Kendall Peak

Ed called and wanted to ski at the pass, I was a little skeptical, as the weather hasn't been great, Ed brought up some friends and then I joined them.  Conditions were great, good snow, pretty good coverage, and great weather.  Was good to get out with a friend I haven't seen for a while.

Ed dropping in off the ridge

Ed making turns

Nice

Seasonal Affective Disorder

It's the strangest thing...my body & mind seem to have been 'off' the seasons for some time now. I waited anxiously for summer to come, anticipating the warm sun and the scent of hot earth. By mid-August, when it hadn't really come, I had to mourn it in a way so I started looking forward to fall. Well, that's when summer came and I had already moved on, you know? I enjoyed the sun when it finally came, don't get me wrong, but I was thinking of fall colors, huckleberries, and cool night bonfires. And then fall happened really quick, it seemed like.

So the other day, I went for a hike with Anne. She had never hiked Ingalls and since it is a classic, we headed East, thinking we might even get some sun. Sun, we did not get. As we got closer & closer, I became concerned we'd be hiking in dreary rain, but when we got out of the car, snow flurries began to fall. Pretty quickly, we were hiking in a full-on blizzard, with wind so hard you had to turn away from it.

 Reuben was covered in snowballs by the end...

There are three main highlights to the Ingalls hike: the brilliant larch trees, tame/aggressive mountain goats, and huge views of Mt. Stuart. On this particular day, Anne got to see none of the highlights. The larch had already turned, the mountain goats were probably sleeping in a cave b/c it was a crazy blizzard (duh!), and Mt. Stuart was nowhere to be seen. At the top of Ingalls Pass, I kept repeating "Mt. Stuart is like RIGHT THERE" emphatically, but that didn't help Anne see it. :)

Wrapping it up here...While we hiked in snow, I was ecstatic, happy to be heading into winter. And then, I had the weirdest thought: "Get ready for several months of this (sigh)." It was fleeting, but concerning nonetheless. I love winter! It is my favorite season. I live someplace where we don't see ground until June. I better not feel like sighing on the first snow. How could I think such a thing?!

 Home, starting to look like home.

Have no fear...we got out skiing on Friday and Saturday in dry, fluffy powder. The sigh of dread was replaced by a joyful squeal. I must've been temporarily suffering from seasonal affective disorder but I'm cured now.

Chikamin Peak, the view from our living room

Montana

I went on my semi annual Montana prairie dog shooting / coyote shooting / deer hunting trip last week with my friend Mike from work.  With La Nina last year and then the plague, combined with snowy cold weather there weren't a lot of dogs to find.  The deer populations took a hit as well, with neither Mike or I getting a deer.  There were a lot running around but they were either on private no hunting land, with fawn, or wrong species.  Oh well, we had a great time, spent a lot of time hiking some beautiful country, drank some Jack (Yukon that is), hung out with cattle ranchers, even watched a John Wayne movie on a barely functional TV courtesy of the ranchers guest trailer.

Mike with a coyote we called in

Big, beautiful, eastern Montana

Warm Sun?!?

A couple weekends ago, we made the last minute decision to go East to Vantage with friends Hillary & Jamie for some climbing. The weather report said a high of 42 but we were hot in our tee-shirts and wishing for flip-flops. No complaining from me!

 Hillary on rope

 Jamie

B was full of energy but we were all tuckered out.