Backcountry Snowkite Dreams

noah · Since 19 Oct 2006 173 Posts Bozeman, Montana Stoked

Have you ever dreamed of a backcountry snowkite trip that opens new doors of awareness? Does the thought of being miles from the nearest road, of skinning up, up and away, far from your snowmobile, just to get to the kite launch sound difficult? How about something more committed than the usual park-n-ride? Does the idea of kiting over miles of challenging alpine terrain resonate to that snowkiter inside you? One never knows how ready you are until you put yourself to the test.

Backcountry snowkiting means pulling a lot of pieces together to make the dream come true. Weather, equipment, partners, snowpack, location, route finding, fitness, kite skills, avy awareness, and dumb luck all play a role in success. Fortunately for me and a couple friends, JJ and Dave, we were able to pull it all together and have a long weekend of backcountry adventure and excitement in the Absaroka Mountains outside of Cooke City, Montana.

It all started with the weather. Talk about lucky: 26 inches of fluffy new snow fell on the night of our arrival in Cooke City. In spite of our first night of hard drinking at the Miner’s Saloon, it was hard to fall asleep knowing what was awaiting us the next day. With clearing skies the next morning we anxiously loaded the snowmobiles with boards and kites and set off to find our route leading to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness boundary.

On a previous trip three years ago I gained some first-hand familiarity with the route. However this time, deciphering the unbroken way in all the new snow was a mind-bending challenge. A bit of bad luck came within the first hour when I misjudged my line through some tight timber. Here I smacked my sled’s left ski hard against a stout tree. This bump was enough to tear the suspension arm off the snowmobile and necessitated JJ towing me back into Cooke. Getting towed is no fun. To make matters worse, two miles before I got back to town the ski and suspension completely tore off from the sled. Fortunately, if you have to break down in Montana, the repair shop in Cooke City is the place to be. They can fix you. They had the parts, the skill and the time to wrench on my ailing snowmobile. Don’t ask how much it cost, the important thing is that I was back on the trail the next morning.

That next day our sleds pounded out the 10 mile route to the wilderness boundary without incident. No screw ups this time. Once there, we quickly launched our kites and tried to session into Goose Lake. Here we learned the narrow canyon leading to this mountain lake is a toilet bowl of circulating wind. After an hour I realized it was time to scratch that spot off my list. From there we retreated to a known kite spot by Lulu Pass. I’ve kited Lulu before and have always found clean wind, spectacular views and tons of untracked powder. That day was no exception. We kited all afternoon and into the evening getting our fix of freeriding in the mountains. It was immensely fulfilling to pull off spin after spin, launch long floaty glides and lay out miles and miles of tracks in the deep powder.

Our last day dawned clear and we knew that if we were going to make the dream come true we had to commit to the whole enchilada. Without hesitation we stomped on the throttle and made a bee line to the wilderness boundary. No route guessing this time, I now have that path wired. From there we slapped on our skins and began climbing our way to clean wind. Rapidly we ascended a ridge below Mount Fox. We made a short traverse and then climbed up another steep ridge. The higher we skinned the more we realized that we really needed to be more than a mile to the west. Oh well. Atop a steep couloir we peeled off our skins and got in a sweet gravity powered descent before we set off towards our goal.

A mile later we arrived at a point where I felt comfortable that I could get my kite up in the light west wind and ascend towards the alpine. Without hesitation my 13m Frenzy UltraLite and I quickly gained elevation. The kiting was super-technical. Winds were smooth but light. A steep section, kiting through sub-alpine timber, required total focus and planning. Three times I came to the point where I had to commit and three times I turned back. Finally, a decent gust came through and I made my move. A tense couple minutes kiting up through these fir trees and before I knew it I was home free! Freedom! Freedom to kite up huge alpine ridges, rip across expansive bowls of snow and marvel at the immense vertical world surrounding me. Up here there was not a tree in sight, just rock, snow and wind. In minutes I quickly kited up eight hundred vertical feet and began making lap after lap in this alpine playground. This is what I dream about. Now I am living the dream.

Having gravity and the power of the kite for propulsion is one of the ultimate qualities of kiting in the mountains. Boosting off snowy wind lips and screaming down mountain faces never gets old and it is one of the reasons that visiting wave kiters speak with awe and amazement when they have had a day kiting mountain terrain. Here in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness there are hundreds of square miles of committed backcountry mountains waiting to be kited.

Eventually the day wore on and I made a fast gravity and wind powered descent back into the sub-alpine zone and back down to JJ and Dave. For me a measure of a good kite spot is whether I would come back again. Yes, I will come back to Mount Fox! In fact all three of us look forward to coming back to this magical spot and hitting it fully powered on small kites. That day, we look forward to another successful adventure powered by wind, and dreams.

Thanks for reading and see ya out there,

Noah

lewmt · Since 04 Aug 2010 182 Posts MT Stoked

& foils definitely work best for skin-jobbing, light wind wilderness excursions - lesson learned!

Wanna-Go · Since 14 Sep 2009 95 Posts Central, Wa

Absolutely EPIC! Thanks for sharing!

J_Matic · Since 14 Oct 2011 158 Posts InDaHo Stoked

Great snowkite stokage, thanks for spreading the good word!!