It was actually Lee (awesome rider), Rick was with us as well though the first day.
2011/12 Big Horns North/South snow conditions
- Thread starter Himark
- Start date
It was actually Lee (awesome rider), Rick was with us as well though the first day.
I
izzni
Well-known member
Burgess Junction area status:
Current conditions are extremely windswept. All of the obvious places to go are tracked up, so you really have to look around to find things. I'm sure if you know the area you can find stuff, but if you don't I wouldn't bother coming out.
There isn't really any snow north of Burgess Junction. The only semi-decent stuff is south of Bear Lodge.
Current conditions are extremely windswept. All of the obvious places to go are tracked up, so you really have to look around to find things. I'm sure if you know the area you can find stuff, but if you don't I wouldn't bother coming out.
There isn't really any snow north of Burgess Junction. The only semi-decent stuff is south of Bear Lodge.
Looks like the south end finally got some snow. Found some alright riding last weekend, but they do need some more snow didnt take any pictures. Looks like a storm rolling into that area today and tomorrow. Im in washington right now but planning on going up this weekend and will get some pics and give a better description on what i find. Looks like we need to start the snow dancing again!
If your in Washington now, you better have your sled with you???
will be out their late friday night. riding sat, sun, and part of monday.
where wld be the best direction to leave (from bear lodge) to find some good snow?
thanks
where wld be the best direction to leave (from bear lodge) to find some good snow?
thanks
I'd pay double that to not have to mess with carrying it from somewhere in cans or goin to dayton to get fuel.
I
izzni
Well-known member
I spoke too soon. I was out there from 30th of Jan to today, and on Monday and Tuesday the person who lead the group only knew the area north of Burgess Junction. Since there isn't much snow up there we spent the first couple days roaming over hardpack and wandering aimlessly down steep hills covered in rocks.
On Wednesday morning I started looking for north east facing slopes guarded by trees, and marked them on my Garmin Colorado 400 that I had fortunately loaded a whole boatload of satellite imagery and topographic maps onto. From Wednesday to today I was able to keep us in some really good snow.
West of Bear Lodge things are quite windsweipt, but we spent a half day in the area. If you go north of that really open area that seperates it from the south you end up in ravines. Most of those ravines are hardpack, but if you look hard enough some of the meadows are mint. At one point, after passing through about 50 feet of trees I managed to get us to a cool little meadow with about 3 feet of untouched perfect snow on it. So if your in that area there is some mint stuff, but you have to look really hard, or cheat with a GPS.
South of Bear Lodge there is some really good stuff on the side the ridges. The northern part of that area south of Bear Lodge is heavily trafficed, so you have to go high up on the ridges to find stuff that isn't tracked up, but it is there. South of Owen's creek on the West side of that highway that goes south there is some really good stuff to climb. The snow that they got mid week really made that stuff good, but again, if you get up on the side of the ridges, on the north eastish facing side you'll find awesome stuff, including some decent tree riding. In general this area has a lot of climbs that are more open.
South of Bear Lodge and east of the highway that runs south I found some of the best tree riding I have ever done. The snow in the trees is stupid deep, and off to the sides of the many forest roads there are awesome treed areas on slopes that are boatloads of fun. I even managed to find a couple of meadows out there that were mint.
In conclusion:
Conditions are good right now, but you have to know where to go. I don't know how many people at Bear Lodge I talked to that ended up trail riding mostly since all of the stuff near the trails is either windswept or tracked up.
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no new
2-4 Pics
Here are my pictures from saturday. Was a nice day, the nicest part was the wind did not blow at all! Anyways, the forecast is starting to look better, atleast chances of snow are back in the forecast. And for some reason that tree didnt want to be used as traction
Here are my pictures from saturday. Was a nice day, the nicest part was the wind did not blow at all! Anyways, the forecast is starting to look better, atleast chances of snow are back in the forecast. And for some reason that tree didnt want to be used as traction
Shelb,
That one picture looks like you need to keep working on your downhill technique.
I would of went downhill, but there was a big hump in the snow there, im guessing a huge rock. I could have dropped below that but it looked pretty sketchy. I wanted to stay away from trees for the rest of the day
This is what it looked like below me, that rock is right behind my sled there.
![432262_10150555925939300_748819299_8877334_1620153226_n[1].jpg](https://www.snowest.com/forum/data/attachments/136/136522-4388e8f6b2f778ffb3e9906cb0540c1a.jpg?hash=Q4jo9rL3eP "432262_10150555925939300_748819299_8877334_1620153226_n[1].jpg")
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