"All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it." H.L. Menken

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

12 Months 12 photogs: 2011 in Review.


January. Ranch chores in central Montana. Looking out to the Crazies.


February. The family pooch, on a a hike though the Billings table country.


March. The pretty views and perpetual boredom of being a lifty.


April. Sunset on Flathead with a PBR.


May. Griz tracks near Bowman. GNP.


June. High water and a .44 on the way to Grace Lake. GNP.


July. Bonfire near the trailhead, on the Blackfeet Reservation.


August. Getting out ass kicked on gable pass. No smiles.


September. Summit beers on Hollowtop.


October. The opening day of hunting season in the Whitefish range.


November. My 2by2. Near Lavina.


December. Old growth up Bass creek in the Bitteroot. Find Sarah on the trail to get some idea of the size.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Merry Xmas Missoulian Pebble Wranglers.

Here is what I got you for Christmas...


...The Muskox.


...and she's featured.


Sarah in awe.


Another look, and another potential line.


The steep side, good looking holds all the way up. The frozen creek adds a certain x factor..


Zoomed out.


...And if your into this kind of thing.

Located up Bass Creek, which makes its even closer to Missoula than Kooter (though the hike is comparable to Sweathouse). Take a left when the trail forks. Sure I this was the only worthwhile pebble I saw, but, I am very confident it'll be worth your time. I'd guess between 5-6 problems. The steep side might only be climbable when the creek is frozen ...or some landscaping may be required.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Crow peak fail fest.

With the prospect of two weeks locked in the library ahead of me (god damn finals), I decided I was going to spend saturday in the mountains by hell or high water. I've had my eye on doing a snowshoe up Crow Peak, the high point of the Elkhorns for some time, and figured an early december solo mission would be a good send off before a descent into academic hell. 10 degrees and 30 mph swirling winds, however, ensured that this respite would make 5 hour chem study sessions sound cozy. Sure I'd read the weather report.... but sometimes its worth just trying to get out.

While the majority of the blame goes to myself... I'd like to extend a little of it to Cedron James, author of the new book, "Peakbagging Montana: A guide to Montana's major peaks." This book is worthwhile for preliminary ideas for a trip, but should not, I repeat not, be counted on for route info on the ascent. See the above photo of my jaunt through ankle-break-alley, the recommended route for marginal snow conditions for a reference.

I plan on doing some ski touring in the area later in the season. Or perhaps just relocating to the badass ghost town of Elkhorn. Wish I'd snapped a picture, but my hands were too cold to operate the camera.

Monday, November 28, 2011

high plains thuggery.

Haystacks in the Little Blackfoot valley.



Horses and a highline monsoon. Near Virgil MT.


Badland.


The Missouri, near Ft. Benton. Highlands in the background.


Mo, South of Cascade.


2-by-3.

Friday, November 4, 2011

hunter's orange

...no climbing nor much else. to busy learning that hunting is time consuming, and involves waking up at ungodly hours.


nature's orange


first light, opening day. whitefish mts.

P.S. I went mt. biking at lewis and clark caverns state park and was impressed by the amount of limestone along the Jefferson. Does anybody know why this area has not been bolted for climbing? Perhaps some of that maddy limestone is chossy (as per usual), but the wall were the cave is looks excellent. Beta please!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Mean like a Butte girl.


M.L.B.G. Mean like a Butte Girl.


Chickenhead on MLBG.


Wild apples. I ate aprox 12.


Make War not Love.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

rain soaked circuits, gems, and photogs.

Looking to overcome my soft-serve girl strength, I decided some training was in order. Lacking any indoor climbing facilities (that I know of) I decided that a climb-till-you-puke-circuit was a good idea. Rain in the forecast had me gambling that Whiskey would be dry. It wasn't, but I still managed to climb a little anyhow. ...Turns out, projecting old warm ups is not so fun, but not pulling hard also allowed me to "rediscover" some rad, often overlooked, moderates.

On the way back the Butte, I stopped to oogle a boulder I'd stumbled upon earlier. Due to some old school advertisement i've dubbed it eh Corporate Graffiti boulder. Looks like it should give up some excellent lines.


Intersection of Rader Creek and "Ranger Ridge."


The Corporate Graffiti boulder. ...gunna be a great one.


Another angle. big slopey rails.


Hold out from the railroad days.


Last light on the East ridge. There's rock in them there hills.


October snow in the Highlands.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Chalk on rock.

As per request, I got off my ass and jammed my feet back into my climbing shoes... forgot how much that part sucks. I only actually got pics of one line, but its a pretty stellar one.


The approach.


The Frank Little boulder.


Standing at the start of the line.


Crux-punt.


Purdy sunset.


Not so purdy stripmine.


On our walk out we stumbled upon these two. I'm pretty sure they were getting ready to bone down, but the beeping of my camera kept ruining their mood.

More soon.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Butte-opia? Virgin boulders abound!

Old habits die hard. After enduring the world's longest winter in Red Lodge, then spending the my summer in choss-monster country (Glacier), I haven't really been out climbing much. In fact, I've only been bouldering a couple of times in the last 6 months, and I am currently as weak as 7 year-old girl. But my favorite part of climbing (aside from drinking beer and heckling from the luxury of a crash pad) has always been tramping around through the forest, looking for new lines. That's why I like MT climbing so much.

Now that I've moved to Butte, I've decided weakness be damned. Besides locking myself in the library and dodging meth-heads, what else is there to do?

The first couple of times I went out scouting, I generally left bummed. It seemed to be one featureless fin after another. But recently I stumbled upon some excellence. I'm sure a couple of these have been spotted before, but I don't think many (if any at all) have been climbed.

I believe all these lines go, and that most of them are currently to hard for my ass. With that said, I didn't even lace up my shoes. Let me know if any of these boulders have been climbed, or if your interested in getting your FA on.



Perhaps the most difficult looking line I peeped. While it may appear to be blank, it actually has a variety of bomber (not sharp) crimps, and good sit start. What I 'm guessing is the crux involves finger stacking in the drill seem. Note my backpack for size comparison. I suspect someboy has looked at this before.


A close up on one of those crimps.


Big ol' easily accessible block.


Close up on its big slopey arete.


Big boy. 20' or more, complete with slopey huecos.


Steep line of crimpy seems. Looks burl.


Gigantor. Note the 6' tall sampling being dwarfed. I had to jump just to feel the starting holds.


Same block different view.


Bell of the ball. Contains perhaps the single coolest line I saw.


No batholith area would be complete without at least one rail traverse (or 8). Added bonus is the huck-for-the-lip finish.


Due to the poor photo quality I forgive you for thinking this is a crack, but its actually the world's longest jug.


Yet another rad looking boulder.


A steep saucer with features underneath? I was shocked too.


Close up of the excellent looking rail used to gain the lip.


Due to impending darkness and steep hiking I never made it to this cache. But boy do I want to.

Peace.