Delighting in Failure
Amidst the oddest winter I've experienced since moving out West, I've found myself more motivated for late season skiing than I have ever been before. Despite heinous approaches and deproaches with our lack of low elevation snow and an abundance of downed trees, I continue to feel drawn to get out on the skis.
Earlier this month, I made plans to explore a couple of peaks that I've been wanting to ski since my first winter in Bozeman. Each day entailed its own unique character but held commonality in the intended goal remaining just out of reach. At least for now.
Fan Mountain has been staring at me just about every time I find myself in Beehive Basin and the mountain has a way of always looking phenomenal with a sort of Alaska vibe to it. A couple of weekends ago, I was riding lifts at Big Sky Resort and the situation was no different.
With recent eyes on the terrain and a favorable forecast, I set out with my friend Colton Ellingson to make an attempt to ski the NE face of the peak just 5 days after this photo was taken. In those 5 days, what had looked like fairly easy travel between the top of Lone Peak and the east ridge of Fan had transformed into a melted-out slog of a journey. It turns out the vast majority of the snow I had seen just a few days prior was all from the recent storm and with a couple of days featuring warm winds, what was snow became mostly dirt. On top of the melting, the tram was delayed in opening to skiers due to firm conditions on the south side of the mountain. Despite these obvious challenges to the day that were easily discerned from the confines of Big Sky Resort, we decided to give it a whirl anyways and set off from the top of Lone Peak just a bit before 11 AM anticipating a likely return in the dark.
Skiing down the west ridge of Lone Peak was relatively easy and we were making good time, but after descending a couple thousand vertical feet the travel took a turn and open skiing transitioned to thick SW Montana lodgepole and dwindling snow coverage. By the time we made it to Jack Creek at 7500' the snowpack consisted primarily of dirt and downed trees
Traveling up towards the east ridge of Fan Mountain primarily featured hiking in ski boots until about 8500' where more consistent snow could be found on the easterly tilts. Unfortunately, at this point, we were still well below the alpine and the trees on Fan are dense. After a few hours we found ourselves finally breaking into the first open slopes of the NE face at about 2:30 PM. We were a few hundred vertical feet below the ridgeline and had largely written off the summit given the time of day and being over 1000 vertical feet below the top. Moving across this first open slope axed any potential for quality turns in cold snow as the surface harbored a breakable crust from the warm weather in the days prior. At 3 PM we decided to call it and work our way back through what would prove to be quite the journey. On the positive side, we'd have about 1500' of open skiing and even located some passable sun softened turns.
The journey back to the confines of Big Sky Resort proved to be the most arduous part of the day. The slide paths that run down the northerly aspects of Fan Mountain immediately turn to thick forest and this year, these forests held just enough snow to be really annoying and not really skiable at all. Linking a network of roads and some boot packing up some dirt slopes, we eventually made it back into the resort boundary with the clock nearing 7 PM. From the looks of the topo map, one more skin uphill would bring us to a point we could contour our way around the north side of the mountain and back towards our car. This twilight hour of our attempt on Fan proved to be the highlight of the day for me. Under a setting sun, we reached our highpoint and the ambiance was pretty special. No need for the summit today, the sunset and a full day out made up for it, and I'll just have to come back another day.
A few days later my friend Cole Pierce and I set out to try and ski the East Face of Hilgard Peak on a day I might typically sit out. The weather was very up in the air, and it seemed possible that we might get a window for a push, but there was a lot of uncertainty. Despite this, we felt drawn to give it a try and until about noon, the mountains just kept saying yes. And then they really said no.
We left Bozeman at about 4:30 AM and began the roughly two-hour drive down to the West Beaver Creek Trailhead aiming to start before 7 AM. Our first goal was accomplished and a summer trail to bring us into the upper basin made for much more efficient travel than the epic I had experienced on Fan just a couple of days prior. The West Beaver Creek trail had gotten battered by flooding a couple of springs prior, which made for some spicy maneuvers around washouts.
We were pleasantly surprised to reach snow line at about 7300' with minimal schwackage and so far, the day was moving along quite efficiently. Within a few hours of leaving the trailhead, we broke into the alpine. The weather had been holding all morning, but slowly what was a partly sunny sky had quietly become mostly clouds and the PM storm that was forecasted to roll in seemed to be making an early appearance. We pressed on, hoping for the best and as soon as we began to near the pass that would bring us to the base of Hilgard Peak, the weather rapidly deteriorated. The winds easily doubled in speed and graupel began to accumulate on the slopes. Vocalizing a plan to at least make it to the saddle, we would reassess there.
Cresting the saddle, it was clear that the East face would not be in the cards today. I was lucky enough to catch a quick glimpse of the line, and the mountain was stunning, but was certainly playing coy. Just like Fan, it would have to wait for another day. Clouds quickly socked in the higher summits, and we opted to make our way back towards the trailhead.
The ski back down towards the approach trail held a few decent turns, and travel was pleasantly easy. We found ourselves back at snowline in less than an hour with only a little bit of light rain to deal with right at the end of our trek. We found our approach shoes, mostly dry hung up in a tree and transitioned again. About an hour later, we were back at the car.
Although, the main goal remained out of reach on these two outings, I left with a feeling of contentment and satisfaction. This winter has required a mindset of being willing to work with what's there and a sense of optimism has been mandatory (at least for me). After a lack of quality storms most of the Winter in the Western United States, April has been delivering with consistent snowfall, and it feels like opportunities are coming together. Maybe something will connect sooner or later. TBD.
