12/26/14 Boise Range, ID and 12 months of skiing
12/26/14
21903
4
Better late than never, right? I wanted to post this in a timely fashion to provide snowpit info as well but that snow is now buried and metamorphosed, so proceed with the usual care.
The day after Christmas I drove to the upper lot of Bogus Basin Ski Area to see what I could find. I skied down through the ski area, generally aiming to the NW and Mores Mountain, a hike I'd done in the summer. Exiting the ski area, I hit the summer road which in winter is a XC ski track. I didn't really want to be on the XC track but with the steepness of the terrain and low snow cover I had no choice. In later winter I'm sure more direct routes can be had. I traversed along for a few miles until I was all the way around the NW end of Mores Mountain. Alternately, another XC track can be taken to the SE end. Once Around the bend I finally found an ascendable creek gully (it's a steep road cut for miles), and ascended the NW flank of Mores mountain in mellow terrain.
Once I gained the long ridgeline I followed it for a while back to the true summit.
All along the ridge there is good steeper skiing in bowls and ridges to the NE, and mellower skiing to the SE. The colder climate preserves the SE snow better here than the Cascades, but it was too bushy at the time. Since I was solo, I opted for a safer ridge down the NE from the summit. After getting through some wind affected, the snow and skiing was quite good!
Fortunately, there is an fire road that leads a traverse back to Shafer Butte campground partway down the long face. From the campground I skied back to the ski area and had an interesting time finding my way back up to my car. PM if you want deets about how to do that part. While I'm sure Boise locals know about this area, the basic point of this report is to let folks on this Cascade-centric board know that if you go to Boise, bring your touring gear because there's some nice turns to be had very close to town!
Also, Mores mountain has a bunch of cool granitic pinnacles that even I as a geologist don't really understand (haven't researched). They look cool though and I'm guessing they are the product of differential lithification expressing itself in a weathered granitic body.
And finally, between work and life it's probable that I'll only pull this off once so here's a picture from each month of skiing in the year 2014!
January:
February:
March:
April:
![]()
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/qEs0Eksr0bv5EI8ei2pg7z0dx8YYiHU80-SVxwzFnLk=w1237-h937-no" />
May:
June:
![]()
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/190gflA-xlY3-61XXqo9d-fv9KJwBhLp5FN_0sp4v4Y=w1544-h858-no" />
July:
August:
![]()
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gocDzqvCQgY/U-UVSAQuCuI/AAAAAAAAEHA/vpNQqKEjIZw/w1482-h937-no/DSC03354.JPG" />
September (ewww):
October:
November:
![]()
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/K5QYmwosiRWxFav077_QgfhYmFg0Y_bHPbsVwNSBJqI=w1316-h844-no" />
December:
![]()
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/T2UxH0BP51Pb55peRCfnVXgIsb7lRTLyY4t0xBo1FOk=w1351-h844-no" />
The day after Christmas I drove to the upper lot of Bogus Basin Ski Area to see what I could find. I skied down through the ski area, generally aiming to the NW and Mores Mountain, a hike I'd done in the summer. Exiting the ski area, I hit the summer road which in winter is a XC ski track. I didn't really want to be on the XC track but with the steepness of the terrain and low snow cover I had no choice. In later winter I'm sure more direct routes can be had. I traversed along for a few miles until I was all the way around the NW end of Mores Mountain. Alternately, another XC track can be taken to the SE end. Once Around the bend I finally found an ascendable creek gully (it's a steep road cut for miles), and ascended the NW flank of Mores mountain in mellow terrain.
Once I gained the long ridgeline I followed it for a while back to the true summit.
All along the ridge there is good steeper skiing in bowls and ridges to the NE, and mellower skiing to the SE. The colder climate preserves the SE snow better here than the Cascades, but it was too bushy at the time. Since I was solo, I opted for a safer ridge down the NE from the summit. After getting through some wind affected, the snow and skiing was quite good!
Fortunately, there is an fire road that leads a traverse back to Shafer Butte campground partway down the long face. From the campground I skied back to the ski area and had an interesting time finding my way back up to my car. PM if you want deets about how to do that part. While I'm sure Boise locals know about this area, the basic point of this report is to let folks on this Cascade-centric board know that if you go to Boise, bring your touring gear because there's some nice turns to be had very close to town!
Also, Mores mountain has a bunch of cool granitic pinnacles that even I as a geologist don't really understand (haven't researched). They look cool though and I'm guessing they are the product of differential lithification expressing itself in a weathered granitic body.
And finally, between work and life it's probable that I'll only pull this off once so here's a picture from each month of skiing in the year 2014!
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September (ewww):
October:
November:
December:
Nice work Jonny, you crushed it this past year. Glad I could join you on some of those months! Cheers to the most psyched partner around.
Cheers to 12 months! Looks like you found some great lines along the way. In fact, I'm in your picture from April on top of the Fuhrer Finger - good times ;D
Awesome!
I couldn't remember who you all were and I had a ton of great pictures from April and that trip in particular but your crew exhibited such stoke from such a great spot that you made the final cut (hope you don't mind) :D
8 months later....how'd the turtle ski?!
I couldn't remember who you all were and I had a ton of great pictures from April and that trip in particular but your crew exhibited such stoke from such a great spot that you made the final cut (hope you don't mind) :D
8 months later....how'd the turtle ski?!
The turtle was corned up and a joy to ski! That and I remember the rest of the Wilson and Nisqually were delightful creamed corn despite being late in the day. What a special route, getting to ski all the way to the bridge!
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