Author Archives: patrick-odenbeck

Hellmouth Couloir

Hellmouth Couloir is the anemic line dead center on Alex Lowe Peak.
By Patrick Odenbeck | Published June 8, 2010
Featuring: Fuze

Hellmouth Couloir is the thin aesthetic line dead center on Alex Lowe Peak.

In the Spring of 1997 Alex Lowe and Hans Saari made the first descent of an anemic ski line they nicknamed “Hellmouth Couloir” in the Gallatin Mountains of Montana. For years the exact location of this line had been lost and it gained mythical status. On September 15th 2005 a peak in the Gallatin National Forest was named “Alex Lowe Peak” for the memory of Alex who had unfortunately passed October 5, 1999 in an avalanche on the slopes of Shishapangma in Tibet. It was then unveiled to many that the Hellmouth Couloir was located on this peak. Kyle and a partner through research found a Summer photo of the peak and along with a brief description that Saari and Lowe had made they discovered the location of the line. Then in the Winter of 2006 they made the second known descent of Hellmouth Couloir. Over the past 4 years a few others have made the descent. Kyle has visited the area many times since 2006 but has been unable to make another descent of the couloir.

Jump to present day. Kyle just got back from a month long ski … READ MORE >

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Killer Snow

Ymir Ridge
By Patrick Odenbeck | Published March 29, 2010
Featuring: Fuze

After four hours of driving through the interior of British Columbia we arrived at our destination: the Ymir Motel, in the forgotten gold mining town of the same name. This place is the staging area for most trips into the Ymir backcountry–and, it’s cheap, $12 per person per night cheap–by sharing rooms.  Turns out the owner of the hotel is an art collector and purchased the 18 room hotel for his prized possessions, thousands of painting of all styles, covering every wall. Imagine a museum crossed with a nineteenth century brothel. We slept well under the smug smell of oil paint while dreams of pillow lines ran through our heads.

Back in November a group of us decided to plan a trip to a backcountry cabin or yurt in Canada. The beauty of the Ymir Yurts is its blend of cat skiing and your more standard backcountry self propulsion. The terrain and deep access was hard to beat. Using both snowmobiles and a snowcat, you’re dropped roughly 32 K from the nearest road.

Overnight the area had received much more snow than predicted–about two feet, and the next morning it was still nuking. One of the snowcat guides wore a … READ MORE >

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Frazier Basin

Myself on the Hollywood Headwall
By Patrick Odenbeck | Published February 10, 2010
Featuring: FuzeNaya NukiSaddle Peak

Last Friday, five of us met at the Daily Bread parking lot at 5:30 AM for dawn patrol.   Kyle had made it up to Frazier Basin on Wednesday, they found stable conditions and the skiing excellent.  Once I heard the possibility of going up on Friday, especially since Kyle has access to two snowmobiles slashing the multi-hour skin to Frazier Basin to less than a 30 minute tow- I was in.  This was my first time to Frazier and I must say I was blown away.  The North Bridgers have so many aesthetic looking couloirs- it is like God himself has carved each mountain vertically with a giant fork.

The red glow of the sunrise hit us just as we made it to the saddle, we then prepared ourselves for our descent into the basin.  One at a time we skied down the North facing access bowl making huge GS turns.  The snow was soft, fast  and predictable, this entrance into the basin was the perfect indication that it was going to be a great day.  Because we went in on sleds, and the nature of the lines we intended to ski, we all had brought our “heavy” alpine gear- … READ MORE >

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Curing Cabin Fever

patrick
By Patrick Odenbeck | Published February 4, 2010
Featuring: FuzeSweetpea

After Outdoor Retailer Dave Downing and I, plus 4 others, one dog and a ridiculous amount of gear strategically stuffed ourselves into a minivan and set off toward Carbondale, CO. Carbondale is where I grew up and I was excited to revisit after about a 10 year hiatus. Dave and I had planned to ski some of the backcountry outside of Marble, which is about an hour drive outside of Carbondale. Unfortunately avalanche conditions turned from bad to worse when a strong Southern storm dropped about 3 feet of fluff in 2-3 days. Our suspicions of instability were vindicated once we had heard reports of large slides being remotely triggered in Marble. We immediately opted for a whole new approach for our days in Colorado.

Low angle slopes and snowmobiling on safe open meadows was the obvious and reliable option- and the best remedy for my cabin fever. One area in particular, a local standby when conditions are questionable near Sunlight Ski Resort called Willie’s proved to have great skiing.

With only around 1200′ of vertical multiple laps are possible and with little traffic and plenty of pow to go around. Even on these slopes we still saw evidence in … READ MORE >

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Phobias

By Patrick Odenbeck | Published September 30, 2009
Featuring: BoulderingClimbing

The poison is seeping in and there is nothing I can do about it…

But let me back up a bit.

I have phobias even though I hate to admit it.  Some people, namely my wife, gladly shares with others that I have many.  Most of these fears come from the fact that I am allergic to just about everything, cats, horses, penicillin, pollen etc.  I have also been known to be paranoid of other things  like when I found some perfect boulders up here in Montana.  I instantly became suspicious of everyone.  Who should I tell?  Should I reveal the sacred loaction?

After much deliberation and banter around the office I decided that I might as well throw a couple pics out there.  Everyone reassured me that the hordes will not be crawling over the boulders like they might in Colorado.

As we work some of the problems, thirsty wasps were drinking the sweat off my legs and arms.  One of these black and yellow insects inadvertently gets caught in the hem of my shorts and proceeds to wallop me twice in the thigh.  Then it flies off in thousands of triumphant wingbeats.   I flashback to the last time … READ MORE >

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City of Rocks

By Patrick Odenbeck | Published September 4, 2009
Featuring: Big Sky

Occasionally I have some time to leave the gentle embrace of Bozeman.  This Summer has had an unusual amount of precipitation making such departures even more mandatory.   The City Rocks in southern Idaho is a classic American rock climbing mecca that has eluded my many rock climbing tours. With 30% chance of precipitation in the forecast for the third weekend in a row, Kevin’s suggestion of a 6 hour drive to climb for the weekend seemed reasonable. Through sales office banter Kyle was able evoke my plan and quickly invited himself along. I was quietly elated knowing that a third would be a welcome rest for leader or belayer.

Friday afternoon Kyle and I left to meet Kevin down in the City with plenty of PBR and elk steaks.  No self respecting Montanan will part with either of these two elements.  Dark set in and so did the potato fields which continue to haunt us with their bleak and unexciting scenery.  Eventually we hit unpaved roads missed turns, double backed, and eventually found our way to “the city”.

There is nothing like arriving somewhere in the dark, then when to wake with the soft light of dawn unveiling a whole … READ MORE >

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Perfect Granite

By Patrick Odenbeck | Published July 14, 2009
Featuring: SnapdragonTrance XXX

About 40 miles North of Vancouver, where the ocean touches the land, the second largest granite monolith in North America jets virtually straight up from sea to sky.  The perfect granite of Squamish, British Columbia is littered with so many beautiful features and climbing history, and neither of Loni or I had been there before. We intended to climb and experience this mystical place for ourselves.  After leaving Montana late Wednesday night we made it to Squamish around 3 PM Thursday afternoon.  We set up camp below the Chief.  The Chief one of the cleanest pieces of granite I have ever seen and gazed upon it with jaws agape.

Once we had settled down we made the casual approach over to the area called the Bulletheads.  We ventured up some fixed lines and jumped on the rock.

Starting with some cruiser stuff to get used to the rock and get our bodies loose after the 13+ hours of driving.     That night it became apparent that the atmosphere in the campground was quite relaxed.  It was a climbing tailgate party!  People could be found cooking behind their vehicles, sharing food and beers and stories of the vertical world filled the … READ MORE >

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Thailand Day 26: Chang Mai/Lampang Elephant Conservation Center

By Patrick Odenbeck | Published May 29, 2009
Featuring: Snapdragon

This morning we woke up pseudo-early because we had to do some errands and get to our tour for the Elephant Conservation Center.  I had to drop off the scooter and Loni had to get some snacks and water as well as book another night here at TK House.  All of this had to happen before 0800 and it did pretty much.  Our guide that we met from Pooh Eco-Tourism name was Naret.  He grew up in Lampang where the Elephant Conservation Center is located outside of.  We jumped in his personal Isuzu track and drove the 1.5 hours to Lampang.  We were not sure what to expect of the place at all- but it was amazing.

They have about 120 Asian Elephants divided into three groups (riding, show and white).  The show elephants are used to display how the elephants were used in the past to move timber and assist with logging.

The riding elephants for riding and the rare white elephants are partial albino elephants which only 11 of which exist are for the king.  Loni and I went on a short elephant ride through the forest- very cool.  The ride was a lot more topsy turvy than … READ MORE >

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Thailand Day 11: Tonsai Beach

By Patrick Odenbeck | Published May 29, 2009
Featuring: Big SkyG5000

We decided to move last night to Tonsai for a change of scenery.  Monica said that she was moving over here as well.  We wanted to get over here before the International Climbing Comp. which starts on the 14th so we packed our bags and got a refund for the night.  We made the short walk to  Railay West to catch a long-tail to Tonsai.

We did not want to pay the 100 BHT for two people so we waited about a half hour and two others showed up.  Making our trip 50 BHT for two less than 2 dollars.

Once arriving we had no idea where to go and the locals just pointed us up the hill.  So we blindly went and ran into the Dream Valley Resort where we got a bungalow for 500 BHT per night plus breakfast for both of us- a killer deal.

The views on the west side of the peninsula are far superior to the east.  Long-tails racing from Ao Nang outside the bay and Koh Po Da , Chicken and Happy Island all lined up like gems towering from the Adaman Sea.  After lunch we went to go check out The Nest … READ MORE >

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Thailand Day 6- Deep Water Soloing: Railay Beach

By Patrick Odenbeck | Published May 29, 2009

Today has by far been the best day here so far.  We rose at 7 AM, showered and had breakfast.  I tried the American breakfast today (2 boiled eggs, toast, juice, tea and something that was cut into the shape of a flower-although tasted like fried hot dog) the latter turned out to be breakfast sausage.  All in all, a great meal.  We met with a kid from Toronto (Kyle) and an Austrian girl (Monica) after breakfast.  Kyle was psyched to be joining us deep water soloing today.  We caught a long-tailed boat at about 10:30 with our guide Rom from King Climbers.  We then headed to Koh Po Da for our first climbing adventures of the day.  I did a fun and fairly easy traverse, while Patrick climbed to 18+ meters up to a stalactite.

Hard climbing from the kayak to the ladder and up the rock, but once we were on the wall the climbing was fairly easy.  I wasn’t sure how my ankle would do with hitting the water, so I was nervous to climb very high.  Hitting the water and jumping from the rock was exhilarating.  I do wish that my blasted ankle was more reliable, … READ MORE >

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