As Kyle alluded to in his last post, I went and skied some powder at Altoona Ridge Lodge! Yes this was more than a week ago, and yes I have a serious procrastination problem (i'll get around to fixing that one of these days).  Fortunately it is 2012 and we can share images digitally and they do not deteriorate like daguerreotypes.

After leaving around 6am we finally started to wake up once some snow flakes began to fall.  Altoona Lodge is located in the Pintlers, so driving from bozeman we passed the current sheet of ice known as Georgetown Lake then drove on past Philipsburg on our way to the trail-head.  At the trail-head we all began smiling, strapping and stretching in preparation for the roughly five mile hike in.  Luckily we only broke one beer (don't worry we salvaged most of the contents) when loading the sled so after a bit of reorganizing we watched all our food and booze follow the one snowmobile up the trail ahead of us... Now i'm faced with a tricky transition - so i'll just come out and say it, we only hiked about two miles in, thanks to the snowmobile making great time then retuning to shuttle the rest of us up in tow.  Once at the (rather shwanky) lodge we established our game plan for the next two night and three days and set about skiing, hitting the sauna, cooking meals, and primarily enjoying ourselves. 

 Alex sending it deep

 Cris and Tod 

Cris about to land in the flats - but doing it with style!

Hiking up to the main ridge 

So all in all it was a great weekend.  I should also add that the weekend after this, I once again found myself skiing at Lost Trail after they received a generous amount of snow. I have no pictures to prove it so you'll just have to trust me when I tell you it was terrible and the mountain no longer exists thanks to a giant volcano imploding the entire range...

Á bientôt,

Aaron

Carl Ritter - The Last Word

Carl Ritter was not an "arm chair geographer".  The last few weeks I have been researching a famous geographer and it occurred to me today during a presentation I conducted on him, that he is falsely accused.  Yes, from what I have learned he did spent a lot of time looking over works of others only to build hypothesis of his own.  Is it really fair to claim he was an arm chair geographer though?

The Man Carl Ritter (Image Received from luise-berlin.de) 

Texts written about the man describe his ability to see places he has never been in vivid detail.  When it came to describing places he has seen he often lacked similar great detail.  It seems his mind worked much like an artist.  He could see images before he physically produced him.  At this time, the study of geography was crawling out of the classical stage and this vision he produced in his head and taught helped forge the way towards the birth of modern geography.

Alexander von Humboldt, a prominent name in the history of science, was incredibly detail oriented.  He studied things and places at extremely small scales and based his explorations on details.  Ritter on the other hand was opposite.  These small details hey found interesting, but what he found even more powerful was the larger scale.  Something called "comparative geography".

To get to the point so I don't bore everyone with a history lesson, I with confidence claim that "Although he spent a lot of time working away lost in literature behind his desk (most likely in an arm chair), Carl Ritter was not just an arm chair geographer".  I would argue time spent in his office wasn't time in his office at all, instead it was a place to go in order for him to travel the world.  Getting lost in the works of others allowed him to discover things those before him had missed, which led to the discovery of more.  He found details on the fringes and created a new type of vision.  Ritter would fill lecture halls with 100's of students year after year.  It is described, he would use the chalkboard like a canvas and his ideas would flow.

So why does this matter? Honestly I have no idea.  I think an interesting point about Ritter is that he had relatively few predecessors who continued his style.  Why, a man with such amazing esteem, could no one follow directly in his footsteps?  I believe no one could.  It seemed his mind worked in ways no one could follow 100% of the time.  Unlike Humboldt, who developed tools and methods for his trade followers could learn, Ritter's ideas were mental.  How could a student learn to paint vivid images in there head?  I feel this is a trait you must learn and create on your own.

Seeing more (Image Received From Google Images)

This man, Carl Ritter reminds me of a very influential person in my life, perhaps the reason I felt compelled to explore this a bit further.  Cheers to anyone who made it through this!

Everyone else more exciting posts on the way.....

Maybe some epic powder skiing shots....cough cough aaron

Yee haw,

Kyle    

Big Sky Big Grass

Once again an unbelievable showing by some of the most talented musicians of our time.  Emmitt Nershi band headlined the saturday show, with a band called Head or the Hills opening.  With the same style as last year Emmitt Nershi pulled members of other bands on stage to create an unbelievable sound.  Check out the video below.

video is Jakes view of the show.... Rangers got to him....

Great music accompanied by great friends made it an unreal night.  It has been decided this will be a yearly event for a group of us, no matter what the path.

Lessons Learned

-In the event of Fat Tire and Ranger being the only beers supplied, stick with Fat Tire.
-Always insulate the bottom of your bed while sleeping in the back of your truck, especially when the mercury drops below zero.
-It gets cold in Big Sky!
-In fact the planes hanging in Whiskey Jacks are fake.  It was noted that the engines are made from old beer cans this trip.  (debated for along time)
-There is a pool/hot tub in Big Sky that is very poachable (for a 6-pack ill give you the secret).
-Return to Fawn Pass, great backcountry skiing!

On a side note its great to see the white stuff once again...

Yee haw

Kyle

A Step Forward

2/10/12

A great surprise for many Bozeman residents was found this morning.  Snow and cold! The skiers are happy and the ice climbers, well we're happy for the skiers (ice climbing sounds cold and I'll assure you it can be, but it is however not so bad when its 45 and sunny).  With the new snow and cold temperatures, it was decided a trip into Hyalite to climb some ice was necessary.  After a morning of classes, my buddy Josh and I loaded up the trusty Tacoma and we were headed to the hills for some climbing.  For both of us it had been awhile since we were on ice, so the level of excitement was high.  Upon arrival we decided it was a good day to climb Mummy 2.

Mummy 2 and Snow in the Sky

It was agreed upon that we would do this climb in two smaller pitches about 20 meters, compared to one long pitch totaling about 40 meters.

Mummy 2 February 2012

One of the many goals of the climb was to work on some multi-pitch techniques, and the two pitch approach would allow it.  Josh was on the first lead sending it in style. Two vertical sections joined by a flatter section made up the first pitch.  Smooth climbing, a few screw placements, and some good sticks in the ice brought him to an area suitable to set up a belay station.

First Pitch

After spending a few minutes at the belay station a yell came from above that I was "On Belay", once I double checked everything I started climbing.  I followed Josh's path cleaning the screws and made my way toward him to switch leads.  Once we talked for a minute and double checked our gear, I started my lead of the second pitch.  At the start the pitch was mellow and little gear was needed.  The climb progressively continued to get steeper quick and I soon found myself on a vertical hollow curtain.  Most axe swings and screws traveled through the ice much easier than I would have liked.

Second Pitch (Photo Josh)

Once the curtain was climbed, the next move was an awkward transition to a final section of ice before the top out.  To say the least lessons were learned on the transition, from there a scramble to the chains was the final obstacle.  Upon arrival I unfortunately was met with the most insane case of the screaming barfies.  A quick 5 minute mental battle between the nerves in my fingers, my stomach, and my brain left me yelling "On Belay" to Josh.  He made quick work climbing and cleaning the second pitch and in no time was at the anchors passing a high five for the epic climb we both just had.  The rope was coiled, gear was cleaned, and  a short hike left us at the top of a very steep gully directly above the Sceptor. Avalanche concerns and the ominous weather aided in the decision to rappel down onto the rappel anchors instead of an unprotected awkward scramble down unstable rock/snow.

Rappelling the gully above the Sceptor 

Once the rappel anchors were reached a quick two person rope coil was conducted to find the mid-point and we both dropped off the edge of the cliff back to reality.  Once on the ground high fives were passed and we geared up for the approach out and the cans of Olympia waiting for us.  On the drive out  we noticed a fire burning and stopped by to warm up and enjoy the great night.

Days Reward (Photo Josh)

Some stories were passed between us and the two travelers from Jackson.  After we finished our beers we got in the truck and headed back to reality.  All in all a great safe day playing in the mountains!

Notes/Lessons Learned 
-Leave extra time for descents and make sure someone in the party has a headlamp with them.
-Ice may seem steeper than it appears.
-Never underestimate how terrible screaming barfies can feel.
-Always cary V-threading supplies on rappels in case of the need to make a makeshift anchor.
-Finally after talks with the guys from Jackson, always be thankful to live in Bozeman because this is one bad ass town!

Kyle

A Bozeman Winter?

The date reads February 6th, 2012 however the weather would lead one to believe it was March or April here in Bozeman Montana. Without much snow or bitter, freezing days those who go outdoors (aka all of the Bozeman populous) may find themselves in the mountains wearing only t-shirts and climbing dry, warm rock faces. This weekend a few of us had a chance to experience such a La Nina phenomena and went out to Allenspur in the Paradise Valley this past saturday. Here are a few pictures of the experience:

As you can see the clothing choices belie the current date. More soon.

Cheers!

Jameson

A year and a day

(click to enlarge)

To follow up on the last post here are two sunset images of the bridgers (same location - different lenses).  The Top one I just took (seriously like 25 min. ago) and the bottom one was taken last year on February 4th.  

So I'm keeping it short since I now must go back into the night and photograph, however, I may expand on this post later if I find some time and (more importantly) don't freeze off any of my fingers.

Stay Safe,

Aaron

La Nina?

Traveling around town, campus and even my house it is becoming apparent, the typical Northwest powder producer La Nina is losing its magical power in the eyes of the masses.  Where is it? Why can I count the number of powder days I've had this year on one hand?  The idea of a weak winter has driven me to do some research in order to find out what is going on and just how bad we really have it.

Bridger Snow Report for 2/1/2012. (Credit: BridgerBowl.com

Weather is sporadic and can be an extremely difficult thing to keep tabs on.  With a limited data set to work with there is great uncertainty.  Usable weather data is limited to about a 100 year history in the the US.  With detailed measurements such as snow pack depths, river discharges and other fine tuned observations, this data has been around for even shorter. To add to the mystery of weather, the measurement devices and techniques used in the past compared to today have changed so dramatically its sometimes hard to imaging what sources of error could have been changing data back then.

Old Way
(Credit: Cliff Mass Weather Blog)

New Way
(Credit: University of Tennessee)

So when we have a dry year in the Northwest, is it fair to blame the waters of the Pacific?  I say no!  In fact the latest data from last week shows we still have an extremely strong band of cool water running through the Pacific. The data also suggest the La Nina is getting stronger!  Hard to believe right!

Area of interest is the band of cool water between Australia and North America.  (Credit: NOAA)

For those of you who don't know the difference between an El Nino and La Nina see the two globes below.

The Upper globe shows an El Nino pattern and the lower globe shows a La Nina pattern.   (Credit: NOAA)

So why is it that with such a strong La Nina set up, we have yet to receive any of the sweet powder we have all been promised?  In short the the words of Cliff Mass "no one knows".  The best theory meteorologists have at this point is that it is all due to the Jet Stream and the location of the formation of low pressure systems.  In order to benefit from storm systems spawning in the Aleutian low, the jet stream must dip south placing the Northwest directly in line with a trough (trough=low pressure).  Instead storm generation for this year is occurring farther east than normal and is leaving us sitting on a ridge, high and dry. (Information taken from NOAA)     

High Pressure sitting on us once again.  (Credit: NOAA)

So what are these weather patterns doing for our local snowpack?  So far as of today, not much.  Sacajawea  in the Bridgers is sitting at 53% normal, Lone Mountain is at 79% normal, Brackett Creek in the Bridgers is at 54% normal and Shower Falls in Hyalite is at 82% normal (NRCS).  If this trend continues its going to be a rough summer for irrigators, water managers, and the forests.  Keep your fingers crossed, maybe the Weather Gods will help us out and bring some big late season storms.  Until then find me out back drinking Coronas and grilling enjoying this 50 degree winter day.  

Enjoy, 

Kyle

(PS: If your really into weather check out this blog - http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/)