Bozeman Crew Nailed It - Part 1, Braxon Peak

The Bozeman crew visited us in Stanley this past week, February 20-24. Ben and Elissa brought Dan with them, along with the mutts Zinnia and Sampson. After a few warmup days, we took advantage of perfect conditions in the Sawtooths to do some bigger tours. The snowpack was mostly stable, the powder perfect, and the weather bluebird.

On this tour we snowmobiled in -15F temps into Redfish Lake, then set out up the trail to the Bench Hut. We continued on up to the 5th Lake below the Heyburn Couloir, which we had hoped to ski but looked horribly out of condition. We continued on over the Heyburn Saddle to the Silver Saddle. The descent from the Silver Saddle into the Monolith Valley was about as good as it gets - a beautiful fall-line pitch in a stunning setting.

We began skinning towards the head of the Monolith Valley en route to Braxon. After skinning up the east side, we summitted about 3:30pm and the views in all directions were incredible. We descended the north side from the ridge between the peak and the Monolith - again perfect powder and an incredible run.

We finished the tour by skiing out the Monolith Valley into Fishhook Creek, then began the long and occasionally frustrating slog out the drainage. We reached the sled 10 hours after it all began.

Ben, Dan, and Sara pysched to reach the Heyburn Saddle and peer into the Monolith Valley.








The Monolith and Braxon Peak. We ascended the looker's left side and skied the right face.








Sara climbing to the Silver Saddle.









Ben at the Silver Saddle looking into the Redfish Drainage.









Heading up the Monolith Valley.









View of the White Clouds framed by the Sawtooths.









Sara climbing the final pitch to the summit of Braxon.









First set of tracks down the north side of Braxon. Perfect powder, perfect mountains, perfect friends!