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Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area


dredman

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Just to the south of Red Lodge, Montana on the scenic highway that goes to Cooke City (near Yellowstone) is Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area.  They open typically as soon as the highway plowed open(Saturday), and close when the snow melts out (early - mid July). 

What this place lacks in grooming and terrain, it completely makes up for that with the people.  Everyone riding there is just so darn happy to be sliding on snow in such a beautiful place.  I got to spend the day up there today, carved a few turns, slid, hopped and skidded a bunch of turns and just had a grin on my face all day long.  

My board of choice was a 23 wide Coiler AMT 45/40 and my super duper soft flexing Raichle 125's with yellow springs.  Those boots ride more like soft boots.  This is also the setup I use for resort powder days.  

Beartooth added a winch cat this season and they are just getting things sorted out with it.  The first improvement was they dug out a bunch of the cornice that was pretty sketchy to navigate on icy days.  They are hoping that with the extra snow they got from the cornice they will be able to keep the lifts open longer and groom more often.  So there is hope that we will be able to really lay down some carves when they get it all sorted out.  

 

If you decide to make a trip this way, PM me and I will try and meet up with you.  I am most often free Sat-Mon.  

Cheers!

 

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It's on the bucket list. Meeting up with kids in Salmo and traveling down for some fun and sun. Probably need a wheelchair lift by the the time the border opens and vaccination levels are where it's safe to traverse the country. Nice to see that you don't have to jump off the cornice but I worry it will attract more never evers . I think you would need thunder thighs to get up that lift on the Skwal .

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Don't mind if I do!  As some of you may recall, I had the good fortune to be needed as a chaperone for a ski camp there last summer.  The closest thing we have to this in the east is Tuckerman Ravine.  Imagine Tuck's bowl with two poma lifts.  While Beartooth Basin is certainly not a destination resort, if you have any excuse to travel nearby (Red Lodge MT, Yellowstone) it would be well worth taking a detour to experience the Basin.  Here's some pics from our trip:

1. View from Beartooth Pass

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2. Beartooth Basin - it was a low snow year.  Pic taken June 19, 2020.

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3. wider view

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4. the top

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5. the bottom - there are no lift attendants at the bottoms of the lifts.  GYO Poma.

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6. some guy in a onesie

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7. and other characters...

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8. my daughter

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9.

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10. The Bear's Tooth - pointy spire in the middle:

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11. We did some car skiing further up the pass and the kids built a jump.  My daughter wanted to get a closer look at the bear's tooth:

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12. I got in on the action... #raddad

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13. Mountain goats.  This place is pretty remote.  You are like an hour from any kind of civilization in any direction.  Which is why the ice cream truck where they sell the lift tickets has a sticker with a picture of a gun pointed at you and the words "we don't call 911".  I felt like a UFO could land on one of these pastures, abduct a goat, take off, and nobody would believe me.

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14. so I don't leave this at 13, a pic of the parking lot at the top.  The basin is to the right.

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Wildfires and snowboarding! June 14, 2021

 

This picture is from about 9:30am, just a touch of smoke over the hill. Tomorrow will be the last day of season for Beartooth Basin, running very thin on snow.0T5A0260.JPG.48d792c612c9212a60a7d80e1f7cf017.JPG

This photo was taken at noon.0T5A0293.JPG

Yes, they will shoot, you are in Wyoming.  This is where you purchase your lift tickets.0T5A0277.JPG

Flags are very appropriate on Flag Day!0T5A0274.JPG

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