Cross-Country Skiing in Glacier National Park, Montana

A short stint in a huge state.

It took us about 3 full days to drive across the country from New Hampshire to Montana. We barely missed the nor’easter that nicked our heels as we bombed out of town on a Friday evening. We took off after Travis got out of work, around 5pm landing just outside Syracuse, NY for the night. Saturday morning we carried on through a tiny swath of PA, past Lake Erie into Ohio, all the way across Indiana, cut through the northeast corner of Illinois, and spent the 2nd night in Rockford, IL. We continued through the southwest corner of Wisconsin and Minnesota, into North Dakota, and spent the 3rd night in Bismarck, ND. The 4th and final day we made it to Belgrade, Montana, the town just west and adjacent to Bozeman.

Belgrade is the newest boom town. I can’t complain that friends from California have been swept up in its glory, renting out their first floor as an Airbnb and living the mountain life half the year when they’re not in San Diego. I have the advantage of being self-employed, and making a committed decision, I decided to take the month off, and stay in Montana. In exchange for staying in the rental space I would offer my handy skills. I ended up painting a bedroom mural – which turned out amazing if I do say so myself – co-built a small bureau with drawers, and a few other odds and ends. In between the workdays, I planned day trips – checking out the local and outdoor scenes, specifically backcountry, cross-country, and alpine skilling.

I counted 23 days in-state, 3 days for the drive out and 6 days for the drive home. It was a solid mission.

The house is in a cookie-cutter neighborhood – it’s too expensive for the average person to purchase a 2-acre farm house that now costs millions – so the state builds large developments / townhouse style lots with barely a patch of grass between properties. The houses are straight out of Truman show, everything looking the same, matching color palettes of the mountains in the backdrop. It’s a love/hate relationship. There’s so much land and space, yet these 200 townhouse developments that are popping up everywhere, are on top of each other with limited character and a touristy feel.

For almost the entire time in-state it hardly snowed more than a flurry. With over 3 weeks in the heart of winter, Montana that year was averaging 4’ below normal for snow accumulation. Yet, I packed 3 sets of skis (downhill, uphill touring, and cross-country), my snowshoes, crampons, ice axe, and all essential winter gear. The car was loaded with a mixture of tools and winter wear. It was freezing and winter conditions, just without the snow. The first few days I looked for nearby backcountry trails where I could use my backcountry cross-country skis… I managed to ski up a few trails, but the snow was scant, rocks, and twigs ready for my weak ankles and pizza-pie turns. I found a field and pond, closer into town but the tracks went every direction and after circling the pond once, I was over it.

I then picked up a 3-day pass to Bridger Bowl, which was great, except for the east-coast conditions, hard packed snow, ice, and twigs. At least I knew I could ski it. Bridger Bowl was the perfect size – plenty of space to spread out and a variety of terrain including areas where avalanche gear and beacon check-in is required. Bridger was my favorite only because it was closest. I didn’t have to wake up at 5am to drive 2 hours into the mountains – it was a quick 35 minutes and I could still be there when it opened.

Before leaving the state, I managed a few nights in Glacier National Park and skiing Whitefish. Another bucket list destination. I also booked and went snow-mobiling and backcountry-cross-country in Yellowstone – again, the backcountry skiing would have been EPIC in champagne powder, instead it was a lot of hill climbing on solid, hard-packed snow – one or two spots where we actually had to remove our skis and walk across the path. It only makes sense that 2 days before leaving, the snow storms started rolling in. The last day that I had scheduled to go with a guide to Bridger Bowl, the temperatures were nearing -25 and the resort closed, ski touring cancelled.

In addition to the skiing, the Bozeman and Yellowstone Hot Springs were otherworldly. The food and restaurants were a close third. Oh, and it was nice to see my friends too.

Yellowstone National Park, in Winter

Yellowstone is a true gem. A wild frontier with bubbling mud, hot colorful springs, and bulky bison. I had the gift of 2 days in Yellowstone on this trip - both times driving from Belgrade and making it a full day trip. I made a last minute reservation for one - after calling around several tour companies - with some even laughing at me - telling me they were sold out for weeks straight. Ok asshole - maybe someone cancelled. I think it was about 3pm the day before I wanted to go. I managed to find a spot and showed up ready to ride.

We drove slowly alongside bison as we passed them on the trail - these gigantic, and mostly tranquil animals, plodding along in the untouched snow fields with their calves and herd. As we drove around, a bald eagle was spotted high up in a tree - overlooking the river waiting to make a move on its next meal. We rode to Gibson Falls in Canyon Village, stopped at Norris Geyser Basin and Beryl Springs - steaming hot pools, turquoise and bright green, melting snow and dead trees. Really quite the scene.

The second visit to Yellowstone was not the typical tourist tour to all the hot spots. It was an icy and hard-packed back-country, cross-country ski tour. I have the perfect skis for this - that I packed and drove the entire way - backcountry, cross-country skis made for champagne powder, soft, glistening, and pillowy. And you know, you just can’t pick the conditions. Instead, even the guide was a bit horrified knowing he had to lead this tour in less than good conditions. At one point, the snow stopped and we had to cross a section in our boots. The snow pack at this point was about 4’ less than normal. It only makes sense that I brought 3 pairs of skis to Montana and they were averaging 4’ less than normal snow. And even more so only makes sense that right after leaving town, a few heavy blizzards brought in fresh powder. Nonetheless, we went, and although my legs were wrecked at the end of the day - holding myself from slipping on every step and having to pizza slide down every descent that would be have a dream ski in powder. Even still, it was quiet and perfect, surrounded by mountains, forest, plains, and all the wildlife to go with it - including the bison we saw that was without his herd and acting a bit erratic. We watched him from afar for a few seconds before the guide decided we should go a different route to avoid the beast all together. Would do this tour again in a heartbeat - crappy conditions and all.

Glacier National Park, in Winter

It was a fast few days with Allison as we trekked north from Belgrade, passing through one mountain town after another, stopping for a quick sandwich at a dive cafe, and carrying on through Kalispell and into Columbia Falls where we were staying - splitting our two days between Glacier National Park to our east and Whitefish Ski Mountain and resort town to our west. The one day we had for Glacier National Park wasn’t ideal for back-country cross country skiing, but because that’s what we wanted to do, that’s what we did. When conditions aren’t good for cross-country skiing - it’s not enjoyable - but we were greedy for adventure and went for it. We sloughed along a few miles overlooking Lake McDonald with it’s blue-green color and icy chunks slowly floating and merging in the calm waves. The trail didn’t go anywhere exciting - we toured around for a bit but it was icy-snow, hardpacked and full of sticks, pines, and rocks sticking up through the snow like sharks. We ate our sandwiches quickly, sitting on a log in the middle of the woods, sweat starting to freeze. We ended up driving around Apgar Campground and seeing what was open, but not much. It was a recon day. Amazing how fast the day goes by — and only getting to see one small part.