The TWBR crew left Jackson, WY in the early afternoon on February 25th and started the 4.5 hour drive up to Bozeman, MT where we would meet up with some of Steve S’s friends from high school. We were hoping to get some good pictures of the Tetons from the western side of the range, but again the weather just did not seem to want to cooperate. Caki had already done her duty in the back seat and so it was my turn to hit the back, while Caki drove and Steve hit shotgun.
The most direct route to Montana is through Yellowstone National Park, however, in the winter, the roads through the park are closed, so we were forced to first drive west into Idaho before heading north into Montana, adding another 1.5 hours onto the drive. I found northeast Idaho to be actually quite beautiful. As we drove through the rolling hills and farmland things were pretty quiet. We seemed to be the only vehicle on the lonely highway and the scenery was even more calming as the ground had recently been covered with a fresh blanket of new snow.
As we headed farther north towards West Yellowstone, the snow got deeper until finally, it was piled at least 10-15 feet high on the sides of the road in the town of West Yellowstone. The next stretch of highway actually takes you into the top northwest corner of the park and it is actually quite a good spot to see migrating animals. The signs along the highway warn you of the presence of these animals but you are still pretty shocked when you happen upon two giant Bison walking casually down the middle of the highway. We stopped, and the two animals walked right past the car, close enough for one to touch them, although our common sense advised against it. It was the closest I had ever come to one of these magnificent animals, aside from watching Ralphie run around the stadium at CU football games, and it was truly amazing to see how large they were.
We arrived in Bozeman later that night and met up with our friend Allen and his fiance Jen and hit a night on the town. Bozeman was actually quite fun and we talked with a lot of interesting people about our trip and what we were in the process of doing. Bozeman is the home of Montana State University, so there were a lot of young people intrigued by the concept of two guys getting ready to drive around the world.
We slept in Sunday morning with the intent driving down to Big Sky, about an hour south of Bozeman, to go skiing at a relatively new ski area called Moonlight Basin. We stopped at a breakfast shop to order what many were calling some of the best breakfast sandwiches you can buy only to end up sitting a waiting for our order for more than 45 minutes. By that time, some of us had lost our mojo to go skiing, so we thought about alternative ways to spend our day.
South-central Montana and the surrounding area is a very geologically active one. As a result, there are a lot of hot springs and thermal pools that dot the landscape. We decided that it would be a great idea to go and relax at one of these springs. Norris hot springs was about a 40 minute drive from Bozeman, so we piled in Allen’s car and headed out. (We still have another 2,000 plus miles to drive on this trip and another 70,000 around the world, so when someone else ofers to drive, we will take them up on it!) It was $5 a head to enter the hot springs and we found that we only had $23 in cash among the five of us. The operator of the hot springs quickly informed us that although they do not take credit cards, they would gladly accept a check. Guess they need every penny they can get out in Norris.
After soaking in the mineral pools for a couple of hours everyone was getting hungry. Allen suggested a little bar off the beaten path that had some of the best steaks in Montana. The Bear Claw Bar & Grill in McAllister, MT was certainly off the beaten path, but had some really great food. After getting our fill on some prime USDA meat and some king crab legs, we drove back to Bozeman.
On Monday morning, Steve, Caki and myself got up for a second attempt at Moonlight Basin. This time we avoided the rush at the sandwich shop and did get our hands on some pretty damn good breakfast sandwiches for the drive down to Big Sky. Moonlight Basin has only been in operation for a few years and is located on the opposite side of Lone Peak from the Big Sky ski area. The weather was looking promising, so we took all of our gear with us in hopes of getting some good shots of the valley and surrounding landscape.
For those of you skiers who have not heard of Big Sky or Moonlight Basin, you need to make it a destination. There is some serious terrain here, some of which even makes Jackson Hole seem like a tame mountain. Moonlight Basin recently installed a lift to the base of a ridgeline that serves some pretty intense chutes aka the “Headwaters“, which after a very technical hike are still all in-bounds. Once at the top of the lift, you are perched precariously on the ridgeline with steep drop-offs on both sides.
Caki waited at the bottom of the chutes while Steve and I took the Headwaters lift up to begin our hike of the ridgeline. Almost immediately after we got on the lift, the wind intensified to seemingly gale force strength. We buried our faces in our jackets and braved the slow, steep ride up the lift. At the top of the lift, and the beginning of the hike, it was almost a complete white-out and with every gust of wind, you felt like you were going to be carried over the edge. By this point, I was absolutely frozen. I surrendered to the conditions and told Steve there was no way I could hike the ridge being this cold. We took a few shots at the beginning of the “extremely technical and dangerous” hike and then parted ways. I took the camera gear and backpack and proceeded down the second chute off of the headwaters lift. It was steeper than anything I had ever skied in-bounds in Colorado, steep enough that you could place your uphill arm on the side of the mountain as you initiated your next turn. The snow was great and it made for a really fun run.
Upon meeting up with Caki at the bottom, I was a little concerned about Steve. It was getting pretty windy up there and he was taking longer than I had thought to make it over to the 4th chute where I was going to film his descent. After about 15 minutes, he appeared and made his way down. He described the hike as being very sketchy and there were a few points where he was pretty scared. The hike was on “bootpack” that was about a foot wide in spots and bracketed by steep drop-offs on both sides. Moonlight Basin was indeed a serious mountain.
We decided that the wind was not going to let up, so another attempt at hiking the ridge was suicide, but found some great powder and tree skiing at the resort as well. It was a great day, as there were absolutely no other skiers on the hill. No lines, no waiting, and the only thing that keep us from making more turns was the stamina in our legs, and although the weather was a little dodgy, we still managed to get some moderately decent photos and video.
We stayed with Allen and Jen one more night and were treated to the best home-made tacos I have personally had in a long time. The next morning, we were up, took care of some business at the local coffee shop, and headed out on the road again. This time, the road took us up north through Whitefish, MT and across the Canadian border into British Columbia…
Steve B.
