Folks for those of you adventurers I'm going to give you a photo chronicle of one of the hippest, coolest places to car accessibly ski anywhere on the planet. That place is the Beartooth Pass in Red Lodge, Montana. It opens on Memorial Day but check with MDOT at (800) 226-7623 because two feet of powder have been known to grace this area even in June.
Ten miles south of Red Lodge is where the Beartooth Pass begins its climb to the sky. It offers 4,000 vertical feet of big mountain lines when it first opens (check out the photos). If you can't ski all of the steepest stuff that the big names resorts offer then this probably isn't the best place for you. There is a little run off the shoulder of Gardiner headwall that is fairly intermediate but that is about it.
The night before I big adventure friends from Bozeman stayed with us at The Spires at Red Lodge. By the time they left following our day of skiing I think they all wished that they owned some Red Lodge, Montana real estate.
We all stayed at this really cool new development called The Spires at Red Lodge the night before and went for a big walk on their trail system marveling at the views of the high peaks to the west. We were amazed by just how affordable Red Lodge Montana real estate is as they were selling complete cottages for under $200,000. We didn't think there was a ski town anywhere where anything left that was this affordable.
Our pick-up taken care of we headed off in to the heavens and the jaw dropping scenery that is the Pass. Just the car ride alone makes this whole trip worth it and the skiing is a bonus.
Between the east and west summits we check out our first conquest of the day which is called the Gardiner headwall. It is looking like good corn snow and we are psyched with anticipation of a great run. A few little slides on either flank tell us that there is a need to pay attention - ACHTUNG BABY!
It is so good that we are all hooting it up half way down like a bunch of owls. After a brief hike we are back at the road and decide to have lunch on the exposed rocks. This had nothing to do with the scantily clad young women who were soaking it up there, honest. It's about a mile drive over to the ridge and then we are looking down at all kinds of sweet big mountain drops that would make the Warren Miller boys salivate.
We found a beautiful 40 degree Couloir that allowed us to ski virtually to our car and, thanks to the main Rock Creek still being frozen we skied right over it (not wet boots). Get somebody to skier cut everything you ski at the top just to be safe as we kicked off a wet one that ran for 2,500 feet which got our attention. Check out this line for a car accessible ski it is pretty radical.
The headwall was about the size of most ski areas and dropped straight down to the third to last switchback on the Pass. Cold PBR's were waiting for us and on the trip back we just sat there in stunned silence because we hadn't seen a sole all day long accept for our first descent.
Ten miles south of Red Lodge is where the Beartooth Pass begins its climb to the sky. It offers 4,000 vertical feet of big mountain lines when it first opens (check out the photos). If you can't ski all of the steepest stuff that the big names resorts offer then this probably isn't the best place for you. There is a little run off the shoulder of Gardiner headwall that is fairly intermediate but that is about it.
The night before I big adventure friends from Bozeman stayed with us at The Spires at Red Lodge. By the time they left following our day of skiing I think they all wished that they owned some Red Lodge, Montana real estate.
We all stayed at this really cool new development called The Spires at Red Lodge the night before and went for a big walk on their trail system marveling at the views of the high peaks to the west. We were amazed by just how affordable Red Lodge Montana real estate is as they were selling complete cottages for under $200,000. We didn't think there was a ski town anywhere where anything left that was this affordable.
Our pick-up taken care of we headed off in to the heavens and the jaw dropping scenery that is the Pass. Just the car ride alone makes this whole trip worth it and the skiing is a bonus.
Between the east and west summits we check out our first conquest of the day which is called the Gardiner headwall. It is looking like good corn snow and we are psyched with anticipation of a great run. A few little slides on either flank tell us that there is a need to pay attention - ACHTUNG BABY!
It is so good that we are all hooting it up half way down like a bunch of owls. After a brief hike we are back at the road and decide to have lunch on the exposed rocks. This had nothing to do with the scantily clad young women who were soaking it up there, honest. It's about a mile drive over to the ridge and then we are looking down at all kinds of sweet big mountain drops that would make the Warren Miller boys salivate.
We found a beautiful 40 degree Couloir that allowed us to ski virtually to our car and, thanks to the main Rock Creek still being frozen we skied right over it (not wet boots). Get somebody to skier cut everything you ski at the top just to be safe as we kicked off a wet one that ran for 2,500 feet which got our attention. Check out this line for a car accessible ski it is pretty radical.
The headwall was about the size of most ski areas and dropped straight down to the third to last switchback on the Pass. Cold PBR's were waiting for us and on the trip back we just sat there in stunned silence because we hadn't seen a sole all day long accept for our first descent.
About the Author:
If you go ski the Rock Creek Headwall Pass stop by Red Lodge, Montana and check out the Spires at Red Lodge and have dinner at the Bridge Creek. You can't beat the small town hospitality in Red Lodge, so make a weekend out of it.
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