Ugh, I should have just stayed home!

[scheides]

Drove all the way to Bozeman yesterday. It was raining the last 5 hours of the trip. It was soooooo crappy we decided to stop off at Red Lodge on the way and they had about 11" of fresh snow on the hill. At the end of the day it cleared up for a bit, here's a shot of my brother in the parking lot:

http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9800.sized.jpg

We got to bozeman to discover that a gas line had broke and blew up a few weeks prior, amazingly only one person was killed:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9804.sized.jpg

So then I was looking forward to a nice quiet day in Bozeman to look for some new skis and get our stuff together and head down to Big Sky....well it freaking snowed overnight and I was soooooo sad I had to just go to Bridger Bowl for a few hours...They had 5" of snow overnight and another 3" today while we were there:

http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9821.sized.jpg

http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9827.sized.jpg

Well my great aunt made us a nice home cooked meal and we shoved off, headed south towards yellowstone. The roads were really really crappy but this is the one time when to some people in the world a trip through a twisty windy river canyon and then up narrow mountain roads through ice and snow....it put a smile on my face :)

http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9837.sized.jpg

...I mean AUGH GAAH! It's gonna suck! I was hoping for sunshine and beaches, and instead the bellman said they had gotten 20" of snow in the last 24 hours and that another 10" are predicted for tonight. *sigh* I guess I'll deal :)

Oh, I bought some new ski pants a few weeks before I came, totally needed them today! Here's mine:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9829.sized.jpg

And here's my brother's:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9830.sized.jpg

[A//// Guy]

Moar pics!!! Ahhh reminds me of new years, when we were there. Sounds like you are getting alot more fresh snow than we had though. :(

[rose0529]

Nice! ... I love that place!

[Speedfreak]

Torn ACL FTL! I had a couple trips planned this winter. Those pics are killing me.

[SnoEclipse]

Road Trip!!!!

[Kevin 1G Drummer]

Nice! Looks like lots of fun! Er, I mean, dude, you know you'd rather be at work.

[asshanson]

I wish I was at Bridger now... lucky. Seems like way better snow than we had this year.

[scheides]

*sigh* well it just gets worse. I can't remember what we ended up getting sunday night, but monday was stellar. I'm ski shopping so I have been demoing a bunch of different sticks. Monday I had a set of Volkl Mantras. These skis rip on all surfaces, they're pretty much awesome in the steep and powder, and rip it up on the groomed runs (not that there was much for that :D Anyways, here's some backwoods stuff we discovered this year that has been just fucking epic! The mantras are sneaking out of the powder here, but we seriously have been hitting 10-15" of snow in some spots:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9857.sized.jpg

Here's my dad (he turns 60 this year!) ripping it up:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9858.sized.jpg

Lunchtime:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9863.sized.jpg

http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9864.sized.jpg
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9865.sized.jpg

Last night we got another 4" of snow. This morning I started with a pair of Salomon Hellraisers that were absolutely crap. After 3 runs I went back into the demo shop and the skis I had originally wanted came in. Volkl Gotama's are freakin awesome powder ski. The tip is the same width as the Mantras, but the middle (under your foot) and tail are 1cm wider. The mantras were already wide, but these are um....borderline insane:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9871.sized.jpg

We found some untracked snow under a lift up top. These skis are so killer in steep/deep it makes me feel like the dudes on the killer ski videos. 15-20" of snow and the skis just rip through it, feels so effortless its amazing.

Dad and I up top:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9875.sized.jpg

Literally waist deep:
http://www.scheides.com/albums/bigsky2009/IMG_9879.sized.jpg

Aaaaannnnd its dumping again as I type this. Forcast is for about 10-12" tonight...

:)

[crazy_skier]

I want to be out there! I was out there a couple of weeks ago snowmobiling when all that snow fell and we drove through bozeman the same day downtown blew up. That was some scary stuff!

[A//// Guy]

Arg!! You are getting some awesome snow!!! Ski it up for me!