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Yurt Takedown July 2010
Our smoothest and fastest yet- we’re starting to get a hang of this!
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June 12, 2010: It’s still winter above 8000ft…
Ian and I skied Bell Peak in zero viz. It looks like the snow will be around for a while…
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Mid-May Powder Report
Simon and co. returned to the Bell Lake Yurt this spring and experienced continued powder conditions and ongoing spring dumps!
Trip Recap;
qualifies as two of the best days of the year. On monday we skied the
two big couloirs on Branham in some of the best conditions we have
ever experienced. Approx 3 feet of snow fell in the storm on Friday
which settled into bomber spring pow by Monday and was not heavily
affected by the sun. Our two friends that came to join us that day were sitting
at the yurt and could hear us hooting and hollering all the way down
then witnessed us steaming into the apron at 40mph or so. Needless to
say, we will be dreaming of these two runs for years to come……
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May 2010 Comes in Deep!
Justin, Josh, Mitch, and myself took advantage of the huge late season storm and enjoyed probably the best conditions of the year up at Bell Lake last weekend. Green Room, O’Farrell’s Theater, Flapjack, Beetlejuice, and Backdoor were all insanely deep!
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April 8-10: Another Spring 2010 Storm
Trip Report and Images from Dave & Posse:
We started our skin in on Thursday and almost immediately we were hit by a
windstorm. Probably 25-30 MPH headwinds with gusts that we had to brace
ourselves not to fall over from. About the time we hit the trail head it
started to snow. Not too long after that it started to snow at about 1″/hr.
No one had been up there since the last major snow so we broke trail all
the way up. There was about 8-12″ of pretty nice powdery snow on the
headwall. Needless to say we were glad to make it to the comfort of the Yurt.
We woke up on Friday with low expectations for the snow after the major
wind event the day before and our expectations were proven correct when we
hit the cirque. We went to a low angle E facing slope on the S side of the
cirque and dug a pit. There was about an inch of wind slab on top of
12-18″ of heavy dense slab on top of an ice crust from the 3 weeks of sun we had.
On Saturday we again woke up to a nice bluebird day. We got up and headed
to the N side of the cirque to try the conditions there. Things were
warming up nicely and softening the wind crust. We headed up on top of
one of the lower knobs and dug a pit. It was on a 28 degree S facing
slope and it failed while cutting the column. Needless to say none of us
felt like adventuring on to anything steep so we stayed on slopes less
than 30 degrees. We took several more runs on low angle terrain from some
of the more treed and sheltered knobs lower down in the cirque. Overall it was a really nice day to just be out enjoying the sun and snow.
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3/27/10 Perfect Conditions
Zach, Jayson, and David killed it at Bell Lake last weekend. Zach said: “We were thrilled with the skiing up there. Thanks for putting together such a sweet gig!”
Here’s his photos:
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Sneaky Storms keep conditions Powdery
Here are a few images of the group out at the Bell Lake Yurt over 3/16/10-3/25/10, enjoying a nice foot of new snow;
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End of February Man Trip
Dave, Greg and Will met up the last week in February from Livingston, San Francisco, and Albuquerque and trekked into the Bell Lake Yurt for their annual backcountry trip. With only a dusting in Bozeman and Big Sky, I was stoked to see about a foot of new snow had fallen (last significant snowfall until this week) and we passed the previous group with all smiles. I was even more stoked to see that they hadn’t even touched Sugar Bowl. To end their first day into the yurt, we dug a pit at the top of Sugar Bowl and with still variable conditions, we took a conservative route down and enjoyed some incredible conditions. Thanks guys - hope to see you back next year.
Andy
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Too Much Skiing, Too Little Blogging
Our apologies for lagging on the blog posts this year - we’ve been remiss in updating everybody on the epic conditions up at Bell Lake. We’ve had a slew of guests, new and returning, making the Bell Lake Yurt their home for a few nights this winter. Thanks to everybody who’ve made it out to enjoy the yurt!
Here are some images from our last group out over the weekend - Dave, Bill and crew enjoyed sunny skies with a foot of new snow;
Bell Lake, Montana
Fresh Powder Snow
Wave Wall, Bell Lake
Skin Track
Here’s a shot from our Avalanche Level 1 course held at the Bell Lake Yurt in January. We’ve got another 3 day, 2 night course scheduled March 10-12:
Avalanche Level 1 at the Bell Lake Yurt
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Cool Mention in this month’s Skiing Magazine
Happy Camper
A New Backcountry Yurt in Montana.
by Christina Erb
Last December, Montana Backcountry Adventures’ 450-square-foot canvas yurt—called the Bell Lake Yurt—was heli-dropped deep inside Montana’s 10,000-foot-plus Tobacco Root Mountains, an hour’s drive west of Bozeman. The rudimentary shelter, which can accommodate six skiers and two dogs, comes with cots (bring your own sleeping bag), a wood stove, a propane stove, cookware, and an outhouse a short walk from the wooden deck. The area’s nonmotorized-use rule means no snowmobiles and plenty of fresh lines. On nearby 9,698-foot Branham Peak, there are a half-dozen couloirs and the wide, powder-filled bowls of Bell Lake cirque. Park your car on South Willow Creek Road. From there, they’ll snowmobile you in (for an additional fee) three miles on a Forest Service road, and you’ll skin in the last two and a half miles over 1,700 vertical feet. Staying at the Bell Lake Yurt can be as cheap as $35 per person per day unguided (Level I avy certification required). Or pony up $500 each for a three-day guided, catered trip, where co-owner Andy Goggins will cook you locally raised, grass-fed beef tenderloin filets and, for breakfast, hot huckleberry flapjacks. [Open from mid-December to late June; skimba.com]