February 17-19, Cooke City, Montucky

I have been boozing in Montucky for the last week and having a pretty good time. Conditions are pretty solid with some minor slab formation at ridge top with a few exceptions. Rolled into Cooke at 1 and went up the direct route to the Fin. Apparently the loc way to go is around the back but sending direct isn't too bad with a little route finding. Moderate winds were wrapping around the north face but the fin itself was fairly sheltered with boot top unconsolidated pow.

The next day we started at the crack of noon. We skied a skinny chute off of Mineral Mountain. Sadly the two previous skiers who beat us to the line had side slipped the top and the snow that was left dictated that we do the same. We then went across the valley with an eye for the chute going down from the summit of Miller Mountain. Unfortunately we got beat again by some sledders who slayed the line eight deep. We settled for a smaller chute off the ridge. We also got to watch the team that produces the cooke city chronicle slay a small crack at the head of the valley:

For our third day we continued the theme and left the trail head at 12:30 for the abiathar coulie. Sadly we found the line to consist of hard 15cm thick windboard. We saddled up at the bottom of the line and settled for some fun bowl skiing.

Snow Conditions: Hard snow below 2300m. Sun crust on W-S aspects. Six to eight inches up high on the south side of town. Up to a foot up high on the north side of town. Small wind slab formation occurring at ridge crest primarily in immediate lee areas on south aspects.

Thoughts on Cooke City: Some people compare Cooke City to Rogers Pass but I would say the stuff close enough to day tour to feels more like Washington Pass then it does Rogers. Lots of small coulies and lines but there are not a lot of larger vert lines that can be reached in a day.