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Home Fitness and Sports Fitness Best Car Serviced Skiing in America
Best Car Serviced Skiing in America PDF Print E-mail
Written by Rusty Squire   
I'm going to tell you about the easiest accessed, best-kept back country skiing secrets anywhere in the United States called the Beartooth Pass, so hang on to your hats and get ready to take notes. It pays to call the Montana Department of Transportation ahead of your trip to make sure the Pass is open because several feet of powder can fall up there well in to June. They can be reached at 1-800-226-7623.
by RustySquire


I'm going to tell you about the easiest accessed, best-kept back country skiing secrets anywhere in the United States called the Beartooth Pass, so hang on to your hats and get ready to take notes. It pays to call the Montana Department of Transportation ahead of your trip to make sure the Pass is open because several feet of powder can fall up there well in to June. They can be reached at 1-800-226-7623.


On Memorial Day weekend, at the end of May, the Beartooth Pass just 10 miles south of Red Lodge, Montana opens for car traffic. At the bottom of the Pass is the Glacier Lake Valley and road sit at about 7,000 feet of elevation. From that altitude the Pass climbs to almost 11,000 feet at the West Summit just over the Montana border in Wyoming. Some of the runs drop over 3,500 to even 4,000 vertical feet. There are lots of incredible couloir's (see photos) and enough high mountain fun for a wide range of ability levels.

The night before I big adventure friends from Bozeman stayed with us at The Spires at Red Lodge. By the time they left following our day of skiing I think they all wished that they owned some Red Lodge, Montana real estate.

Our day began up at the crack of 8:30 a.m. and by 9:00 a.m. we were dropping one vehicle up the Glacier Lake Road. Just before the base of the Beartooth Pass this road takes off to the right and you need to drive about 4 miles up the valley on dirt roads to get to the car drop spot. A big house-sized boulder is a dead giveaway and it pays to stop here and contemplate what route you are going to take to get down and pick out your markers if you are not a card carrying GPS user.

Our pick-up taken care of we headed off in to the heavens and the jaw dropping scenery that is the Pass. Just the car ride alone makes this whole trip worth it and the skiing is a bonus.

Between the east and west summits we check out our first conquest of the day which is called the Gardiner headwall. It is looking like good corn snow and we are psyched with anticipation of a great run. A few little slides on either flank tell us that there is a need to pay attention - ACHTUNG BABY!

Gardiner is awesome corn on our decent so we take the south (steep) side. At the end of our hike out we thumb back up to the car and begin our trek out Reefer Ridge following lunch. There are dozens of lines down to the Glacier Lake Road and there are dozens of ways to get trapped, or cliffed out only to find yourself hiking back out of that which you just skied. When you catch the right line it is pure heaven.

We found a beautiful 40 degree Couloir that allowed us to ski virtually to our car and, thanks to the main Rock Creek still being frozen we skied right over it (not wet boots). Get somebody to skier cut everything you ski at the top just to be safe as we kicked off a wet one that ran for 2,500 feet which got our attention. Check out this line for a car accessible ski it is pretty radical.

We then drove back up the Pass to get the other car and on the way back down dropped in to ski the Rock Creek headwall which is another 2,000 vertical feet of expert fun. Cold beers were awaiting in the car and on the way back in to town we all marveled at our good fortune getting to live in such a special place that has virtually no competition for the wide open spaces.

About the Author:

There are not many places with the affordable real estate and world-classs recreation like Red Lodge, Montana, where you can ski runs like Reefer Ridge. While you are in Red Lodge, Montana check out The Spires at Red Lodge This and other unique content 'red lodge mt real estate' articles are available with free reprint rights.

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