Salmon,
"Winter" 2011 --- 2012
Author: Cliff
Keene Latest revision: 03/28/12 Search for
* (asterisk) to find these recent changes --- and ** for any future
minor changes.
Click on the following links for previous
year trip reports:(No reports for 2009-2010 or 2010-2011)
2008-2009
2007-2008
or 2006-2007
or 2005-2006
or 2004-2005
or 2003-2004
Trips.
When you read these reports, it may help to learn more about our trails using the following
Williams Cr. Area Ski Trails Links: (Hit the refresh button if one of these seems to stop
loading.)
Trail
Descriptions Trailhead
Locations Trail Map Trail Segment table
Chief Joseph Lost Trail Pass Area
Trail Links: Lost Trail Chief
Joseph Un-groomed Trail Segment Table
Chief
Joseph Groomed Trails Map or Chief
Joseph Area Un-Groomed Touring Trails Map <- This is an excellent map.
Click on one of the following to
jump to that section. Hit the Back button to return here.
Note: Format changed in 2011-2012 so
that the latest trip is on top and earlier trips are below. Last 2 trips last
year are on bottom.
A. MARCH - APRIL 2012
TRIPS
(To see early March trips click on February
and scroll upward)
B. FEBRUARY, 2012 TRIPS (To see early February trips click on January and scroll upward)
C. JANUARY, 2012 TRIPS
(To see early January trips, click on
"December" and scroll upward)
D. DECEMBER, 2011 TRIPS (To see early December trips, click on "April - November" and scroll upward)
E.
April 2011 --- November 2011
(Mostly Work Days) (To see April - October trips, click on Web Site Statistics and scroll
up.)
F. . Web Site Statistics
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Unless it looks like
we are getting good corn snow I probably won't schedule any April Trips. |
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March, 2012 TRIPS |
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*03/25/12 |
Grp Ski 13: Marlene, Tim and Nancy drove to the Meadow TH and skied
the Meadow Spur and around the Wapiti Loop and then down the Meadow Trail to
the Wapiti Cutoff and over to the Wapiti Trail again and back to the TH. The
snow was a little icy at first but by the end it was starting to get sticky.
Apparently the snow had not yet started to "corn up" so we are now
in an in-between spring condition. After the ski trip Cliff & Marlene, Tim & Nancy, Bob &
Nancy, Judy, Anita and Tawna met at Bertram's for and "end of the ski
season" get-together". Thanks everybody for the gift certificate. |
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*03/11/12 |
29 Grp Ski 12: Cliff & Marlene, Tim, Dave, Lou, Anita and Tawna
skied the "Horselog Trails" and lower Mukluk Trail. We start at the
Lower Shoshoni TH which is about 0.6 miles past William's Cr. Summit. We then
ski down the old road about 0.1 mile to a switchback (This is also the end of
the Lower Shoshoni Trail which enters from the left at the switchback.) We
turn right at the switchback and ski down the old road and bear left and
cross Moccasin Cr. and then we climb up a moderate grade to the first spur to
the right. We pass this spur and then pass another spur to the left and climb
up to the |
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03/03/12 |
28 Grp Ski 11: We'd planned to ski Richardson Ridge, but only 2 showed
up to ski at the Stagecoach (I was sick) so Anita and Dave skied south from
William's Cr. Summit on the Ridge Road. I just found out that Janice (from the Bitterroot) and Ruth were
waiting for us up at Chief Joseph. Sorry for the last minute change. I think
they had good skiing on the groomed trails. |
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02/26/12 |
28 Grp Ski 10: We
cancelled our planned trip on the Cabinet Cr. Trail due to expected difficult
trail breaking in deep snow. Instead we skied the William's Cr. Trail. Marlene & Cliff, Gene, Lou,
Ruth, Anita and Tawna drove to William's Cr Summit after leaving a shuttle
vehicle at the Lower Aspen Loop. We skied north 2 miles up the Joel, Marla and others skied
the Wapiti Loop and we saw where others had skied the Buckhorn Trail and
possibly the Upper Aspen Loop. Shoshoni Meadows was also skied. |
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02/19/12 |
27 Grp. Ski 09: Tony & Anita skied again at Lost Trail. Cliff & Marlene, Tim & Nancy, Bob & Nancy, Paul & Judy, Lou, Dave, Anita and Tawna drove to the Meadow TH and skied up the Buckhorn Trail to the "Big Meadow" where we ate lunch. We skied down the William's Cr. Trail to the Upper Aspen Loop. Part of the group skied back on the Upper Aspen Loop and walked up the road to the vehicles. Trail breaking was slow due to the deep un-skied snow. The rest of us skied down to the end of the William's Cr Trail at the big fir TH. The snow is now deep enough to cover the rocks by the creek crossing. The snow was fairly good. |
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02/18/12 |
26 Pvt. Ski: We wanted to
view the Montana Snow Kite Festival which was headquartered in |
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02/17/12 |
25 Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Anita, and Tony skied at Lost Trail. We primarily
skied the "Sac-Jac Trees" to the north of the Sacajawea Ski run.
After skiing Marlene met us in the parking lot and we drove to Jackson Hot
Springs where we soaked in the hot pool, ate supper and spent the night. |
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02/12/12 |
24 Grp. Ski 08: I may not have everyone listed but the trip location
is correct: I think Cliff, Marlene, Tawna, Anita, --- and Janice and Judy
from the Bitterroot met at Chief Joseph. We skied out the groomed Timber
Trail to Windy Corner and up an ungroomed logging road 0.1 mile to the start
of the Scooter Trail. We skied out this trail to the "Big Clearcut"
and a little past to where we start climbing and we ate lunch. The trail had
been skied so we didn't have to break trail. (After climbing awhile we came
to a spot where skiers had spent the night the previous Tuesday. They'd left
to ski this trail too late and had to spend the night with a fire and space
blanket. Click
Here and Click
Here for details.) The snow was great but after reaching the Shoofly
Trail we took the easier route because the snowmobile had come up the steeper
route. We skied back to our shuttle vehicles at the Cabinet Cr. TH. The trip
took about 3.75 hours (not counting lunch) and was about 6.2 miles. |
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02/09/12 |
23 Pvt. Ski: Again I've lost my notes but I think it was Cliff, Wayne,
Tim, Gene and Dave. We left a vehicle at the Lower Aspen Loop and drove to
William's Cr. Summit. We skied up the |
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02/07/12 |
22 Pvt. Ski: I've lost my notes but I think it was Cliff, Wayne, Tim
and Lou. We skied up the Buckhorn Trail and down the William's Cr. Trail to
the Jct. of the Perreau Meadows Trail where we turned right and took a
shortcut through the trees back to the Buckhorn Trail. We then skied back to
the Meadow TH and down the Meadow Trail toward Cougar Point, but at the
" |
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02/04/12 |
21 Grp. Ski 07: Bob & Nancy, Cliff & Marlene, Gene, Tim, Lou,
Dave, Anita and Tawna, and Janice from the Bitterroot met at Chief Joseph. We then shuttled vehicles to the start of
the West Camp Cr. Road 2.4 miles north of Lost Trail Pass. After helping with
the shuttle Bob & Nancy skied out the |
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02/03/12 |
20 Pvt. Ski: Cliff & Marlene, Gene & Kathy, and Robert drove up to the |
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02/02/12 |
19 Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Gene, and Tim went up William's Cr. and left a rig
at the |
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01/31/12 |
18 Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Gene, Dave,
and Tim went up William's Cr. and left a rig at the Big Fir TH (the
bottom end of the William's Cr). Trail. We essentially duplicated the Friday
01/27/12 Trip - even to the point where most of us missed the trail just past
the Upper Aspen Loop Jct. There is now one ski track going correctly - refer to the caution on trip # 16 below.
We found the snow similar in that at times we would break through, however
there were stretches where we were able to make some good turns. |
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01/29/12 |
17 Grp. Ski 06: Cliff & Marlene, Paul & Judy, Nancy, Dave,
Anita and Tawna drove past William's Cr Summit to the Lower Shoshoni TH (CLICK
HERE for map) and shuttled a
vehicle down to the Mukluk TH (not shown on map). We found the snow too soft
for dogs so Judy & Nancy took the dogs and skied the Meadow Spur and
Wapiti Meadows Loop. The rest of us skied down the old road 100 yards or so
to the point where the Shoshoni Trail comes in from the left. The road (which
I call the Horse-Log Road) switches back to the right and goes downhill and
crosses Moccasin Cr. We skied up this road and past a spur to the right and
two to the left. The road then bears right and drops downhill. We ate lunch
in a clearing on the left. At this point an "easier route" marked
with blue flagging goes left and then down to the right. A very steep route
(marked with orange flagging) goes straight downhill. The snow was soft
enough that we didn't get up any speed. At the bottom of this 100 yard
section we hit the first spur that we'd crossed earlier. We skied back on
this spur to the point where blue flagging marks a steep connector road to
the left that goes down to tie in with the Mukluk Trail. However in 200 feet
or so there is a gentler by-pass to the right, marked with blue flagging,
which avoids the steep section. After the steep section the road then
continues at a gentle grade to tee into the Mukluk Trail. Its then 1/4 mile
or so back to the Mukluk TH. |
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01/27/12 |
16 Pvt. Ski: Cliff, Gene, Joel,
and Lou went up William's Cr. and left a rig at the Big Fir TH (the
bottom end of the William's Cr. Trail. We drove to the Meadow TH and skied up the Buckhorn Trail and ate lunch
in the "Big Meadow" where the Buckhorn Trail (#224) crosses the
William's Cr. Trail (#078). CLICK
HERE for a map showing this Junction just right of center. We then followed
the William's Cr. Trail down to the Jct. of the Upper Aspen Loop (#223). Caution if you are following our tracks we dropped too far down to the
right after this Jct. If skiing the William's Cr. Trail watch for the sign on
the left marking the Trail Jct. (However Trail #223 actually comes from the
right) After this point look for the BLUE DIAMONDS and not the ski tracks and
bear slightly left. Once we discovered our mistake we climbed up
to our left and regained the trail. Generally the snow was good but slow and
occasionally we broke though causing a few spills. After passing the Jct. of
the Lower Aspen Loop (also #223) we skied down to the creek crossing.
Caution, just before the creek crossing there is a chance of hitting a rock
due to shallow snow. |
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01/21/12 |
15 Grp. Ski 05: Cliff & Marlene, Paul & Judy, Bob & Nancy,
Lou, Robert, Anita and Tawna drove to Chief Joseph and skied out to the
Richardson Creek Trail. Bob, Nancy, Paul and Judy (and dogs Norman &
Wylie) skied back to the parking lot and drove down to the Richardson Ridge
TH to pick the rest of us up. There was almost 5 1/2 feet of snow at the
gauge by the road and we noticed that the blue diamonds were noticeably
"lower" than on our last trip. (Now if we could only get some new snow
west of Salmon as well). We got caught in a short blizzard on the way down
and were barely able to see the trail for 15 minutes or so. I may have to
start packing goggles (which I do when downhill skiing). The snow surface was
a little heavy so we weren't able to make too many turns. |
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01/14/12 |
14 Pvt. Ski. Cliff & Marlene drove
up William's Cr. past Cougar Point to
the Big Fir Trailhead (TH) on the right. This is the lower TH for the William's Cr. Trail which starts on the
Ridge Road 2 miles north of William's Cr. Summit. The trail follows an old
stock driveway. Skiing up and back
from this lower TH is a good moderate exercise ski. Initially it follows
an old road about 0.4 miles up to a short steep pitch with an unmarked
by-pass to the left and then bending right back to the road and shortly the
"road" is reclaimed to a single track. At about 0.7 miles the trail crosses
a creek and becomes steep. Beginning skiers should turn back here. We
continued up - switching back and forth to the Junction with the Lower Aspen
Loop Trail at about 0.9 miles. At this point the junction is actually a
triangle so we skied left across a meadow to the next leg of the triangle and
then right up to the next leg of the triangle for a total up distance of 1.1
miles (about 1h 15min). Skiing the next leg of the triangle to the tight we
were back to the start of the steep downhill at 1.2 miles and back to the
parking lot at about 2.1 miles. Snow
depth was only about 5" in places but it was a good enough base that we
didn't hit any rocks. With the predicted snowfall this trail should be
suitable except that down-climbing might be needed just above the creek
crossing. On the way back we stopped for about 20 min to cut limbs and drag a
downed tree out to the trail. Total time was about 2hr 10min and total ski
time was about 1hr 50 min. I logged this trip onto a "MapMyFitness"
web page using an Android smart phone GPS application. |
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01/07/12 |
13 Grp. Ski 04: We all drove up to the Chief Joseph Parking lot where
we met Janice from the Bitterroot side. Cliff & Marlene, Paul & Judy,
Anita, Nancy, and Robert skied out past the Richardson Cr. Trail to the 1st
big Meadow where we ate lunch. We skied back to the "South Extension of
the Marlene and Robert drove down to the Richardson Cr. TH and picked up
Cliff & Janice. |
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01/03/12 |
12 Pvt. Ski. Cliff & Gene drive to Chief Joseph where Cliff picks
up raffle tickets for the Bitterroot XC Club's "Extravaganza".
Tickets will be $1 or $5 for six tickets and will be sold at the Salmon
Chamber of Commerce and the Odd Fellows Bakery. Cliff & Gene then drive
to the bottom of the Richardson Cr. Trail and skin up to the 1st saddle and
eat lunch. We return but angle off the trail and drop down through trees to
Joseph Cr and back to the car. The snow is a little heavy and we don't get in
too many turns. We did get a good exercise. It took abut 1.5 hours to skin up
about 0.9 miles and about 50 minutes to ski down (also about 0.9 miles) |
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01/01/12 |
11a Grp Potluck 03a: At 05:30 PM we had a potluck at Bob &
Nancy's. Others attending included: Robert, Cliff & Marlene, Leslie &
Dan, Chuck & Mona, Nancy & Tim, Paul & Judy, Joel & Marla,
Lou, Tawna and Anita. |
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01/01/12 |
11 Grp. Ski 03: We all drove up to the Meadow TH below William's Cr
Summit. Marlene, Nancy, Paul, Judy, Nancy, and Lou skied out the Meadow Trail
Spur and around the Wapiti Loop and back. Cliff, Tim, and Joel & Marla
skied up the Buckhorn Trail to the William's Cr. Trail at the "Big
Meadow" taking about 1.25 Hours. (It's about 1.3 miles.) We skied back
in about 40 minutes. Conditions were much improved on both trails. The rocks
on the Buckhorn Trail appeared to be all covered and the truck tracks
previously on part of the Wapiti Loop were covered. We didn't test it but
it's likely that the skiing would be safe on the Meadow Trail down to the
"Cutoff" to the Lower Aspen Loop and also on the William's Cr.
Trail to the Lower Aspen Loop. |
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12/30/11 |
10 Pvt. Ski. Cliff, Brenda, and Judy ski at Lost Trail. It was our 1st
day downhill skiing and it was snowing hard so we didn't get in too many
runs. We made several runs on the Far Out - Southern Comfort runs and a
couple from the midpoint of Chair 4. The day before they'd received over
12" of new and chair 4 wasn't open. They'd received over 2" the
previous night which made for fairly good powder on Chair 4. Note that in three days Thu - Sat Dec 29-31 the Snotel depth doubled
going from 23" 47" and back to 46" on Jan. 1st. This is still
not average depth but much better. |
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12/29/11 |
09 Pvt. Ski. Cliff, Marlene, Brenda, Judy and Pat ski south from the
Chief Joseph Parking Lot on the |
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12/24/11 |
08 Pvt. Ski. Cliff, Marlene and Brenda essentially repeat Thursdays
ski except we only ski part way up the by-pass. We also find and ski the
short loop that starts at the Jct. with the 1st road to the left
off the Mukluk Trail. We skied about 2 miles and about 1.5 hours. Part of the
time was spent harvesting our Christmas Tree. |
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12/22/11 |
07 Pvt. Ski. Cliff & Gene drove to the Mukluk Trailhead. It had
not been plowed so we had to bust through the roadside berm from the snow
plow after shoveling a little the parking area is now usable. We skied a third
mile or so up the trail (old road) to the first road to the right (west) and
skied out & back on that. We then came back down to the 1st
road on the right. This is the Shoshoni - Mukluk Connector. We ski up to the
steep section and up the "by-pass" (around a really steep road).
The snow was very marginal on the upper part of the by-pass. I'd not
recommend skiing from Shoshoni TH to Mukluk due to low snow in this section.
We continued up and hit the "Horse-Log Trail (old road) turned right and
took the 1st spur to the left (east) we skied up a ways and
determined that the snow wasn't deep enough to continue. We skied about 2.5
miles for about 2 hours skiing time. |
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12/17/11 |
06 Grp. Ski 02: Cliff, Gene and Lou ski drove to Chief Joseph where we
met Janis from the Bitterroot side. We skied out the |
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12/12/11 |
05 Pvt. Ski. Cliff, Gene and Tim drove to Chief Joseph and parked at
the lower end of the Richardson Ridge Trail. We put on skins and climbed up
about 1.5 miles to the |
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12/10/11 |
04 Grp. Ski 01: Cliff & Marlene, Paul & Judy, Gene, Tim and
Lou ski more or less repeat the Dec 8th ski except that more rocks were exposed
on a couple of steep stretches. We skied up to the "Big Meadow" and
ate lunch and skied up the William's Cr. Trail to the bottom of the 2nd
bypass. Part of the group turned back and the rest of us skied up to the |
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12/08/11 |
03 Pvt. Ski. Cliff and Tim ski up the Buckhorn Trail to the William's
Cr. Trail at the Big Meadow. We eat lunch on a great log and then ski up the
William's Cr. Trail to the bottom of the 2nd By-pass. The snow
wasn't too bad considering that there was less than 10". Somewhat below
normal. |
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11/22/11 |
02 Pvt. Ski. Cliff, Gene
& Lou Ski the Meadow Trail Spur and the Wapiti Loop. There was about 10"
of snow (less under trees) with several wet spots but it was better skiing
than we expected. |
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11/19/11 |
01 Pvt. Ski. Cliff goes to
Chief Joseph and finds about 18" of snow and over 10" in the
unplowed parking lot. I ski out on Continental Divide Trail past the Gordon
Reese Cabin (not open yet) and to the end of the Broadway Trail. I ski back
on Broadway to the Parking lot. This is part of my exercise program to walk
or ski at least 2 miles most every day. It was 2.33 miles but too me about 1H
7Min. There had been on grooming but there was a good skied track on several
trails. 1ST SKI DAY OF THE
2011 - 2012 SEASON. |
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11/09/11 |
03w Wrk. Day: Cliff, Gene,
Wayne & Joel do XC Ski Trail work. Wayne and Joel Walk the Wapiti Loop
and Meadow Trail and cut small logs and limbs encroaching the trail. Gene
& Cliff take chain saw and cut a jackpot of trees that fell across the
Lower Aspen Loop. Going from the Lower Aspen Loop TH the trees were just
before the meadow at the Junction with the William's Cr. Trail. We also cut a
few logs that were on the side of the William's Cr. Trail. This would be just
as one finishes coming down the steep section of W. Cr. Trail and bares right
to go to the junction sign. This will give one more maneuvering room. There
had been another large tree across this section of trail but the Trail Crew
had apparently cut this one. |
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10/20/11 |
02w Wrk. Day: Cliff &
Gene flush cut several stumps in the Meadow TH and William's Cr Summit Parking
areas. When the county plows the snow they can't see these stumps and hit
them with their grader with a jolt. We shoveled and swept away the dirt at
the base of the stump and cut the stump flush with ground level. This will
allow them to plow further back. |
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08/29/11 |
01w Wrk. Day: Cliff &
Nancy walked the Upper Meadow Trail. We found some signs that were on dead
trees that were in an area where firewood cutters might cut the trees and
destroy or steal the signs. So we took the signs down. We'll put them back up
next summer when we can get some long posts. |
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05/19/11 |
Cliff Tim & Lou Ski up the Buckhorn Trail and down the William's
Cr Trail to the Upper Aspen Loop. There were
lots of bare spots and the snow was "punchy". We sank down
several times. This gave me incentive
to put away my ski gear for the season. LAST SKI DAY. |
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04/24/11 |
Cliff, Tim & Lou Ski the William's Cr. Trail - Easter Sunday. One of the best ski days of the year. We skied out the Upper Aspen
Loop Trail and found the snow still a little icy, so we skied up the Williams
Cr Trail almost to the "Big Meadow" and ate lunch. After lunch the
snow had softened to perfect "Corn Snow". We skied down to the
Lower Aspen Loop "Harvesting" the great corn. |
Abbreviations Used In the Above:
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Cr. |
Creek. |
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Grp. Ski |
One of our scheduled group trips. Some may only want to read the group ski reports. Do a Find - Grp to do this. |
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CJ |
Chief Joseph Pass On Montana HWY 43 which actually starts in Idaho at Lost Trail Pass entering Montana at Milepost 1.0 at Chief Joseph Pass. |
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Mt. |
Mountain. |
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Pvt. Ski |
Not a group ski. Anyone that has an interesting trip should let me know and I'll add it. If possible indicate the snow depths and conditions. I keep track of the number of Grp. Ski and Pvt. Ski days that I attend with a number just before the Grp. or Wrk. Designation. |
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Rd. |
Road. |
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TH |
Trailhead. |
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Wrk. Day |
A day where we work on the trails, or scout out new trail locations or re-routes. I keep track of the number of work days separately from the number of ski days. |
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*Word Count: 5,508 |
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Web Location |
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* Last revised on web: 1/ |
03/28/2012 14:45 PM |
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Previously revised on web: |
03/08/2012 19:05 PM |
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Home Page Location |
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Contact: |
Email
is: ckeene41-b4 followed by an @ and then yahoo.com |
1/ Items with an "*" were
added since previous revision.
Two ** indicate minor update between ski
reports.
