March 15, 2007, Magic Mtns, Knob 7280, Idaho
3/15/07
US elsewhere
4814
5
Cass, Skip and I packed in Skips truck Wednesday night and left town at 11pm. Ten hours later we rolled into a gas station a few miles outside of Kimberly, ID, on HW30. Inside, we peeked in a map to reorient ourselves, and suddenly the Sawtooth National Forest (SNF) captured our attention. SNF is a small unassuming pocket of land a handful of miles south of the nearby town Hansen; its a local paradise, with: a small number of quaint campgrounds dotting the main access road, the Magic Mountain ski area, and, of course, at the heart of it all a welcoming parking lot for loading/unloading gas-powdered ski machines. I lived in the area back when I was a young, young lad, camping there often with friends and skiing many days at the small, locally-owned ski hill. I remembered the terrain as rugged, craggy, and definitely too steep to ride my mountain bike. I echoed these words to Cass and Skip, and immediately, they salivated. At the same time we were also looking at Cache Mountain, a 10k + ft. bump less than three dozen miles away to the southeast. Cass had reservations about Cache, something along the lines of, ¦ its kinda big and I dont want to ski a whole lot of vertical today. With that in mind, we ventured into SNF for a tour.
Thirty minutes later we found ourselves droving up and down the main access road in search of a place to start. About one mile below Magic Mtn. ski area (By the way, Magic Mtn. ski area is a must ski!), we spotted high above us a great line and parked at a nearby turnout. I unpacked the
More photos:
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[Edited title - Charles]
Thirty minutes later we found ourselves droving up and down the main access road in search of a place to start. About one mile below Magic Mtn. ski area (By the way, Magic Mtn. ski area is a must ski!), we spotted high above us a great line and parked at a nearby turnout. I unpacked the
 with rather narrow curves: 126-98-116. Cass also had a new pair of skis: made by some company named Atomic. After a quick flex test of our skis, we suited up for the ascent.<br /><br />Ahh, just like I remembered it -- the terrain is craggy and steep, so steep we managed only 840 vf.: :)<br /><img src=){kind=link}
More photos:
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![[Edited title - Charles]](http://www.leang.com/kam/mountains/SawtoohNatForest/2007_0315/2007_0316_MagicMtn04ww.jpg]Skip avoiding a terrain trap.</a><br />2. <a href=){kind=link}
[Edited title - Charles]
At least we found Sawtooth National Forest this time - that slippery bugger wasn't getting past me twice. Yessir, it was another fine, fine roadtrip. Let me also note that it's a special kind of friend who flies across the country just in time for a 10-hour drive to...southern Idaho. Bravo to you, Sir, and well done.
Good to see that you boys are still after it.
10 hour drive, plus Kam's fight time for 840 vf. JOM???
Great report.
10 hour drive, plus Kam's fight time for 840 vf. JOM???
Great report.
Great trip! Glad I was able to join for the road-trip this year. The idaho potato snow actually made for some pretty fun skiing, and a good place to break-in the new Atomics!
author=kam link=topic=6517.msg26738#msg26738 date=1174273338]That's funny, I recall being the only one up for a second ski lap in the Magic Mtns ;), though I suppose it's possible to have too much of a good thing.
Cass had reservations about Cache, something along the lines of, “… it’s kinda big and I don’t want to ski a whole lot of vertical today.”
Finally got around to resizing/posting some trip photos which are posted here.
Forgot to bring the camera along for most of the Wasatch Range skiing (all in-bounds though as avy conditions were rather sketchy with generally wet, heavy snow overlying nasty persistent weak layers on all aspects, but found excellent corn conditions at the lift areas).
Forgot to bring the camera along for most of the Wasatch Range skiing (all in-bounds though as avy conditions were rather sketchy with generally wet, heavy snow overlying nasty persistent weak layers on all aspects, but found excellent corn conditions at the lift areas).
nice pictures doods! glad the magic mts. turned out to be everthing you wanted them to be and more. ;) plus, you guys look H-O-T-T dodging those bushes/shrubs/rocks!! 8)
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