I have finally secured the necessary permits and lease to build my first backcountry hut! Went back and forth on whether to build a Yurt or Cabin and finally decided on the cabin. There is plenty of standing dead timber on the property for the construction of a 20′ by 20′ log cabin and a Sauna House as well. I will be milling all my own lumber on site for the project with a Chainsaw mill I will haul to the site. The site is a 2 1/2 mile walk (1000 vertical foot elevation gain) from downtown Cooke City. I will be updating the Website to provide more information about the project and when it will be complete in the next month. The Cabin will be available for nightly rentals by late summer. Plenty of Hiking, Cross Country Skiing and Backcountry skiing is available from the site. Stay tuned for weekly updates on how the project is moving along!

Hauling Logging Tools

Me Against the Box

The Box is Winning!

The Box is Home

First Days Bounty

Amazing day today! Skied to the west side of Pilot and Index peak and skied from the saddle between the two as well as a great North Couloir off of Cooke Citys namesake peak Cooke Peak.

Pilot /Index Approach

Cooke Peak Couloir Bootpack

Cooke Peak Couloir

Cooke Peak

Amazing Colored Lycan

Pilot Peak

Went back to Abiathar Peak to try and ski a couple other of the amazing couloirs on the North Wall today. Conditions only allowed one, but it was worth the hike!

Into the Abyss

North Couloir

Did a great impromptu tour from Pebble Creek to Meridian Peak today and skied the Morocco Couloir in amazing deep powder conditons! Holy Cow!, we have had some good deep powder couloir skiing in the past few weeks!

Deep Powder Boot Pack

Morocco Couloir

Summited and skied Abiathar Peak today… deep powder conditions! So happy to have skied from the summit of one of the most significant and amazing mountains in the Greater Yellowstone Area!

ABIATHAR

Summit Snowfield Approach

Headwall Powder Turns

Big Fattie

Weather was supposed to be bad today, but ended up being perfect out. Perfect powder on all North aspects and stable conditions make for a good time! Skied a couloir off of Mineral Mountain that was to firm to ski about 10 days ago, Skied Off the summit of Miller to the north in powder and threw in another north facing couloir off of Miller ridge for good measure (face shots no less!)

Redemption Run

Dogleg Couloir

Dogleg Couloir

Bonus Run!

Just returned from a business trip to Bozeman and caught this cool picture from Slough Creek. My Yurt project has had its ups and downs, but I think I am gaining on it. Got my Sewer permit approved and just waiting for a couple of changes to some legal documents… Hope to have everything firmed up in the next week or so!

Lows and Highs

Got an early start this morning and took Barry and my 2 dogs to the top of Miller Mountain for a textbook Sweet Corn Ski Run. Perfect snow conditions! Don’t forget, the Sweet Corn Festival will be April 20th and 21 here in Cooke City. Book your room at the High Country soon!

Samson scoping his next big line

Barry on Rails

Miller Mountain

Things are starting to settle out again and found a little corn skinng to do with my wife and another friend visiting town. Starting to get a pretty good farmers tan.

Corn Skiing

Spent another beautiful day in the Beartooths doing a circumnavigation of Mount Zimmer. Linked up Snow Creek, Zimmer Creek, The Grasshopper glacier and Goose lake for a beautiful tour…even summited and skied the west ridge of Iceberg Peak along the way! Got to check out the cabin my buddy Mark lived in in 1974, still looking strong, just like Mark!

Zimmer Creek Butter Run

Future Projects

Grasshopper Glacier

Checking out his old Cabin