Montana

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365 photos

John making himself at home in the rental cabin.
Catherine, Dad, and John get ready for a day on the slopes.
And later, Catherine and Dad relax in the (very very nice) condo.
Not surprisingly, the top of the mountain (or, middle,...
Mind you, we have yet to take a single run at this point...
Fortunately, all aches from a day of skiing go away...
Catherine at the top of Lone Peak, during the one...
John up top, looking in the other direction.
John on his way down one of the big bowls on the...
John skiing down through some okay powder. Not bad for...
Catherine on her way down the same bowl
Coming to a stop in front of John.
Catherine with one of the mountains of the Big Sky...
Self-photography at its best.
Catherine near the bottom of the double black diamond...
Rachel, John and Catherine in the condo.
Map of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness near Beehive Peak...
Rachel on the trail, with snow falling over the Lone...
John headed up the hill.
John with the mountains near Beehive Peak in the background.
John with the mountains near Beehive Peak in the background.
John in the woods.
John in the woods.
Trekking off through the woods
John, having made it out of the woods.
John, having made it out of the woods.
John, with a storm looming in the distance near Beehive Peak.
John, headed up another hill.
What goes up must come down.
Rachel, taking a break.
Rachel, taking a break.
Rachel at the top of the hill.
Rachel, at the top of the hill.
John, a little nervous at seeing the pinwheels.
John, with the sun behind Lone Peak in the background.
John, with the sun behind Lone Peak in the background.
John, with the sun behind Lone Peak in the background.
I made it to the bottom :).
Home again home again.
Rachel with Beehive Peak in the background.
What lousy scenery we had to endure.
What lousy scenery we had to endure.
Rachel, trekking along.
Lone peak.
Lone peak.
Rachel and Lone Peak.
Our path is kind of like artwork.
John with Lone Peak in the background.
Victory! (Back to civilization.)
John and Catherine and the Christmas tree from the...
Catherine and the tree, before it had settled.
John no like Christmas.
John like Christmas.
John and Catherine and ornaments and lights.
Catherine and cookies! (in the condo kitchen)
John and Catherine cooking dinner for the family.
Dad and Catherine in the kitchen.
Mom taking a picture of John taking a picture of...
Catherine and John continuing to cook dinner.
John fascinated by his reading material. Catherine...
John on Mr. K (a green circle) at Big Sky. Skiing with...
Catherine and Dad putting lights on our awesomely green ...
Catherine and the tree with all 100 multi-colored lights on it.
Step 2: Add all 16 ornaments (i.e. balls) to the tree.
John scraping excess p-tex off a ski as part of a...
Mom is excited by our plowed driveway.
Catherine and her snowboard covered with snow.
Catherine heel side on Powder river.
Catherine toe side on the aptly named Powder River trail.
Lone Peak postcard picture. Wish you were here. ...
John left foot forward under the Iron Horse lift,...
John under the Iron Horse lift again.
John under the Iron Horse lift.
As you can see there was almost no one here at Moonlight...
Smiling after a good run (John).
John making quasi-first tracks in-bounds at Big...
The intrepid three getting dropped off at Moonlight...
Catherine with a powder rooster tail at Moonlight Basin...
Catherine chilling out at the bottom of the Six Shooter lift.
Catherine smiling at the bottom of the Six Shooter lift.
Dad on Christmas morning, packed and ready to go backpacking.
Bacon-y sits among some of Catherine's stocking stuffers...
The view of Lone Peak out the condo's living room window.
Catherine having fun with the macro feature of her...
Catherine, bacon and Bacon-y, her new stuffed bacon.
John cooking Christmas brunch.
John on the trail to Ousel Falls during a Christmas day hike.
Dad and Catherine on a bridge over the South fork of the...
Catherine and Dad tromping to Ousel Falls.
Catherine and Dad pause on the trail for a photo-op.
A winter stream. On the way to Ousel Falls.
Water flows down off the cliff (and quickly turns to...
To say this is an "icicle" seems an understatement,...
Catherine and Dad in front of the giant icicles.
John and Dad in front of the ice floe.
A view up into the trees.
BRIDGE! Need I say more?
John and Dad pausing on the bridge.
Ousel Falls! Or, what we hiked all this way (0.8mi) to...
John overlooks the Falls.
Dad (sporting the new backpack), overlooking Ousel Falls.
John and Catherine with the Falls between/behind them.
Dad and John hike up to an overlook of the river, above...
Looking down on the frozen river.
Looking down on a pretty bridge and the cliffs over the river.
Dad walking across a bridge over the South Fork of the...
Detail of the bridge, because Catherine is a nerd (or,...
A nice climbing route, perhaps?
A close-up of some mossy rocks in the still-unfrozen river.
Using one of the filters on Catherine's camera to look...
This picture was actually taken to capture the beautiful...
Detail of one of the pretty bridges on the hiking path. ...
Underside of the bridge, showing the bracing details.
John and Dad hike out on the Ousel Falls Trail.
An unfortunate sign for we backcountry-ers, who were...
Unfortunately a touch blurry... Catherine and Bacon-y...
John reads his waterproof book before dinner. He's...
Mom and Dad put the finishing touches on dinner Christmas night.
This is wrong on so many levels. Bacon-y chowing down...
Christmas Day scrabble board. Victor: Catherine.
John skiing at Big Sky on Andesite Mountain, under the...
John mowing down Christmas trees.
John on Andesite just above Big Sky Mountain Village. ...
John on upper Big Horn at Big Sky.
Catherine and a patch of blue sky showing through on Big...
Catherine now knows how to do a snowboard "track stand"...
Catherine traversing on Big Horn.
Lone Mountain, creating its own weather.
John on a balmy upper-20's (F) day at Big Sky.
Catherine and Lone Mountain.
Catherine on cross country skis.
Dad on cross country skis.
Catherine about to go into the river.
Catherine looking on as Dad comes down a hill on the way...
Catherine trekking along in the neat little tracks that...
Dad skating uphill.
John contemplates a ski back to California.
Catherine on the Little Bavaria loop.
Goofing around.
Catherine contemplates the map, after getting lost on a...
Catherine on tele skis!
Catherine on tele skis.
Catherine making a turn during her first day on tele skis.
Catherine posing for the camera.
Catherine cruising on the bunny hill under the Derringer...
The morning started off cold: -7 F at 6:30 am MST. ...
John, Joe and Catherine line up behind the snowmobiles...
John (driver) and Catherine (passenger) on their snowmobile.
Off on another adventure...
Catherine listening to some instruction from our guide Joe.
John on top rope, with his heels too high and not...
Catherine taking baby steps up with her feet.
John climbing without tools. Much more like rock climbing.
Catherine doing a sidepull / lie back maneuver while...
Catherine examining her ice tool placement.
John hiking up towards the next ice climb (Mummy-II)...
John at the base of Mummy II.
John belaying Joe, our guide. And yes, despite this...
John belaying Joe again.
Joe making it past the first crux.
Catherine making a big step up on Mummy II.
Catherine shaking her hand out, keeping away the...
Catherine, making a big reach with her left arm.
Catherine nears the top of the wall; Joe belays from above.
Catherine approaching the final crux, Joe looking on.
Catherine swinging away at the ice.
John's ice tool in the ice, taken about half way up Mummy-II.
Pretty baubbles in the ice, again from Mummy-II.
John on rappel on Mummy II.
John on rappel on Mummy II.
John and Catherine, dwarfed by the very large Mummy II wall.
John and Catherine post-climb shot.
A parting shot of Hyalite Canyon. Note the numerous ice...
John trekking up the well broken (unlike last year)...
The Beehive Basin drainage peeking out between windblown...
John pausing to take a rest.
Catherine is quite pleased to have a little snow brick...
Catherine even more pleased, as our snow brick mining...
Catherine, placing a brick on the first layer of her igloo.
John, standing inside the igloo (under construction).
Catherine, inside her igloo.
Catherine, putting her split board in downhill mode. ...
Catherine, a parting shot in front of her unfinished...
John skiing Beehive Basin (and blending in with the trees).
John, avoiding the weeds and logs: skiing Beehive Basin.
John, looking a bit awkward in the heavy snow in Beehive Basin.
Catherine, amazingly color coordinated, pauses on the...
John, pausing on the ski out of Beehive Basin.
Catherine on a log bridge.
Hiking out the road in the near-dark.
As Catherine would say, "self photography at its best." ...
John at the top of Lone Mountain. You can actually see...
John in the Liberty Bowl off the top of Lone Mountain.
Catherine's vote for "if John had a facebook account...
Catherine looking very, very excited.
Catherine and John up to no good.
Catherine skiiing Marx (double black). Mind the rocks :).
Catherine taking a breather on Marx.
Catherine on Marx (1).
Catherine on Marx (2).
John ripping it up on Marx on Lone Mountain.
John with a bad case of the screamie-barfies.
Dad and John at lunch at the base lodge.
Dad looks on while John straps in to his binding.
Catherine, Dad and John on the top of Lone Mountain.
John on Marx on Lone Mountain.
Shadow cast by Lone Mountain on Big Sky Mountain Village.
Mr. Ice Plant who stands watch over our hot tub.
Catherine with Mr. Ice Plant.
Mr. Ice Plant in the day time.
Dad with the wonderful Christmas tree, just before we...
Bacon-y waits for his plane in Salt Lake City.
Bacon-y watches over his and Catherine's bags, so she...
Bacon-y waits for an American Airlines representative to...
Not an awesome shot, but this was taken looking out the...
Bacon-y sits in his (quite spacious) coach seat on his...
Catherine riding on Christmas Eve.
Catherine on Christmas Eve.
Monica on Christmas Eve. This seemed to be about as...
Monica riding on Christmas eve.
Catherine appearing victorious.
John skiing down under the quad at Big Sky.
John posing for the camera.
Monica after lunch, ready to do battle with the sub-zero weather.
Monica a bit worn out.
Catherine wrapping last-minute presents on Christmas Eve
Monica, Jay and Catherine opening presents on Christmas morning.
Another shot of the kids on Christmas morning.
Mom opening a present while Dad looks on.
Jay taking a break in some mad pow near the Lone Moose...
Jay cruising in the pow
Uh-oh.
Back up again!
Monica riding at Moonlight Basin.
Jay (top, decapitated) Catherine, under the Six Shooter...
Jay under the Six Shooter at Moonlight Basin.
Catherine ripping it up under Lone Tree lift at Moonlight Basin.
Catherine and Jay under the Lone Tree lift at Moonlight.
Catherine gets nearly obscured by a snow-devil snowclone.
Monica and Jay at Moonlight.
Jay preparing for an epic jump.
Fail.
Monica under the non-triple at Moonlight
Jay coming out through the trees at Moonlight
John starting down under the lift
...
...
Zoom out, zoom out!
Chillin' out, relaxin', maxin' all cool.
Catherine and Jay hanging out.
Monica at Moonlight under the Six Shooter.
Monica on one of the trails served by the Thunderwolf...
Monica, again.
John on ... Elk Ridge, I believe
Getting lost in the trees
Monica, at the top of Lone Mountain, on Marx or Lenin.
Jay and Catherine wave hi.
Monica riding down from the top of Lone Mountain.
Catherine on Lone Mountain, skiing some fresh tracks.
Catherine under the triple at Big Sky. This was the day...
Catherine again: wonderful wind-blown snow which made...
Monica, skiing under the triple at Big Sky on New Year's Eve.
Monica carving some turns.
Jay making some fresh tracks under the triple lift at Big Sky.
Jay on New Year's Eve.
Monica riding on New Year's Eve.
Catherine riding on New Year's Eve.
Jay coming down under the triple on New Year's Eve
More fresh tracks
Monica starts her descent...
I think the picture is a little blurry, but still pretty...
John cuts hard skier's left to get in the less-touched snow
A few quick turns later...
... some nice deep pow...
... and he's done.
More fresh pow. This day was so awesome in part because...
Snowyacht VI: our 1.7 mpg Ford Excursion piloted by Dave...
Ready to go a-snow catting.
Monica and I were wedged into the third row of seats...
Dad, in West Yellowstone.
A bald eagle nest. I think it is about 8 feet across.
Looking out the window at bison.
Bison collecting vegetation from under the snow.
Lee Money.
Mean face.
Check out the blang.
Monica cross country skiing at the Lone Mountain ranch.
Coasting down a downhill section.
Jay's snow gear, laid out and ready to go
The skies cleared up around noon and the weather was...
Cruising down the big downhill.
Starting to get tired.
Cross-country skiing at Lone Mountain Ranch during the...
Action shot!
Totally not staged at all...
A lovely road to travel down (or up), eh?
Oreo peppermint bark baked alaska, which I baked for...
Our 14 ft. Christmas tree
Saying goodbye to Lone Mountain on our last day in town....
Damage done to the baked Alaska after one meal. Jay...
Oreo peppermint bark Baked Alaska showing its layers -...
Baked Alaska slice, a bit more solid after 24 hours in...
All gone, in less than 24 hours. Terrifying. I think...
We thought -11 was a chilly temperature...
... until it got to -15. Brr.
The Teton Dam! Or the remains of it. And now the...
Jay at the bottom of "The Bowl" at Big Sky, Christmas 2009.
Making a turn in the fluff of "The Bowl".
Cruising to a stop with the triple chair visible above. ...
Our lovely Christmas tree in our lovely condo! Star on...
Stockings hung by the chimney with care...
Jay studies his Scrabble tiles in a Christmas Eve game.
Monica, snowshoeing down the road to Beehive Basin.
Monica leading the way up the Beehive Basin trail.
Awesome lichen and snow covered tree branches.
Jay and I hit the top of the mountain the day after...
All of which allowed for some incredible views. One of...
Catherine, on top of Lone Peak. I always think that...
Jay ponders the yonder.
and considers doing snow angels.
I also always love these yellow plains that are visible...
Volcanic ridge.
Looking towards the "do not ski over this edge" rope.
This sign was nearby. Oh no! Yeah, I generally kept my...
Mountains and snow in Beehive Basin.
Monica going down the ski trail pretending she's a skier.
Lone Peak with the setting sun.
Monica on the hike out.
Uh-oh. Core shot from some hidden rocks on the side of...
Second half of the damage. I was informed later that I...
Lone Peak visible after our run. That's a long way up...
Lone Peak, without the people. I love how the tram...
A little bit of alpen glow.
Monica, with sunglasses marks on her nose.
Trying to make my beard white like Santa's.
Lone Peak from the road where Dad was going to pick us up.a
One more shot of Lone Peak, taken while we waited for...
Taken from the top of the triple, I think, looking back...
We're in the shadows now.
Showing off new Christmas tees. I went to a party a few...
Blurry picture of John tele-ing at Moonlight.
In front of the trees...
Hooray!
Oh, I actually like this one. I wish it weren't so dark, though.
Lone Peak's shadow cast on the valley below.
Jay relaxes at The Timbers lodge at Moonlight Basin...
The cheese danish I made! Man, that thing was tasty.
Mmmm. Two types of frosting, too.
Om nom nom. Also on display: awesome new Scrabble tshirt.
One slice of danish, ready for consumption.
The snowflakes on the 30th were beautiful and perfect. ...
Jay looks gloomily at the exploded mac and cheese. No...
I think Jay was just standing up, but it looks like he's...
Jay cruising. I thought this was at Moonlight, but as...
Riding the Lone Moose Triple up Flat Iron Mountain near...
Last day of skiing in Big Sky. After Monica smartly...
Jay showing off another awesome Christmas tshirt.
Catherine relaxing.
Looking out the condo window at Lone Peak... Goodbye, Big Sky!
Cloudy day as we leave Anchorage by train. This...
A view of eight of the generators; there are 17 total. ...
Meg with Gracie, friend of the Dew family.
One of the ground crew offered to take a shot just...
Meadows, wildflowers, distant peaks. A beautiful spot.
A pretty pull-off on the way down had a path leading to...