Montana Skiing: May 2015

Last week Inge and I ventured into the Taylor-Hilgard Unit of the Madison Range. It was my first time in the area, and what a pleasant 18 hour walkthrough it was. A fresh blanket of powder kept the skiing soft, and allowed us to use mountain goat tracks as guidance while looking back on our own. Despite what would seem to be hours among hours of slogging up mountainsides, being our third traverse together Inge and I have come to enjoy these long days. Adventure routes such as this are very engaging as there is always some uncertainty in just how the topo will translate into the terrain, we are constantly making on-the-fly re-routes and terrain decisions.

Our route gained the southern tip of the range via a sagebrush bushwhack from the highway and continued just to the west of the divide as we tagged saddles and peaks along the way. Notable peaks included Dutchman, Echo and Imp. We were both slightly disappointed in not bagging Kotch Peak to make it a true and complete south to north traverse, but having arrived home at 4am with the early egress I think it sits as the right decision in my mind. Next time we will come in more fit and fluid to ski it all! This traverse would go great as a multi-day adventure with all of the fine terrain to explore.