The easy access from the newly opened road and the holiday off work meant that on July 3rd over 20 people attempted the Great Northern Couloir, most made it down safely.

This guy scared the shit out of all of us but, made a nice recovery.

This guy didn't make a recovery...

loco lines!

Look North from I-90 somewhere in Montucky and, if you're like me, you'll resolve to ski this line. Returning from Torre del Diablo a few days after me, Ty came to the same conclusion independently. Being what we are, we put together an itinerary that far exceeded simply skiing said couloir. The recommended approach was out due to a dangerous creek crossing so plan B went into effect. Nearly 4000 feet of steep slippery bushwacking followed by scrambling over loose talus and scree brought us to our summit. Words like "nightmarish" and "punishing" echoed in our heads. Because it's almost July, we had to scramble down to snow, no easy task given the the quantity and arrow-head like quality of loose rock. From I-90 the bottom of the couloir is not visible so dropping in was a bit of a gamble. 1500 feet later Ty disappeared as the bottom of the couloir rolled over to 45 degrees. I joined him to find a delightful rock lined snow chute for 500 more feet. Our initial objective complete, we skinned up the canyon to a grassy oasis bivy spot with running water. Good recreational skiing was had on our personal snowfield next to our oasis. Just before bedtime we were treated to an awesome electric/hail storm that pinned us in our bivy sacs for 30 minutes. The following morning we attempted the range's namesake couloir. Although much shorter than the line we had skied the day prior, it is steeper and cooler looking. Our "city-start" ensured our failure leaving us to face a monumental reproach half-empty-handed. 1500 feet up, 4000 feet down and two miles out. By traversing on steep scree we were able to connect discontinuous snow couloirs that ended in steep slabs and waterfalls. A few weeks sooner and this massive north face would have gone entirely on snow. Throughout the trip we marveled at the size and character of these mountains which are plainly visible from our ski hill. Not far from home, these mountains are seldom visited surely because of their exclusion from "the book". Also, access is limited due to the checker board pattern of private and public land. The summit of the highest peak in the range is actually private property! Multi-million dollar ranches bar access to major canyons. Big tobacco executives have their own personal "camp-david" were they get to play Montanan for a few weeks every year. If freeze-thaw would not destroy a paved road or if the snow would not bury structures or if wind would not blow down advertisements or if lightening would not strike...the mountains of the world would surely be developed for profit. Rich with experiences, I return to the world of greed and waste.