Bitterroot Mountains Ice

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

A rare warm sunny day this February. So off I went in search of mountain adventures. First choice today was Big Creek but the road was just too icy for my liking. So I started from the Kootenai trailhead. For the first mile I followed the creek back and forth where the ice had taken on new shapes and colors. I thought these looked like dinosaur teeth ready to rip and tear.

Tucked in alongside a boulder it was a mix of "sharks teeth" and what looked like rock candy...

Then there were the clear blobs of ice. These would have been great in a drink.

Up the canyon there was ice everywhere. The past few warm days and cold nights days made the south facing hills into sheets of. Pretty hard to move across, even with crampons on my boots.

I found two ice creations that are no longer attached to where they started from. Now they look as if they had grown from the ground. Hard to tell from the photo but they are about 30 inches tall and several inches around.

Further up the canyon I came across an old fire killed tree that had fallen. It was balanced across a boulder and braced on another tree. This is one of the crazier fallen trees I have seen.

As I neared the Montana/Idaho state border I saw a great ice sculpture coming off the rocks. No stream is in this area so they were created by snowmelt and freezing nights.

I love how the ice changes the landscape. Come spring I would just keep on going past this spot to get to some nearby lakes. Now it is a destination in its own right.

When I got up to it I could see all the pieces that had fallen off. Some where pretty big. Made me pay attention to where I was standing under the ice. If those fell on me they would hurt. When I climbed down from this spot I had to head back to the truck as I had a long way to go before it got dark.

Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain National Recreation Area, Lolo National Forrest, Montana

A few more inches of snow early this morning, so off for an experiment right after lunch. A mile up forest road 365 it is closed to motorized travel with a gate till May 1st for winter range protection. The road is a steady uphill climb for miles and now it is snow covered. On the way up I looked back once and saw a patch of blue sky. As rare as blue sky has been I had to get the camera out and take a picture.

There are some random sections of fence along the road. Just straight sections that are not connected to anything. The end of the fence showed snowfall from the last 24 hours. It was quite windy prior to that so I know this is all fresh.

The higher I went the deeper the snow became. By the time I reached 6 miles I could have used snowshoes. This little 4 foot tall tree was doing its best to stand up to the snow.

So after a little over 2 hours up uphill walking I pulled off my boots and put on my skinny skies for the trip back down. Would have been better if I had used a slightly wider ski but a steady 6 miles of downhill is a nice way to go. Lot less effort than walking back down. Saved about an hour time wise. Mostly the experiment worked. I need to get the skies on the pack for the trip up a little better next time but I have a plan. Now I will go further up the mountain with my quick trip down. So far 53 days of measurable snow in Missoula, with more on the way tonight this trip will happen again soon.