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Montana Ski Kerouac Trip - 2022

permalink | comment(0) 8. March 2022 greg

The Pacific Northwest is blessed with a YYUUUUGE! number of ski resorts (small locals to world class).  75 or more of them stretching from North West BC by Nelson down to the corner of Idaho.

PNW Ski Areas: bing collection of PNW ski AreasPNW-Ski-Areas

I’ve been craving a trip to get out and see a bunch of these areas, big and small and had several I REALLY wanted to get to:  Lookout Pass and Whitefish.  I did a bunch of research to set a fun week long itinerary, a route, what I am calling a “Kerouac”.

We left Seattle on Saturday and drove to Wallace Idaho – easy drive, but we wanted to explore Wallace some (its a fun town).

Sunday began our skiing.

Day 1: Lookout Pass.

Awesome fun day. Skied everywhere and ended up looping Purgatory and Red Dog. Great staff, so friendly. If you've driven by it a hundred times and told yourself "I should ski that someday." Do it.

LookoutPass-RedDog

We left Lookout Pass and headed off to Missoula, where my Aunt lives, the plan was to stay at her place and hit a few areas around Missoula because there are 5 areas within a couple hours or less than Missoula: Snowbowl, Discovery, Lost Trail, Grand Divide, and Blacktail.  After a great dinner of homemade spaghetti and meatballs we were all set for Snowbowl.

Day 2: Snowbowl.

Miserable rain and sleet day. We still had fun and ended up looping Grizzly and the Spartan Headwall all day. They finally opened the top at 12:30, but we were soaked and cold so, we didn't head up ... Gotta come back. Snowbowl has the best schwag, BTW.

- Day 3: Discovery. sssshhhhhhh. Don't tell anyone about Discovery. Great big mountain, skies like a Resort, feels like a local.

- Day 4: Blacktail: Closed due to Rain. gotta come back.

- Day 5: Whitefish. Wet rain and snow and fog. Dismal. Found some runs that were ok down below the fog, off of Swift Creek Express.

- Day 6: Whitefish - Superb and awesome, skied as much of the mountain as possible. Ended up looping the run under Chair 11. Great time. gotta come back.

- Day 7: Hyak. Sunny and fun to get home and ski out the back door.

Where should I go next year? What would be your trip go?


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