2012/13 Big Horns North/South snow conditions
- Thread starter Himark
- Start date
When is the next chance for snow there??
S
Smilyncor
Well-known member
snow in south bighorns
Don't forget you can always call the lodge at 307-529-0914 to get the latest in this area.
KULR-8 out of Billings, MT is going to start putting the Bighorns on their state map and list Burgess Jct area. I'll be giving them all the updates too so they have first hand reports. (yes, even if it is bad news and no snow)
There are still areas of fresh powder no one had been on yet in this area. You do have to still be careful though.
Have guests staying with us and they came over from Bear Lodge parking lot. They said 14a had a few areas of no snow but sides and ditches along highway had enough to get around it. Had a family of 13 out here yesterday sleding in this area. They were beat when they came in. They found snow.
Here are a couple pics from this morning.
Corey
Wyoming High Country Lodge
307-529-0914
Don't forget you can always call the lodge at 307-529-0914 to get the latest in this area.
KULR-8 out of Billings, MT is going to start putting the Bighorns on their state map and list Burgess Jct area. I'll be giving them all the updates too so they have first hand reports. (yes, even if it is bad news and no snow)
There are still areas of fresh powder no one had been on yet in this area. You do have to still be careful though.
Have guests staying with us and they came over from Bear Lodge parking lot. They said 14a had a few areas of no snow but sides and ditches along highway had enough to get around it. Had a family of 13 out here yesterday sleding in this area. They were beat when they came in. They found snow.
Here are a couple pics from this morning.
Corey
Wyoming High Country Lodge
307-529-0914
S
Smilyncor
Well-known member
Snow in south bighorns
Hey folks...spent afternoon out with some experienced boondockers..I'm learning real fast. When going fast, don't suddenly let off the throttle....lol....fell off several times. Gravity does work and if you fall off at the top of a hill the sled will continue down without you...usually stopped by a tree....lol.
North of 14a near medicine wheel and FR14 and FR15 was wonderful and lots of powder...3ft deep. Starting to crust over though. Lot's of untouched meadows...just have to be careful of visible rocks. Still 50% chance of snow tonight and I will update in the morning. Also, I'm going out with the groomer in the morinng so I'll know more about trails and off trail conditions tomorrow afternoon and will update.
Hope you guys don't mind me posting and sharing all the time.
Corey
Wyoming High Country Lodge
South Big Horns
307-529-0914
Hey folks...spent afternoon out with some experienced boondockers..I'm learning real fast. When going fast, don't suddenly let off the throttle....lol....fell off several times. Gravity does work and if you fall off at the top of a hill the sled will continue down without you...usually stopped by a tree....lol.
North of 14a near medicine wheel and FR14 and FR15 was wonderful and lots of powder...3ft deep. Starting to crust over though. Lot's of untouched meadows...just have to be careful of visible rocks. Still 50% chance of snow tonight and I will update in the morning. Also, I'm going out with the groomer in the morinng so I'll know more about trails and off trail conditions tomorrow afternoon and will update.
Hope you guys don't mind me posting and sharing all the time.
Corey
Wyoming High Country Lodge
South Big Horns
307-529-0914
Not at all Corey your updates are very helpful! Thanks a bunch!
R
redbull660
Well-known member
Just got back from the Horns today. I have a place at Arrowhead Lodge and you have to ride the trails to get to anything good. Well ya better have ice scratchers cause your going to need them. There is snow off the trails to cool things off but you need to be careful cause the snow is just enough to cover up the rocks and stumps. Not looking good so far, at least at that end of the Horns.
Sounds like he had a good time. This lack of snow is killing me.
S
Smilyncor
Well-known member
NORTH end snow Big Horns
LOL... I guess I am on the north end.....near medicine wheel. Snow has not arrived like they said it would. It's 25 outside, no wind and clear skies. Still calling for 80% today and 90% tonight. Will see what happens and report back.
Corey
Wyoming High Country Lodge
307-529-0914
LOL... I guess I am on the north end.....near medicine wheel. Snow has not arrived like they said it would. It's 25 outside, no wind and clear skies. Still calling for 80% today and 90% tonight. Will see what happens and report back.
Corey
Wyoming High Country Lodge
307-529-0914
M
mtsummitx
Well-known member
Yes he did, it was actually probably a good thing for him the snow was so minimal so he could get used to the larger sled. Went from a Mini Z to a Summit 550F. Not so good for everybody else though
Trails that we were on around Elk View Inn and Bear Lodge were very smooth. Groomer was out running while we were out there. Not sure why though, not enough snow on the trails to turn into whoops in most places. There were a lot of places where the trails were a mixture of snow and gravel. Put on almost 70 miles yesterday on and off trail, probably need new carbides now
Did you not see the pics I posted? They were just taken this past thurs-fri.
Wyostephs where earlier this week.
Ricks Snow Report on Bearlodge website says: "Our average snow depth for 75% of the riding area is 20 to 30 inches. Snow depth at the lodge is 8 to 12 inches. Some riders report waist deep snow at higher elevations."
This is what we easily found, and no damage to 4 sleds!
You just have to look, and know what you see to find over the bumper pow all day long.
Also, I checked on my gps and the furthest we got from our pickup/trailer was 2.14 miles!!!!
36 miles ridden from 10AM-5PM, 80% of that time was in snow as pictured...
Last edited:
M
mtsummitx
Well-known member
Our snowfinder must need recalibrated
Actually we had an 11yr old on a new to him sled with us so we had to stick to areas that were good for his ability levels, couldn't go trekking through anything to gnarly searching for snow. In the areas easily accesible to a rookie, there is no snow!
The info from some lodges in the horns can be very deceptive I have been told the snow is great common out and to get to the few powder caches you drive over rocks and gravel wrecking sleds. I like smileys reports keep them coming. My resources say to wait till horns get more snow Its not worth the 9 hour drive. IMO the horns are the worst place to ride with low snow because of jagged rocks.
S
skidoorulz
Well-known member
Your sources are correct it would not be worth a 9 hour drive. Yea you can find the snow in the pictures that the guy said he never got more than 2.14 miles from the pickup but those pockets are very small and are all because of wind loading. We found spots just like what the pictures show but had them wore out in 15 minutes and we moved on to the next spot. As said we put on almost 70 miles south and north of Bear. It is quite a bit better to the south but to say it is great would be a lie. I have never ever seen the parking area bare blacktop except in late spring and I have been going up there for over 25 years. I would be PO'd if I drove 9 hours to ride in what we saw yesterday because someone told me it was great. And to say 75% of the area has 20 to 30 inches of snow wouldn't quite be fact either. I haven't seen so much sagebrush out sledding since I coyote hunted on snowmobiles back in the 70's and early 80's in eastern Montana.
Hey, I never said the snow everywhere is great.
But almost everywhere we rode it was!
There are lots of bare areas, lots of slopes with rocks and/or mesquite brush.
But also lots of areas as I pictured.
Look at the second picture I posted. On the opposite facing slope in background, you can see how thin the snow is. That is why we were riding on the opposite slope. It was like that all over the place. Good snow on this slope, look across a valley and bad snow level on that slope.
I tried to post pictures of what you can find IF you know how to look.
On the trail map provided at ElkView, we rode an area the size of my thumbnail! I hardly think we tracked up all availible snow that is like I pictured.
Definitely worth the 11 hr drive for us.
Now, if you want to ride trails, forget it.
If you want to mostly ride trails and play within 100yrds of the trail, maybe wait.
But if you have little or no snow at home, and you are itchen to ride really bad, and you can open your eyes and see where the snow is, and you are not afraid to get off the trail all day in the back country, then GO.
Your results may vary, but we never saw more than 1/4 mile of the trail to ride in snow as pictured all day!
If I stayed home because someone on SW said to wait, and then later found out from the guys that went they had the snow we did, I would be very dissappointed for staying home.
I took the 11hr trip based off of the pics that Wysteph posted.
I found conditions almost exactly as she posted.
I found her post on Current Snow Conditions in the Big Horns to be VERY accurate and helpful...
Sorry if my post and pics have offended to anyone, I thought at the time that I posted them they were fairly current snow conditions
.......
But almost everywhere we rode it was!
There are lots of bare areas, lots of slopes with rocks and/or mesquite brush.
But also lots of areas as I pictured.
Look at the second picture I posted. On the opposite facing slope in background, you can see how thin the snow is. That is why we were riding on the opposite slope. It was like that all over the place. Good snow on this slope, look across a valley and bad snow level on that slope.
I tried to post pictures of what you can find IF you know how to look.
On the trail map provided at ElkView, we rode an area the size of my thumbnail! I hardly think we tracked up all availible snow that is like I pictured.
Definitely worth the 11 hr drive for us.
Now, if you want to ride trails, forget it.
If you want to mostly ride trails and play within 100yrds of the trail, maybe wait.
But if you have little or no snow at home, and you are itchen to ride really bad, and you can open your eyes and see where the snow is, and you are not afraid to get off the trail all day in the back country, then GO.
Your results may vary, but we never saw more than 1/4 mile of the trail to ride in snow as pictured all day!
If I stayed home because someone on SW said to wait, and then later found out from the guys that went they had the snow we did, I would be very dissappointed for staying home.
I took the 11hr trip based off of the pics that Wysteph posted.
I found conditions almost exactly as she posted.
I found her post on Current Snow Conditions in the Big Horns to be VERY accurate and helpful...
Sorry if my post and pics have offended to anyone, I thought at the time that I posted them they were fairly current snow conditions
.......Similar threads
