{"id":4820,"date":"2013-02-28T23:56:59","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T05:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=4820"},"modified":"2018-04-17T20:43:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T02:43:46","slug":"cooke-city-day-2-the-fin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/cooke-city-day-2-the-fin\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooke City Day 2 – The Fin"},"content":{"rendered":"

After gaining our bearings in the Cooke City area the first day, we had our sights on a few different lines. But, weather would determine what we chose to ski. When we awoke the next morning, it was code blue, and the Fin on Republic sucked us back in.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Frank and I headed out with our friends Tony and Doug. We made the slog through the forested skin track which eventually opened up to this:
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Yes, the Fin had been skied – quite a lot lately. But, the tracks didn’t make it any less alluring. These “spines” looked particularly interesting.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From the eastern side of the basin, there are several ways to approach the Fin, which lies on the west side. Not being very familiar with the area, we were happy to skin all the way around on the ridge to check out other potential ski lines, both near and far.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Woody Ridge.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Abiathar.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

The couloirs that lead off the summit of Republic tempted us, but we decided to save those for another day.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

But, the Fin was simply beautiful.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

The boys, at the top of the Fin, ready to ski.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Somehow, I convinced them to let me go first \ud83d\ude42
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

I let out a long-drawn “woot”. The snow was as good as it gets.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

From below, it was difficult to get pictures, except for the lower, more playful terrain. Frank.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Doug.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Tony.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

At the bottom, there was no discussion. We were going back up for more. The skin track, already well-established, was both beautiful and intimidating.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

But the second run was just as delicious as the first. Tony.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Though the light was turning flat from an approaching front, Frank ventured over to the spines we drooled over. He has dubbed them State Line Spines, as these lie on the border between Wyoming and Montana. He started out in Wyoming…..
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

And crossed the border into Montana a few turns later….
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

But, the day was not yet done. We still had to make our way out of the basin, and descend the couloirs we skied the previous day. The skin.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

The ski.
\n\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

\"Backcountry<\/p>\n

Republic delivered and we skied three fantastic runs that day. With it’s easy access and proximity to the town, it beckons skiers who arrive in Cooke City. But, we knew a whole lot more was waiting for us. We just had to head a little bit more northeast. We went to bed with dreams of powder turns in our heads…..<\/p>\n

\n

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche<\/a> skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.<\/p>\n

\n

Cooke City Posts:<\/strong>
\nDay 1<\/a>
\nDay 2<\/a>
\nDay 3 <\/a>
\nDay 4<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republic delivered and we skied three fantastic runs that day. With it’s easy access and proximity to the town, it beckons skiers who arrive in Cooke City. But, we knew a whole lot more was waiting for us. We just had to head a little bit more northeast. We went to bed with dreams of powder turns in our heads…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,27,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backcountry-skiing","category-montana","category-wyoming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432899,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions\/432899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}