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Backcountry SkiingFeaturedWyoming
Brittany Walker Konsella

Mt. Moran Skillet Ski – My Bucket List (5 May 2019)

Really, the best time to ski the Skillet is early to mid-May. But, Jackson Lake is not frozen enough to cross, and not thawed enough to row. But, as I mulled over the idea of the Skillet with our friend Hans, I learned something new. Hans had moved to Jackson from Colorado in 2014, but we knew him from skiing in Colorado. He told me that he thought Mt. Moran could be approached from the String Lake Trailhead via Leigh Lake Trail, and that the road to String Lake opened up on May 1st. He hadn’t known anyone who had done it. But, looking on a map, it seemed easy enough – a 5 mile, mostly flat, approach to the bottom of the route and then a 5500 vertical foot climb from there. This would be a long one, but I’ve done longer, harder, steeper routes with greater vertical before. Avoiding Jackson Lake seemed like the way to go.

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Backcountry SkiingMontanaWyoming
Frank Konsella

Cooke City, Montana: Overview and Day 1.

Cooke City is mostly known as a snowmobile destination, though it has a small and committed group of sled skiers there as well. Cooke City is located more or less between the Absaroka mountains to the South and the Beartooths to the North. This convergence of ranges leads to snow- and a lot of it- in the Cooke City area. If you’re there for the first time, you can use Beartooth Mountain Guides as you get familiar with the area. Plenty of snowmobilers end up in Cooke City from places like Minnesota and the Dakotas, so if the thought of waking up every morning to the smell of two-stroke sounds appalling to you- well then you’ll miss out on the great skiing the area has to offer.

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