Pinball Wizard Gully

The Pinball wizard is a classic line close to Missoula and one of the more popular Bitterroot ski descents. I had heard about this line and tried to ski it 3 years ago when I was a freshman at UM. My roommate and a friend we had met days prior walked up Little St. Joe and after a grueling hike that took it out of all of us we reached the top at around 3:30 pm. Daunted by the look of the ridge walk and the navigating of the gendarmes we decided to retreat back down Little St. Joe. I decided it was finally time to give it another go this season and on January 26 my girlfriend Maddie, her friend Kincaid and I drove out to the Bass Creek trailhead with the goal of skiing the Wizard.

We planned on leaving town that morning at 7 and picking up my buddy Brennan along the way. However I unfortunately set my alarm for 6pm instead of 6am and we woke up around 7:45am. Because of this blunder Brennan bailed on us and poor Kincaid was waiting at the Fresh Market parking lot for 45 minutes before he went home as well. After a couple phone calls and loosely  throwing our things together, Maddie and I were out the door at 8:20. 

We met up with Kincaid and arrived to the Bass Creek TH at around 9:15 or so. I was feeling a little tired from going out to Bass Peak(ish) with Kaleb just 2 days prior but was relieved that there was enough snow to tour straight from the car. The going up little st. Joe went very smooth, the weather was nice and we were able to cruise up pretty quickly. 

Maddie touring up Little Joe 

We reached the top in about 4 hours and there we ate lunch took a couple photos and scoped out the ridge traverse. The ridge traverse was what turned me around last time, however this time I figured that the rock gendarmes could be bypassed by sticking to the lefthand side of them. We made our way down the ridge and it wasn't long before we removed our skis (and boards) and started walking down the wind scoured ridge. After a short walk down some scree we made it to the first gendarme. We put skis back on and started touring down left under the gendarme. The navigating in here was slightly schwacky, and after a little schwack we were back on the ridge and passed the first gendarme. Some more touring on the ridge brought us to the next gendarme and the navigating here was similar, slightly schwacky. Once past the final gendarme we were on the much more clear and manageable saddle making our way to the top of the line. 

Maddie and Kincaid dodging the gendarme

There are a couple options one can pick to get into the actual PBW gully. You can drop straight down the bowl from the saddle and into the mouth of the line, or you can keep touring up the ridge and access various little chutes that sit a little above the PBW gully. We opted to just drop into the bowl from where we were. We dug a pit and found stable conditions, the sun was blasting the snow all day however the temps were not super high that day, so the snow in some places was quite hard pack. We transitioned and dropped in, making nice turns in the snow that was gradually getting softer as we went down. We stayed high right in the bowl, avoiding a flat litle area that hangs directly above the line. 

We skied down just a little further to the mouth of the gully and from there we were looking right down the line. The skiing in this upper part was pretty decent and we were able to make some good turns. Maddie and I dropped into a little chute on the left side of the gully which we thought would have better snow in it... 

After that part the gully began to open up and we could now see the entire line down to the creek. The skiing in this part was good, pretty much the whole way down we made turns taking up the entire gully and the lower down we got the softer the snow got. However when we started nearing the bottom things really thinned out and the creek that runs down the PBW was exposed. We navigated this by staying high left and eventually got to a spot where we had to side step up because we got "cliffed out" in a sense. Maddie for the past couple years has been dealing with some knee problems and unfortunately when trying to get up from being cliffed out jumped and heard a pop come from her knee, which we think was her meniscus tearing. However Maddie is a beast and she proceeded to hike up the slope a little further, put her snowboard on, and ride to the bottom of the line. 

Maddie shredding down the wizzard

Looking back up the wizzard

The three of us wasted no time and when we were all together in the field below the PBW we kept skiing down to the Bass Creek trail. From here we skied (and pulled the snowboarder) down the trail until we reached the creek crossing. From there we side stepped up (the snowboarder walked) to where the trail began going down hill again. 

"Now be careful through this part, you get going pretty fast." I told them 

After the other day with Kaleb when we skied down this part I decided that this time I would wear my helmet. The luge down this part of Bass Creek is fast and alot of the time you are blindly skiing through the willows on the trail that are growing very big. There are also not many places to shed your speed easily so skiing in control is very important through here. Luckily this year there is a good bit of snow so most of the rocks are covered up through this part. 

We skied it with no problems and were soon at the flat part of the trail. Once past this we rode the rest of the trail back to the car and made it there before dark. 

The PBW gully is a great day out and in my opinion is best skied by going up Little St. Joe. Some parties have toured up Bass Creek and then skinned up the line however, by going up little st. Joe you get excellent views, a little more adventure and a great Bitterroot, peak to creek run. 

Bass Peak(ish)

On January 24 I toured up Bass Creek along with Kaleb with intentions of skiing low angle pow in the Lappi Lake area. We left town at the leisurely hour of 7:30 or so and began touring right from the car less than an hour later. The touring went very smoothly and quickly and along the way we shared conversation about how we were both feeling quite "un-ski-fit" and other various topics. As we moved along the trail we both "ahhh-ed" and "oooh-ed at the frozen Bass Falls and other various frozen water flows we could spot high and low on the canyon walls. Eventually we passed the point which one turns to get to the Bass Crags, which at that time was the furthest I had ventured down bass creek. 

Bass Falls 

We were expecting the weather to be bad that day and so we were both surprised when around 11 o'clock the sky was blue and the breaking clouds were allowing the sun to peek through. Soon we crossed the creek and were right below the Pinball Wizard gully, which I had tried to ski two years ago with some friends. It was cool to see it for the first time and to see the other cool gullies that cam off of it. The further down the canyon we got the more I realized just how incredible Bass Creek is. It seemed like there was endless opportunity for skiing in there. One could find everything from low angle glades and meadows, to steep and complex chutes and lines. Big open faces and long steep slide paths as well as small hidden gully's and couloirs. And these are only the things one can see from the trail. Kaleb was telling me about a couloir above Lappi that that we could potentially check out and from the trail it was not visible. As we got to the turn off for Lappi it was relatively early in the day and the weather was still surprisingly really good. 

"Dude, the weather is really good," Kaleb said to me. 

"I know right, this is pretty sweet," I said.  

"Would you maybe want to change plans and go to Bass Peak?" He asked. 

I thought for a second. Bass peak is around 10 miles down the drainage, which is quite far. The weather is still really good and my legs, body and excitement to be exploring Bass were all feeling really good too.

"Hmmmm." I thought. 

"Dude, I'm down." I said. 

Beauty further down Bass Creek 

With that quick decision made we continued up the trail past the turn for Lappi and at that point the skin trail ended. This excited me because I was thinking that we were the first ones to venture that far this winter. As we moved along the trail I spotted more and more cool looking lines, each of which I was making mental notes about how and when I would ski. We got to right below the south face of Big Joe and stood there admiring how actually "Big" Big Joe is. Further up the trail the Joes meaner brother, Stormy Joe became visible and so did his complex south face. Chutes and couloirs crissed and crossed all over that face and I was feeling very inspired by what I saw. After gawking at the mountains around us and taking a quick snack break we continued up to the frozen Bass lake. 

Kaleb Pointing at the nice lines on Stormy Joe 

Kaleb eating an egg 

Here we drank some more water and then started moving over the frozen lake. We toured side by side across the lake and at this point Bass Peak, or so we thought, was sitting right across the lake. More cool looking lines and chutes towered above the lake and all around us was the backcountry skiers paradise. We got across the lake very quickly and began making our way up to the top. The beautiful weather we had been basking in was now starting to disappear and replace with wind gusts and snow. 

"There goes our nice weather." I thought. 

Making our way across the lake 

Working our way up 

But as we got higher up the mountain the weather broke revealing the lake below us and the blue sky that was still visible through the thin clouds. Then 5 minutes later it was back to snow and wind and cloud. This game of cat and mouse with the weather continued on during our journey to the top and when at the top it was obvious that the good weather was really gone this time. I stood on the summit and took it all in, looking at the stunning landscape I was able see from there. I noticed that close behind me was a rocky ridge line that lead into the clouds and I figured that it was just another obscure bitterroot peak, however I learned later that day that it was actually the proper Bass Peak. 

Bass Peak proper 

We transitioned, decided what aspect and slope we wanted to ski, and began our descent. Right as we did something rare and very special happened. The clouds and snow disappeared and the sun shone down on us. It was incredible. We stopped, looked around and laughed, took some photos, and skied down the SE face of what we thought was bass peak. The skiing was great, we went one at a time making big turns down the virgin slope and then cut back across the face and made our way down the east facing slopes we initially toured up. We got back to the lake feeling good about what we had skied. 

The weather Cleared

Kaleb tearing it up 

Our turns down a nice little gully 

"Well now the question is, do we do another lap?" Kaleb said to me. 

I laughed and thought about doing that. 

"Yea, I mean it is 4 o'clock." I said. 

We decided that we would cash in our awesome day and head back to the car before it was too dark. We cruised from the lake to the creek crossing with skins on (which I think now would have been much faster in ski mode) and then transitioned and blasted down the trail all the way back to the car just before it was completely dark out. Very happy with our day and feeling pretty tired we drove back to town. 

Looking back on our way out