Montana Escapades: Camas Peak

Vertical: ~3,800ft
Distance: ~7.5miles

My gorgeous wife had gone to Norway to visit her family, and we had our Christmas celebration a week earlier with my family. With a paid holiday, what better way to spend it than touring? I had planned this for almost two weeks prior when I foresaw the schedule shaping up.

The Sunday prior I had brought the snowmobile, only to find you could actually drive to within 1.5 miles of the trail-head anyways. This time I wasn't going to be fooled, and thus left Boss Hog at home. Additionally, the warm spell with a touch of rain in the valley had translated into about an inch of fresh where I had parked, and eventually find my track from Sunday completely wiped out with 6-8".

Track from three days prior, gone.

Camas looking much better on a blue-bird day!

The trip to Camas on Sunday entailed a trip to the three main lakes in the area (minus the hidden pond). I knew I had to do something a bit different this go around so I took a hard left after reaching Camas Lake and worked my way through the thick onto the shelf and thus Kidney Lake.

Eying the different options, couple chutes caught my eye, but as this was another solo tour I'm extremely cautious. I opted for Camas, or at least as close as I could get while still confident in the winded snow pack I'd find.

I had dug a few pits on the way up in the heavily variable snow, with vastly different results due to the near constant wind this peak has been getting; was no surprise. I ended up hearing more settling of the snow as I neared the end of the tree line, just 300' vertical before the summit. I was about to make a go for it thinking "I'm reasonably sure this is sturdy enough", that's when I caught myself; I ski "pretty sure it's safe" terrain with friends, I ski "Absolutely positive this is safe" when I'm solo.

Took a few photos at the edge of the tree line and enjoyed some nice packed powder all the way down to the lake.

I took a gamble and rode the shelf down to the lake. It was magical snow, but had to move slowly and with lots of caution. Plenty of rock-sharks lurking just below the surface. Ended up with a few gouges, but nothing a good tune up won't fix.