...A Less Jaded Monday...

Friday found me in a 'sick of it all' position i guess, im not sure exactly. Well after work Jenny and I rode up to Moonlight to check out the snow line and how much had fallen and poof! she spots 2 moose eating leaves off trees. The mom was BIG, and the calf was still large but not as big (understandbly...) That's mom up top, and below you can see both, but not well...


We thought about trying to go ride downhill up at the resort on Saturday but those lazy goons were taking the entire day off...what ridiculousness, a perfect day to ride mtn bikes in a couple inches of snow. We took matters into our own hands and did a 12 mile shuttle trip from Portal Creek over to Porcupine Creek. Almost half of the trip I would say we had to push, but when we got to the downhill it was amazin...fun and FAST.....

I think the whole excursion took about 4 or 5 hours. It was definetly the workout for the weekend, by the end of the push we all were losing serious confidence that the trail would ever go down.

Sunday we took a stroll into Bozeman and caught the flick Beerfest and it was, well, fun! Not the greatest movie ever made but who would be expecting that? A good time for sure though...

...and thats whats up up here....

Thoughts On A Friday In September

I'm over it for sure. Summers been chill around here, with your general buffet line of activities previously mentioned, but like i said- i'm over it.

I was about to leave work, because-well, im over that too, and came out the loading dock to a cloud of freezing rain. Generally it doesn't rain for long up here, and whenever it does its a cheerful welcome to the dry conditions we usually see in early/mid september. True, theres been talk of snow today and tomorrow for this reason, and with all the wildfires going on thats a great thing. I'm also over the off-season, and that has yet to even begin....

My dad took the above photo almost exactly a month ago, around the same time snow first laced both lone and the spanish peaks. The photo to me represents any moment in time in this area, whether it be winter, summer, a month ago or 2 million years ago, the mountain has been here and continues despite the rising level of real estate being constructed around it. Which brings me to my next point, (youre going somewhere with this?!?!) Escramble is Volcom's newest flick that has been 2 years in the making and has recently debuted in my inexpensive dvd player from a viewing point on my free couch. At first take it's a beautiful mess- a snowboard flick with no names next to every shot, no english dialogue in the entire piece, basically none of your stock convention tactics film companies have set up in your traditional version of a snowboard flick. After watching it repeatedly there is a much more cohesive understanding of what goes on, ideas of how not only pros but snowboarders themselves feel such a connection with the mountains that they feel the need to coexist with them and push limitations. It isn't about who did that 5 off that 40 footer and where it was filmed- what im trying to say is that by eliminating the conventional snowboard film tactics they heighten awareness to other reasons these people are doing what they do.

Probably the same reasoning as to why Jaime Lynn returns to snowboard films with this project.

To note that is to point out the undeniable highlight of the film: the legends sesh with Iguchi, Hakonsen, and Lynn. Terje admits he's afraid of his own decisions in the mountains and Guch cooks up sushi. Did i mention theres claymation in this movie? Brilliant.

My last parting thoughts on this friday in september? there was an atrocious list created by someone at one of the major snowboard mags to conclude last seasons thoughts, things this person was sick of.
I would quote who said them and the mag+ the lists, but at this point it all blends together. Ridiculous quotes, like "Stop doing frontside boardslides! We are sick of them!" linger in my mind, so i figure I'd do my own list for this winter.

*If you are in northwestern WY on a pow filled morning, forget everything every ski/snowboard mag has ever told you and DO NOT GO TO JACKSON HOLE. Your magic pow day will be Chop-City starring You and Whoever You Brought Witcha. Go over teton pass (if you happen to be towing a sled just rock that sh!t instead) and go to Grand Targhee. You will, in return, receive more snow than Jackson gets+ less people! Doesn't that sound like what you're looking for now?

*If you read the recent issue of TWS' "Backcountry Gate Guide" and now feel like you are informed enough to go through these gates (god help you) I recommend buddying up with someone quick thats a local. Backcountry isn't something you are going to get better at this year like, say your backside 3's....it's more like a level you get to in Zelda after your older brother showed you how to get the dope boomerang. Guides are imperative to leaving controlled situations, especially at a new resort.
But...
If you feel you 'know' your b/c skills, then I recommend skipping the day at most of the resorts listed in TWS' 'guide' and going over to Moonlight Basin. Seriously, dudes who wrote that up woulda told you to do that but they still haven't even been.....

*When you get your new stick let somebody tune that thing for you please.
AND
*When you get your new bindings don't put them on backwards then get pissed because shopdude points it out to you.

Seriously thats all i got for now. Enough with the ramblings....

Summer Finale Roadtrip - Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park has been on the list all summer, it was a place everyone told us we had to experience if we were in montana in the summer. It's about 7 hours away, so friday night when we left we stopped in Missoula for the night. Stayed at the Bel Aire Motel, went out for drinks and left early sat AM for Glacier.

None of us had been there before, so everything we went off was things learned from reading things online and books. Our first night was at Avalanche campground. It was a little tight as far as campsites cramped together, but we only were there to sleep. This very old cedar tree was something of a sight coming from SW montana.

Avalanche Lake. This was about a 2 mile hike up to this basin with a lake in the middle. All along the wall you can see waterfalls coming down that feed into the lake: those are coming from glaciers of snow and ice above. During the daytime it was hot though, so seeing snow was surreal.

That's Justin swimming around in Kintla Lake. Kintla lake is located waaaay up in the nortwest corner of the park. We were literally 10 miles from the border of Canada when we were up here. I went swimming in Kintla (jenny did too) but i mostly just got my knees wet. It was amazing how frigid the water was only a little ways from shore. This location was roughly a 4 mile hike in. On the way out at dusk we had an encounter with a large black bear which was very cool, and we heard an ENORMOUS tree fall in the woods- the whole forest just shook and echoed for a minute after. That doesnt happen very often, hearing trees fall in the woods, just reminded us how much different of a pace time moves when people aren't involved.

Left: Boundary Mountains/ Canada. These mountains were amazing, we chilled here for awhile.

Going to the Sun Road. We had already been in the park a few days and hadn't made this trip yet. It's a staple thing that you have to do in the park, the most notable feature in Glacier. The engineering that went into building this road is ridiculous, and you'll never find a crazier public road in this country. The views are spectacular, as you would imagine.

Below is the north west corner of the park called Many Glacier. We didnt get to spend too much time up there, but it looked sweet when we cruised up there.

On the way out of the park we spent the afternoon at Macdonald Creek, which reminded me of a spot in NH off the Kangamangus Highway called Lower Falls. This was even more crazy though, the rocks looked all carved out like they were from another planet.

This water is cold! Justin was going to jump in right there- he saw a spot that was about 3 feet wide that looked deep enough. Crazy kid.

Jenny didn't swim here, but it was so cold she probably had the right idea. We completely stumbled upon this spot also, a little more planning we would have spent more time here.

So a lot of car camping went down! Next time we definetly want to plan a backcountry trip and get away from all the people there, but for a first time trip Glacier was incredible!

And that's all I got right now....