Here's a video from the ridge over looking the climb. When you see the highest peak, the North East ridge is going down it. The video follows right down that ridge about halfway through.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Mt. Cowen
Anyone that knows me well enough knows that I often have a "fun" time on my trips. By fun I simply mean that everything is stacked against me. Cowen turned out to be one of those. Good times.
Last summer Tom had suggested that we go climb Mt. Cowen out in the Absarokas/Beartooth Wilderness. This peak is only 11,209 ft. But what it lacks in height it makes up for in pure intimidation. I never expected to feel like I was walking into the Tetons for the first time again. That was pure intimidation. This turned out to be the same.
Since we never got this trip together last summer, I just started making plans and told people I was going and then I would see who ended up going with me. It worked out well because Brandt and Tom ended up coming. We were heading out Friday afternoon when a torrential downpour and hailstorm rolled through. At that point we were all wondering if we should actually go because the streets of Bozeman were actually flooded. We apparently went against our instincts and still decided we would make it. We left Bozeman at 5:00pm and got to the trailhead a little after 6:00pm. We had 8 miles to hike.
We threw the packs on and started hiking at 6:30pm. About a half mile into the hike, it started raining again. We all stopped and put on our pack covers to keep our gear wet, but didn't put on our jackets because we were sweating enough that it really didn't matter. We were trying to hike fast so we could make camp before nightfall. We tried... but it didn't work.
About 2.5 miles in we were going up switchbacks and walked over this crest only to see a grizzly bear just a little ways in front of us. The bear looked at us and then went running off. This area is known to have a lot of bears so we had two cans of bear spray with us in case we did get attacked. Eventhough we did have the spray, it was pretty simple to have the bear just go running off. Couldn't ask for an easier confrontation really.
Well, we kept on hiking, finished the switchbacks and eventually rolled up and over another ridge crest where we got our first glimpse of the peaks as they broke through the clouds for an instant. Just imagine a rough granite peak poking out of the darkest most ominous looking clouds you've seen. We all stopped for a minute and tried to take it all in, but our time was forever getting shorter to make it to camp by nightfall.
We kept on hiking and before I knew it my feet were getting soaked. Oh right, it's raining. Blisters forming... feet getting sore... keep going. We were all getting tired by about 9:00 or 9:30 and just kept on hoping we'd be making camp before long. Carrying camping and climbing gear was just a little too heavy to move fast enough to make it before nightfall and before we knew it we were putting our headlamps on. But, before we got the headlamps on we came upon a little excursion that made us even more tired and possibly a little desperate.
Just as night was falling we were met by the trail going in two directions. One direction looked as though it was closed and the other went across a river. With such a good snowfall year, the river was still high enough that it had taken over the trail and we were forced to cross the river to the other drier side. We walked across a couple downed trees and made it to the other side where we put our headlamps on. We found the trail on the other side, but it soon disappeared. "I'm cold, wet, and we're lost." Not how I envisioned this going. We backtracked, crossed the river again and started hiking next to the river. After about 45 minutes we finally made it back to the trail. It's now about 10:45. We've only got a half mile to go.
We keep hiking along the wet trail and come upon camp a little after 11:00pm. We should have been here about two hours ago if we weren't forced to start late because of a hail storm and we wouldn't have gotten lost. We're searching in the dark to find a place to camp and eventually just put our stuff down in the best spot we can find. We throw the tents up, get our food and start cooking. I start to filter water while Brandt and Tom start to eat.
I'm absolutely starving now staring at the lake we're next to pumping water into our Nalgenes. "This could have gone a little better. I think we should have just called the trip off from the get go." Oh well... we're here.
When I'm finally eating, I ask Brandt what time it was and low and behold it's 12:20am. "Wow, this pasta and cheese tastes ridiculously good!"
We pack all our food into a bag and go to find a tree to hang it in. I grab my p-cord and tie a rock on the end to toss the rock up and over a tree branch. I'm way off. Possibly a little too tired to be doing this. Brandt suggests "maybe you should toss it underhand." Alright, here we go. Didn't get it again, but you know what let's just see if we can haul the bag up off this branch. We tie the bag on and start to haul the food. I'm standing underneath holding the bags off the ground while Tom starts hauling the bag from the other end of the cord and the branch comes down right on my head. "Well, this is fun." Luckily a different branch held it and now we're hauling the bag up and tying it off. Finally.
We all go to bed and decide we'll get up at 6:30am and be off hiking by 7:00am. Wouldn't you know it... we didn't get up until 9:15am. What just happened? Well, you need to start the approach for alpine climbs like this one very early because the hike, the climb and the descent will end up taking all day. Since we didn't get up early enough, the climb was out of the question. The last thing I wanted was to be on the peak only to get caught in a storm. While I may be stubborn and try to do things beyond potential sometimes, I do manage to get a good decision in once in a while.
Well, we ate breakfast, looking at the beautiful cirque we were camped in and decided to hike the approach just to look at the climb. So we all grab our cameras and make off for Mt. Cowen (which you can't see from camp). We start hiking up a steep scramble and come up over the ridge and see a couple beautiful lakes sitting in a tight cirque. We are taking things slow since we've got all day and manage to take some pictures, have a bite next to the lakes and then keep moving on up the valley. As we're getting higher, we're coming upon more and more snow. We scramble up snow and rocks, and go past small waterfalls. Brandt stops about halfway up because his knee is hurting him. We leave him right next to one of the waterfalls and Tom and I keep hiking up to the ridge to get a glimpse of the route. As we near the top we start to see Cowen over the ridge and realize the route is still another short valley away.
"You mean we would have had to climb two ridges just to get to the route?" Tom looks at me, "I guess so." Then he lets out a great chuckle that signals the full extent of how massive this thing would have been to climb today. If we did get up in time to climb it, we definitely would have been extremely tired by the time we got to the summit and we would have had a pretty big descent to do after that climbing down a snowfield and through a couloir then down to scree and boulders. Fantastic.
We take some pictures and a little video and get the heck off the ridge. We end up basically skiing in our boots down the snowfields and make the descent in about 10 minutes compared to the hour it took to get up.
When we get back to camp, we lounge around and finally realize how tired and hungry we are. We fire up the stove a little before 6:00pm, eat, and are in bed by 8:00pm. You never quite feel like a real man until you are in bed before your niece who isn't even a year and a half old.
We wake up the next day to more clouds and a little rain on the hike out. Luckily it wasn't raining right when we woke up so we could pack our tents while they were dry. When we put the bags back on, we all wince a little bit at the weight and the sore hips from the hike in.
For the most part, the hike out was uneventful, minus Brandt's hurt knee. I was starting to get worried we might have to split up Brandt's weight so he wouldn't have to have weight on his knee, but luckily he made it the whole way out with a little hobbling. When we were most of the way out, we were met by a little rain for the last couple miles. Start in rain and end in rain. Not so bad. It kept it cool, but it also gave me a couple bad blisters from having wet feet.
When we made it back to Bozeman, we pick up some steaks and potatoes and go grill at Tom's place. Oh, don't worry we're basically making the early bird special (4:30pm). That's dinner time right?
We might try this again in a couple of weeks, but we'll see. Not too stoked right now to have another go at it. But, as people know, I'll keep going back for more... sore muscles, blistered feet and all.
Last summer Tom had suggested that we go climb Mt. Cowen out in the Absarokas/Beartooth Wilderness. This peak is only 11,209 ft. But what it lacks in height it makes up for in pure intimidation. I never expected to feel like I was walking into the Tetons for the first time again. That was pure intimidation. This turned out to be the same.
Since we never got this trip together last summer, I just started making plans and told people I was going and then I would see who ended up going with me. It worked out well because Brandt and Tom ended up coming. We were heading out Friday afternoon when a torrential downpour and hailstorm rolled through. At that point we were all wondering if we should actually go because the streets of Bozeman were actually flooded. We apparently went against our instincts and still decided we would make it. We left Bozeman at 5:00pm and got to the trailhead a little after 6:00pm. We had 8 miles to hike.
We threw the packs on and started hiking at 6:30pm. About a half mile into the hike, it started raining again. We all stopped and put on our pack covers to keep our gear wet, but didn't put on our jackets because we were sweating enough that it really didn't matter. We were trying to hike fast so we could make camp before nightfall. We tried... but it didn't work.
About 2.5 miles in we were going up switchbacks and walked over this crest only to see a grizzly bear just a little ways in front of us. The bear looked at us and then went running off. This area is known to have a lot of bears so we had two cans of bear spray with us in case we did get attacked. Eventhough we did have the spray, it was pretty simple to have the bear just go running off. Couldn't ask for an easier confrontation really.
Well, we kept on hiking, finished the switchbacks and eventually rolled up and over another ridge crest where we got our first glimpse of the peaks as they broke through the clouds for an instant. Just imagine a rough granite peak poking out of the darkest most ominous looking clouds you've seen. We all stopped for a minute and tried to take it all in, but our time was forever getting shorter to make it to camp by nightfall.
We kept on hiking and before I knew it my feet were getting soaked. Oh right, it's raining. Blisters forming... feet getting sore... keep going. We were all getting tired by about 9:00 or 9:30 and just kept on hoping we'd be making camp before long. Carrying camping and climbing gear was just a little too heavy to move fast enough to make it before nightfall and before we knew it we were putting our headlamps on. But, before we got the headlamps on we came upon a little excursion that made us even more tired and possibly a little desperate.
Just as night was falling we were met by the trail going in two directions. One direction looked as though it was closed and the other went across a river. With such a good snowfall year, the river was still high enough that it had taken over the trail and we were forced to cross the river to the other drier side. We walked across a couple downed trees and made it to the other side where we put our headlamps on. We found the trail on the other side, but it soon disappeared. "I'm cold, wet, and we're lost." Not how I envisioned this going. We backtracked, crossed the river again and started hiking next to the river. After about 45 minutes we finally made it back to the trail. It's now about 10:45. We've only got a half mile to go.
We keep hiking along the wet trail and come upon camp a little after 11:00pm. We should have been here about two hours ago if we weren't forced to start late because of a hail storm and we wouldn't have gotten lost. We're searching in the dark to find a place to camp and eventually just put our stuff down in the best spot we can find. We throw the tents up, get our food and start cooking. I start to filter water while Brandt and Tom start to eat.
I'm absolutely starving now staring at the lake we're next to pumping water into our Nalgenes. "This could have gone a little better. I think we should have just called the trip off from the get go." Oh well... we're here.
When I'm finally eating, I ask Brandt what time it was and low and behold it's 12:20am. "Wow, this pasta and cheese tastes ridiculously good!"
We pack all our food into a bag and go to find a tree to hang it in. I grab my p-cord and tie a rock on the end to toss the rock up and over a tree branch. I'm way off. Possibly a little too tired to be doing this. Brandt suggests "maybe you should toss it underhand." Alright, here we go. Didn't get it again, but you know what let's just see if we can haul the bag up off this branch. We tie the bag on and start to haul the food. I'm standing underneath holding the bags off the ground while Tom starts hauling the bag from the other end of the cord and the branch comes down right on my head. "Well, this is fun." Luckily a different branch held it and now we're hauling the bag up and tying it off. Finally.
We all go to bed and decide we'll get up at 6:30am and be off hiking by 7:00am. Wouldn't you know it... we didn't get up until 9:15am. What just happened? Well, you need to start the approach for alpine climbs like this one very early because the hike, the climb and the descent will end up taking all day. Since we didn't get up early enough, the climb was out of the question. The last thing I wanted was to be on the peak only to get caught in a storm. While I may be stubborn and try to do things beyond potential sometimes, I do manage to get a good decision in once in a while.
Well, we ate breakfast, looking at the beautiful cirque we were camped in and decided to hike the approach just to look at the climb. So we all grab our cameras and make off for Mt. Cowen (which you can't see from camp). We start hiking up a steep scramble and come up over the ridge and see a couple beautiful lakes sitting in a tight cirque. We are taking things slow since we've got all day and manage to take some pictures, have a bite next to the lakes and then keep moving on up the valley. As we're getting higher, we're coming upon more and more snow. We scramble up snow and rocks, and go past small waterfalls. Brandt stops about halfway up because his knee is hurting him. We leave him right next to one of the waterfalls and Tom and I keep hiking up to the ridge to get a glimpse of the route. As we near the top we start to see Cowen over the ridge and realize the route is still another short valley away.
"You mean we would have had to climb two ridges just to get to the route?" Tom looks at me, "I guess so." Then he lets out a great chuckle that signals the full extent of how massive this thing would have been to climb today. If we did get up in time to climb it, we definitely would have been extremely tired by the time we got to the summit and we would have had a pretty big descent to do after that climbing down a snowfield and through a couloir then down to scree and boulders. Fantastic.We take some pictures and a little video and get the heck off the ridge. We end up basically skiing in our boots down the snowfields and make the descent in about 10 minutes compared to the hour it took to get up.
When we get back to camp, we lounge around and finally realize how tired and hungry we are. We fire up the stove a little before 6:00pm, eat, and are in bed by 8:00pm. You never quite feel like a real man until you are in bed before your niece who isn't even a year and a half old.
We wake up the next day to more clouds and a little rain on the hike out. Luckily it wasn't raining right when we woke up so we could pack our tents while they were dry. When we put the bags back on, we all wince a little bit at the weight and the sore hips from the hike in.
For the most part, the hike out was uneventful, minus Brandt's hurt knee. I was starting to get worried we might have to split up Brandt's weight so he wouldn't have to have weight on his knee, but luckily he made it the whole way out with a little hobbling. When we were most of the way out, we were met by a little rain for the last couple miles. Start in rain and end in rain. Not so bad. It kept it cool, but it also gave me a couple bad blisters from having wet feet.
When we made it back to Bozeman, we pick up some steaks and potatoes and go grill at Tom's place. Oh, don't worry we're basically making the early bird special (4:30pm). That's dinner time right?
We might try this again in a couple of weeks, but we'll see. Not too stoked right now to have another go at it. But, as people know, I'll keep going back for more... sore muscles, blistered feet and all.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Hyalite
Last night I went up to Hyalite reservoir to take some pictures of this waterfall. They turned out pretty good for my first time doing longer exposures. It basically has to be night to take these and then the exposure times were around 20 to 60 seconds. Enjoy!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Yellowstone II
For the fourth of July, Amanda and I decided to spend a few days running around Yellowstone since she had never been there before. She's spending this summer working here in Bozeman with MSU. She works with and helps out farmers around the area.
Mainly smaller farmers. She's on a crew that will go help pick various crops, but from the sound of it mainly potatoes. The whole thing sounds pretty good for farmers to get free labor.
Anyways, we went to Yellowstone to take pictures and relax. I was initially a little scared we wouldn't be able to find anywhere to camp, but we ended up finding a spot in the northwest area just south of Mammoth. A good time was had, and most of all, we had good weather.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Beehive Basin
Before I update you on the Beehive Basin trip, I need to inform you of other events also. The first one was doing a triathlon with my Pops back in Rapid City. We decided to do a team event where I would swim, my friend Dave would bike and my dad would run. Dave and I weren't necessarily well prepared for this sort of thing since we decided to do it about a week or two before the race. Not exactly good training time. Pops, on the other had, had been training for a while and was in better shape than us. We just need to get him swimming like mad and he'll rock these triathlons in no time. Well, we ended up doing pretty well in it and actually got second place in the team category! Not too shabby. Next year we'll get first.
Next up was a little bit of time spent in Big Sky for the annual Western Agricultural Economics Association's meeting and conference. This would be my first time going to a conference of any sort, nonetheless an economic one. It was a sign that I should be growing up and making progress towards a career. I feel like it's coming right up. I'll save that for some other time though. Well, the conference was actually pretty good. Good food, good speeches, and an excellent area.
This is a fairly big conference and had people from all over the U.S. I ended up meeting quite a few people from different areas. And I can now say that economists might actually be a little more dry than accountants. I know you'll like to hear that Pops. It was quite the realization. At least I add a little bit of excitement.... kind of. Mainly professors just try to ignore me when I come in with a bloody face....
Well, to get on to the good stuff; I went to Beehive Basin right next to Big Sky and did some climbing/skiing. It was pretty amazing and for once had some really good weather. There was barely a cloud in the sky. Tom came down Friday night after my conference was over and we camped along the road taking in the amazing scenery of stars that night. It was amazingly clear. We woke up at 5:00 am, finished packing the gear and took off on the trail by 6:00 am. We were carrying our skis, ski boots, ski poles, ice axe, crampons, rope, climbing gear (cams, nuts, quickdraws), and some food and water. The night before we decided the 12 mile round trip, a climb up a couloir, a 6 pitch rock climb, and a ski descent of another couloir would take us about 12 hours on the upper end. We were a little off.... with food, water and time.
When we started hiking at 6:00 am it was fairly light out. A somewhat welcome sight. It was good we were hiking in the light, but it was not fun hiking that early. As much as I like alpine starts, I do enjoy at least sleeping until 8:00 am. The initial hike up was pretty straight forward and didn't offer any surprises. It's an easy hike with not much incline the whole way on a good dirt trail. The trail goes right next to the river draining the area and offers a nice subtle background.
Of the 5.5 mile hike up to the base of the climb/couloir, only about 2 miles was on dirt. There was still enough snow that we hiked about three miles on snow! When we got up to the base of the South East Couloir, we got the rope, crampons, and ice axes out to start the climb. It wasn't too bad of a climb, but it was just a little bit icy since it's in the shade most of the day. When we got to the top, we were sitting directly on a knife edge ridge. This thing dropped off on both sides of you making for a lot of exposure. While the climbing wasn't necessarily hard, having skis and ski boots on the backpack and having that much exposure did make the climb very interesting. While we were switching the snow gear for rock gear, we started to put the sunscreen on because it was beating down on us. We had been in the shade most of the day, but now that we were on the ridge, there was no hiding from it.
When we set off on the ridge, the climbing was very straight forward. We had no route description nor had either of us climbed it before, but we just kept on going and hoped everything would work out. We managed to get ourselves scared a couple of times because of snow on the route and because we thought we might be off route because the climbing was getting harder. That wasn't really making us feel any better, but we did manage to stay on route as best as I can tell. Aside from the climb, we had awesome views from every vantage point. We could look in every direction since we were on top of the ridge. Absolutely great sights!
Once we made it to the top, we made our way off the back side and heard that this was a scramble down a couloir. Well, because of all the snow and ice,
this was not an easy scramble. We downclimbed a little chimney into a snow chute, and then scrambled lower to a snow filled couloir. That downclimb took us a very long time.
Once at the bottom of that couloir, we made our way another 200 feet to the ridge and looked down into the South West Couloir we were going to ski. It felt great to finally make it to that point! The packs were so heavy and hiking and climbing all of this in one day was quite a chore! With a little food and the last of our water, we sat staring at the couloir and getting ready to ski. Tom went first since I lead the other couloir.
When he dropped in he immediately set off a wet slab. He turned right into it and I thought he was going to get taken down by it, but he skied away from it. We both sat there looking at each other surprised that this wet slab was as big as it was. It took quite a bit of snow with it, and while he skied down the rest of the way, he was still setting off other sections. When he got down it was my turn and I did the same thing! The slabs weren't as big as his, but we were setting these things off constantly! I had never seen anything like it.
Once we reached the bottom, we could keep skiing out for a couple miles until it turned to dirt again. By this point we were absolutely famished from having eaten a couple clif bars during the day and we each had two liters of water... which had been gone for a little while. While heading back you hear the roar of the water draining all of the snow melt down the valley. It was a horrible reminder of how dehydrated we were. After putting the skis back on the pack, I finally succumbed to temptation and drank straight from the river (we didn't bring a purifier). Luckily I am not sick, but that could have been a bad scenario if I did.
Well, we finally made it back to the cars at 8:00 pm. 14 hours later! It was something else to go that far and do that many things. I did enjoy all of the climbing and skiing, but I was absolutely spent by the end of the day.
Next up was a little bit of time spent in Big Sky for the annual Western Agricultural Economics Association's meeting and conference. This would be my first time going to a conference of any sort, nonetheless an economic one. It was a sign that I should be growing up and making progress towards a career. I feel like it's coming right up. I'll save that for some other time though. Well, the conference was actually pretty good. Good food, good speeches, and an excellent area.
This is a fairly big conference and had people from all over the U.S. I ended up meeting quite a few people from different areas. And I can now say that economists might actually be a little more dry than accountants. I know you'll like to hear that Pops. It was quite the realization. At least I add a little bit of excitement.... kind of. Mainly professors just try to ignore me when I come in with a bloody face....
Well, to get on to the good stuff; I went to Beehive Basin right next to Big Sky and did some climbing/skiing. It was pretty amazing and for once had some really good weather. There was barely a cloud in the sky. Tom came down Friday night after my conference was over and we camped along the road taking in the amazing scenery of stars that night. It was amazingly clear. We woke up at 5:00 am, finished packing the gear and took off on the trail by 6:00 am. We were carrying our skis, ski boots, ski poles, ice axe, crampons, rope, climbing gear (cams, nuts, quickdraws), and some food and water. The night before we decided the 12 mile round trip, a climb up a couloir, a 6 pitch rock climb, and a ski descent of another couloir would take us about 12 hours on the upper end. We were a little off.... with food, water and time.
When we started hiking at 6:00 am it was fairly light out. A somewhat welcome sight. It was good we were hiking in the light, but it was not fun hiking that early. As much as I like alpine starts, I do enjoy at least sleeping until 8:00 am. The initial hike up was pretty straight forward and didn't offer any surprises. It's an easy hike with not much incline the whole way on a good dirt trail. The trail goes right next to the river draining the area and offers a nice subtle background.
Of the 5.5 mile hike up to the base of the climb/couloir, only about 2 miles was on dirt. There was still enough snow that we hiked about three miles on snow! When we got up to the base of the South East Couloir, we got the rope, crampons, and ice axes out to start the climb. It wasn't too bad of a climb, but it was just a little bit icy since it's in the shade most of the day. When we got to the top, we were sitting directly on a knife edge ridge. This thing dropped off on both sides of you making for a lot of exposure. While the climbing wasn't necessarily hard, having skis and ski boots on the backpack and having that much exposure did make the climb very interesting. While we were switching the snow gear for rock gear, we started to put the sunscreen on because it was beating down on us. We had been in the shade most of the day, but now that we were on the ridge, there was no hiding from it.
When we set off on the ridge, the climbing was very straight forward. We had no route description nor had either of us climbed it before, but we just kept on going and hoped everything would work out. We managed to get ourselves scared a couple of times because of snow on the route and because we thought we might be off route because the climbing was getting harder. That wasn't really making us feel any better, but we did manage to stay on route as best as I can tell. Aside from the climb, we had awesome views from every vantage point. We could look in every direction since we were on top of the ridge. Absolutely great sights!
Once we made it to the top, we made our way off the back side and heard that this was a scramble down a couloir. Well, because of all the snow and ice,
this was not an easy scramble. We downclimbed a little chimney into a snow chute, and then scrambled lower to a snow filled couloir. That downclimb took us a very long time.Once at the bottom of that couloir, we made our way another 200 feet to the ridge and looked down into the South West Couloir we were going to ski. It felt great to finally make it to that point! The packs were so heavy and hiking and climbing all of this in one day was quite a chore! With a little food and the last of our water, we sat staring at the couloir and getting ready to ski. Tom went first since I lead the other couloir.
When he dropped in he immediately set off a wet slab. He turned right into it and I thought he was going to get taken down by it, but he skied away from it. We both sat there looking at each other surprised that this wet slab was as big as it was. It took quite a bit of snow with it, and while he skied down the rest of the way, he was still setting off other sections. When he got down it was my turn and I did the same thing! The slabs weren't as big as his, but we were setting these things off constantly! I had never seen anything like it.Once we reached the bottom, we could keep skiing out for a couple miles until it turned to dirt again. By this point we were absolutely famished from having eaten a couple clif bars during the day and we each had two liters of water... which had been gone for a little while. While heading back you hear the roar of the water draining all of the snow melt down the valley. It was a horrible reminder of how dehydrated we were. After putting the skis back on the pack, I finally succumbed to temptation and drank straight from the river (we didn't bring a purifier). Luckily I am not sick, but that could have been a bad scenario if I did.
Well, we finally made it back to the cars at 8:00 pm. 14 hours later! It was something else to go that far and do that many things. I did enjoy all of the climbing and skiing, but I was absolutely spent by the end of the day.
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