Glacier Mountaineering Society

Sat, Feb 18 2012 - Flattop Mountain (6,549 ft) (View Original Event Details)

Coordinator(s):		Stephen Smith
Participants:		Stephen Smith, Tim Anderson, Frank Wesolovski, Denise Davies, Brian Kennedy, Jim, Brenda Griswold, James Hulvat

Write Up:
This alpine tour was relocated from the Smith house on Teakettle Mountain to Flattop Mountain at Marias Pass due to poor snow conditions on Teakettle. It was a wise move as the powder was much more plentiful at Marias Pass, with 6-8 inches near the summit after a recent snowfall. Jim Cossitt led us up the northeast ridge to the summit, and along the way Frank, James and Brian couldn't resist and did a short lap of skiing. After a brief stay on the summit, Frank led the entire group on a 200-ft ski descent down the north gully. We re-skinned to the summit ridge in the hopes of descending the northwest ridge or face, thereby making a nice loop out of the trip. By this point, the conditions had started to deteriorate into a nasty blowing wind with blasts of snow, decreasing visibility substantially. Navigation was reduced to dead reckoning. The coordinator negotiated a descending ski traverse of the northwest face and we eventually crossed the tracks of GMS members Joe and Denise Grabowski, whom we had met on the summit by coincidence. From that point, we were easily able to follow the yellow brick road back to the vehicles and the waiting refreshments - thanks Joe & Denise! In a strange but typical change in conditions, in just a few minutes' ski from the summit, the wind had dissipated and the temperature had elevated to a comfortable range. James' GPS recorded over 1,800 feet of vertical gain (including his two laps of skiing) and about 4.5 miles roundtrip. Thanks to Frank for serving as co-coordinator for this event. As soon as James stops skiing long enough to download his photos, the coordinator will upload some to the website! [Note: the above GPS image was from a 2009 trip.]

Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Tim Anderson at twamontana@gmail.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.