BPL Montana Winter Rendezvous

[MFR]

Glad to get a firmer date. I will pencil it in and try to firm things up rather soon.

Thanks for kicking this off.

I'll most likely be on snowshoes too. My skiing is progressing, but I don't see my skills or equipment being up to snuff by then.

[Raquel Rascal]

I'm actually interested, but I'm in Denver. I think I would be more comfortable committing if there were some other women planning on going. Also, I see it is about a 14 hour drive from Denver (not accounting for winter conditions). Anyone familiar with road conditions in the area to give advice?

Plane ticket is about $380 from here. Hmm…I've never been to Montana and I would love to see it.

[Stephen M]

Raquel,

Stuart D mentioned to me that he may attend and that flying would be a far safer option.

[Raquel Rascal]

Oh that's cool because I already know him. I'll chat with him about it and make my decision.

[Raquel Rascal]

And I decided to pass on this one due to budget. I have plenty of snow and mountains right here to play in. Now if I could only find some UL packers who want to winter backpack in this area!

[Stephen M]

I have been out to your neck of the woods twice this year on trips and I absolutely love it.

[Stephen M]

Folks,

I have never snow shoes any great distance or with nay weight on my back so would need to get out for a local overnight to see what I can do.

Cheers,

Stephen

[Mike M]

Stephen- the nice thing about snowshoes is if you can walk, you can snowshoe :) There is a little getting used to them, but not an involved skill set like skiing

I used trekking poles (w/ snow baskets) when I snowshoe and find the poles very useful to help maneuver

[Stephen M]

Cheers Mike, I have found it easy enough going with a very light pack but will have to try it out with a winter load.

[Mike M]

definitely worth a trip to give it a go :)

[Stephen M]

Definitely, I have a local trip in a few weeks where I could test them out.

[David Chenault]

Let's consider those dates firm, and plan accordingly.

For the length, IMO this route is worth a fair bit of travel. It is also suitable for snow-travel novices with a reasonable amount of fitness and summer backpacking experience. Even if you've not snowshoed or winter camped before, ask for advice and then come anyway.

[Mike M]

Dave- sounds good :) might be worthwhile editing your first post w/ the firm dates

I know March is a tricky month, but ballpark guesses on temps? highs 40-ish, lows 20-ish??

thanks for getting this going

Mike

[David Chenault]

Good idea Mike; original post edited.

Conditions are obviously difficult to estimate, but I'd say that lows in the upper teens and highs around 40-45 is a decent guess. It could be warmer, which wouldn't be ideal because the snow would turn to glop.

My assumption is we'll camp up the Dry Fork Valley the first night, and up near or at the pass into Monture the second. Depending on conditions there might be some dry ground in the Dry Fork, while the pass will surely have 8+ feet of snow by then.

[Tad Englund]

Dave- could you expound on the "reasonable amount of fitness " thing. "Reasonable" has a huge range depending on who is making the judgement. A clarification might help some of the fence sitters.

I'm interested in going but need to get a hall pas. I'm scheduled to teach an Igloo building class the weekend before this trip.

If I go, I will be driving from Seattle- so for those who are flying in, it might be cheaper to fly into Seattle and carpool with me (if I go). Maybe something to look into.

It is about a 7 to 8 hour drive and I'd be leaving on the 22nd and spending the night somewhere close to the trail head. Don't know if I would come back on the 25th or 26th.

[Mike M]

Dave- we should be good to go w/ our Heliums (and maybe a few extra bits of clothing if need be) Just ordered some snowshoes for the wife-ouch!

I'll let Dave define reasonable fitness, but we should be covering roughly 9-10 miles/day w/ some decent elevation gains on snowshoes, so not a walk in the park, but not like running an ultra- somewhere in between :)

Mike

[David Adair]

>Dave- could you expound on the "reasonable amount of fitness " thing. "Reasonable" has a huge >range depending on who is making the judgement. A clarification might help some of the fence >sitters.

Well, Being old and slow, I was thinking of giving myself a head start by starting a day or so early. That would increase the chances of getting to meet up with every one at either camp one or two. It's hard to predict what kind of conditions we'll encounter in March. No matter, If going forward exceeds my ability (or desire) I can always retreat back out the way I came up.

hmm….the downside is I could wind up breaking trail for the athletic types. Maybe it makes more sense to let em run on ahead?

[W I S N E R !]

Don't know my Montana geography or if anyone could help me with a ride…But I'm interested…

What are the chances of me being picked up Friday in Missoula and dropped back off on Tuesday?
Flights are reasonable; $250 round trip if I book something now. Could get in at ~1PM Friday with a return flight at ~1PM on Tuesday.
Of course this would likely mean staying over or camping somewhere else for the first and last nights also…

Doable or getting too complicated?

[Mike M]

Craig- I'll be starting (and finishing) from Missoula (my wife is living in Missoula for awhile taking care of her Mom)- I'll have room in my truck for you. We'd probably leave early Saturday morning from Missoula (depending on what time we decide to start)- it's ~ 80 miles. Would head back to Missoula when we finish up on Monday. They are in a two room apartment, so unfortunately no room there to crash Friday and Monday night, but other than that doable :)

Mike

[Jeffs Eleven]

Dammit I wanna go. Seems like fun!

Can't make it due to lack of available vaca. :( I could drive… it'd be fun. Dammit!!

[W I S N E R !]

Awesome Mike, thanks for the offer.
More than happy to give gas $$$ to anyone I ride with.

I'm on a really tight budget and airfare/expenses alone are stretching it, let alone having to get a hotel room for two nights. Let me see what I can find online…

If anyone has cheap lodging suggestions (including camping out anywhere) for Friday night and Monday night, let me know.

If I can make the $$$ reasonable, this sounds like a good excuse to get out to Montana.

[BlackHatGuy]

I'm old but fairly fit. I've never showshoed or skiied, but I do own snowshoes. I have camped in winter.

Can I come?

[Jeffs Eleven]

He's just tryin to get y'all to carry his stuff.

:)

[David Adair]

>I'm old but fairly fit. I've never showshoed or skiied, but I do own snowshoes. I have >camped in winter.

>Can I come?

Is this supposed to be a riddle or something?
Of course you can come. and bring Craig with ya.

[David Chenault]

There is camping at both trailheads, and at several places on the way between Ovando and Missoula. The later provide access to the Blackfoot which should be fairly ice free, and has many hard to catch trout.

I could easily pick folks up in Missoula Friday evening. We could get some beers and good food and go camp somewhere.

As for the fitness question: mileage will be reasonable, and the hiking and trail breaking could be quite easy or pretty hard. We'll have people to share the load, but in the worst case scenario of slushy snow that doesn't help a huge amount. In short, if you regularly do 15 miles miles a day on summer backpacks in the mountains this should be quite doable, though it might feel hard if conditions are difficult. Days will be longish by late March, so plenty of time to get it done.

[Author]

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