take our snowmobiles to Cody, WY and ride 296, which is apparently a short, easy ride and would cut our drive time by 4 hours)

We rolled in at night and the first thing a skier will be drawn to in Cooke City is “The Fin”, right above town on Mt. Rebublic. Once we realized there were tracks and a skintrack already on the face, we knew we had come to the right place. Tony met up with us and his book showed the route going up the trees right below The Fin, which seemed about right, so that’s the way we went. Tony wasn’t impressed with this book in his home range of the Bridgers, and after wandering around for a bit, we realized that most skiers actually access via the opposite side of the mountain, which is why we weren’t finding the skintrack.

We regrouped and headed off in the more popular direction, though it was obvious that we had burned too much daylight to ski The Fin that day. We had spied a line on the lower flanks that looked like it held promise, and we quickly found ourselves on top, looking down at town:

Not a bad consolation prize, eh? Frank:

Brittany:

It was an interesting line, and we kept switching from one couloir to another to make sure we found the one on the far skier’s right that didn’t cliff out. Tony:

Tony drops into the final choke:

Brittany:

The snow was pretty good, all the way down near the valley. Brittany’s smile says it all:

Cooke City is pretty amazing- just don’t expect your cell phone to work there. I kept thinking to myself “This place is more Alaska than Alaska!” The Bearclaw Bakery is highly recommended, The Miner’s Saloon makes a mean burger (make sure to ask for Ranch! {Wink}), and the Loving Cup makes a good cup of coffee. We stayed at the Cooke City Alpine- the price was right but the walls were thin. More adventures from Cooke City coming up soon…

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.

Cooke City Posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

The post Cooke City, Montana: Overview and Day 1. appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

It was a good one, truly the steep and deep. Didn’t know Yellowstone National Park had good skiing, but apparently it does. Reports coming next week…

The post Today Was a Good Day. appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

Meanwhile, a kind soul at the bar tonight was kind enough to offer up his sled tomorrow so long as we filled it up when we were done with it. We like it here. More later…

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