The arctic air mass moved in and it was below zero in the mountains today, making for a day with short stops, cold feet, and puffy jackets. John was nice enough to invite Kevin, Dan, Nick, and I to use his road to access Downing Mountain today. Downing Mountain Lodge located at ~5400' lends access to some amazing terrain from open bowls, to pillow lines, 3000' avalanche chutes, and perfectly spaced glades. And with last years Sawtooth fire a whole new batch of ski runs opened up. Two plus feet of snow fell on top of the 20" base last week, making for great skiing on all aspects. We made a great day touring all of the most popular runs at downing today. . .
Hitting the trail at 930 am we first made the 3000' skin along the north ridge to the bottom of "The Crown" noticing fresh debris fields from natural avalanches during the storm. We cautiously skied our first 800' run on the skiers left of the crown and eventually made a second lap right down the face. Threading through the large rocks the crown skied great, and I only tapped one rock. Its going to be a good season if the rocky crown is already filled in!
Hitting the trail at 930 am we first made the 3000' skin along the north ridge to the bottom of "The Crown" noticing fresh debris fields from natural avalanches during the storm. We cautiously skied our first 800' run on the skiers left of the crown and eventually made a second lap right down the face. Threading through the large rocks the crown skied great, and I only tapped one rock. Its going to be a good season if the rocky crown is already filled in!
After refueling on food and warm tea around noon, we made our way back east from the crown bumping up to "The Wave". The wave is north facing and usually stacked with powder. The steep chutes, cliff drops and pillows of the wave could probably use another storm but we were happy to ski some steep and deep glades off the west shoulder. We skied north and continued carving deep powder turns through the mellow Ninas glades about 1500' where the trees thickened. Down in the shade of this draw it must have been 5 below, Daniel's nose was turning white and I still felt cold breaking trail in the shin deep snow with two down puffies on. I cant get enough of this cold and hope it will stick around all month at least!
Finally we broke trail all to the way to the top of the main east facing avalanche chute seen from town. We topped out around 345pm and were all eager to ski this stunning 3000' run under the setting sun. None of us had wax set for the 5 below temperatures so the frozen snow felt sticky, adding to the leg burn of the long run. What a great way to end a day at Downing Mountain. . . skiing a 3000' run right to the lodge where a crackling fire, cold beer, and hot tub await.
Finally we broke trail all to the way to the top of the main east facing avalanche chute seen from town. We topped out around 345pm and were all eager to ski this stunning 3000' run under the setting sun. None of us had wax set for the 5 below temperatures so the frozen snow felt sticky, adding to the leg burn of the long run. What a great way to end a day at Downing Mountain. . . skiing a 3000' run right to the lodge where a crackling fire, cold beer, and hot tub await.
Its hard to find a spot on Downing Mountain where you don't just want to stop, soak in the view, and take pictures but here are a few from the day mostly taken by John. The mountain sits slightly farther east than others in the Bitterroots, making for unique views to the north and south.
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| The Crown bowl from near the wave |
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| Coming up from Ninas glades |
As usual a great day at downing mountain... here is a link to a trail map with the runs at downing http://downingmountainlodge.com/images/Downing_Mountainski%20map.jpg
On a side note. . .
Snowflakes are awesome!!
snowflake pictures from here
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