/ Published in Spark in the Field

Trip Report: Frazier Basin, Bridger Range, Montana

Robin Hill 1

By Robin Hill

Photos by Emma Light

Nov. 15, 2014

Late fall in Bozeman, Montana, fires the stoke, but also tests our patience. Every fall, I tell myself I am going to wait a little later to avoid the shark-fin infested slopes of the early season. I was doing well fighting the itch this season, until the cold snap hit last week, and the mountains turned white! Boom, just like that, I was in my car on the bumpy road to Fairy Lake in the Northern Bridgers.

I love that feeling mid-way through the season, when your legs are strong, and all of your gear works without a hitch. This was not one of those days. My skins just about blew out my shoulder as I tried to yank them apart. When I finally did, there was a nice layer of potato chip crumbles on the skin glue. These would make a nice addition to my un-waxed snowboard. Nice! After floundering around for a good ten minutes, we finally set off and skinned up and out of the parking lot towards Frazier Basin.

Robin Hill 2I’m not going to lie: I was feeling a little rusty out of the gates. On my first kick turn, I took a backward slide into my friend Emma, shooting photos for the day. She was super impressed!

As we crested the lower bench, we got our first glimpse at the cirque. This view always gets me; it’s like something out of Lord of the Rings with the big overhanging rock walls, and steep narrow couloirs. The rocks were covered in a beautiful white layer of frost. The shoots are definitely still a little sparse, but starting to see some coverage.

We dropped in on the south side of the cirque in a narrow, left-trending shot. It caught me off guard: It was narrow, with about two inches of light fluff on top of crust. Steep jump turns right off the bat — alright! Down in the basin, we tried to boot up a south facing chute, to no avail. The nearly bullet proof layer underneath the new snow limited out kick stepping abilities and sent me for another backwards slide into Emma. I bet she got some rad shots!

Despite the aches and pains, couple of dings to the board, and challenging snow conditions, it was great to get out on the snow with some friends. Stoked to get again soon — pray for snow!

Robin Hill 3Emma Light (@e.light.photography)