shralp and snarf

Summer's here! Go to DQ, but get the frozen yogurt. Show off your new wardrobe on main street and be sure to support those bussinesses! Maybe you can try one of the new upscale bars or get a puppy! You don't need to train it because bozeman is dog friendly! Or, plainly visible just South of town, these two ski runs offer great no-falling-allowed skiing into July. If you arive at the summit before the snow softens why not drive some rocks with your ice axe? Feel free to feed the wild life, they love it!. The mountain behind the chipmunk was named after a famous alpinist.

The snow never really softened. After losing an edge Geoff somehow made a half butt slide throught the narrows look gracefull. We made it back to town by five for mohitos and tapas.

June in the Brooks Range

In June at 45 degrees North latitude civil twilight starts before 5:00 AM. We woke up at 2:00 AM for this one. Ty picked me up at 3 and it was raining. As we drove south through the valley a ghostly light illuminated low clouds on the western flanks of the hills.l Ariving at our destination  behind schedule we were miffed by the lack of plowed roads and by our measly wild life count: 3 elk, 1 black bear and cub. Locating the pulloff under 6 inches of snow cost us more time and we left the car knowing that we were racing the sun for what could be the last powder 'till next year. We bushwacked up to the East Ridge where we harvested the last of the powder. By the time we skinned across the East flank and traversed the saddle to the South the snow in the burnt forest had been thickened by sun and rising temps. We continued to the East Col of Doane knowing that wet slides were inevitable. Our accent was stopped by a steep craggy section on the E. ridge that could only be bypassed non-technically via the 45 degree S. face wich was a sure wet slide death trap given the new snow and baking sun. Fortunately, we were able to ski an asthetic steep line which faced North and had ample safe spots to dodge the sliding snow. My first few turns were in the 50 degree range with thick sticky snow that behaved as expected. After admiring our tracks we headed North up the South ridge of Topnotch. From the summit it was clear that we could not access the North face, our initial objective, so we skied West, then North back to our auto.

Torre del Diablo!

JoAnn was all smiles after climbing "Soler".