Flathead Pass

The Saturday forecast called for a high of –3 and clear skies. I was working on Powderfin related duties when I got a call from some of my long time backcountry skiing buddies. They wanted to head out to the northern Bridger Range and make some turns and… “Oh yeah, it’s too cold to get the car started, so we need you to drive.” My Jeep did manage to start in the –18 morning temperature and I packed my lunch a readied myself for an excessively cold adventure. While packing, I remembered a day last season with the same group of friends on a similarly cold day in the Bridgers that ended with a ski tip through my friend’s upper lip (see picture). He’s a Telemark skier, so I guess that’s part of the game.

The plan was to head as far north as we could make it while remaining in the sunshine. With Topo-maps onboard, we explored the drifted forest service roads until we found Flathead Pass. By the time parked things had warmed up to an almost tolerable –4 deg. It was still cold, but the sun made it feel warmer, and we were soon skinning up to the ridgeline. We made it up to the top in about 3 hours. The ridge top winds coupled with the sub-zero temps gave us incentive to make it back to the car as soon as possible. Of course cold and wind doesn’t always stop the crazy from being crazy (see picture again).

Our snow tests gave us cause for concern with clean break under medium pressure on a faceted snow layer about 15 inches below the surface. The unstable snow-pack dictated that we ski a less-steep section than we had initially hoped for, but just about any skiing is good skiing with friends.