Sheep Mountain

After attempting to ski Baldy and getting beta photos of the peaks to the North I felt like I had to go back again to Swan Valley. Photo'd above is the North shot on Sheep Mountain. If you were to Google Sheep Mountain I think at least a baker's dozen would show up as a lot of people out West apparently like the name.

Time: 7:48

Up until you gain any vertical at all, crawling through the creek bed, you are bush wacking through the below. It certainly slows you down.

After about 2 miles or an hour and a half of walking I finally hit a ridge that would take me to the proper ridge to the summit that was wide open.

Coyote?

Continuing on, reaching closer to the summit you come across open fields perfect for tree skiing. It had a fairy tale feel - trees perfectly spaced apart where any level of skier would enjoy slashing turns into. It was clearly a slide path at some point as some of the trees in path were younger.

Finally, reaching the top after many sketchy traverses around cornices and steeper terrain, you are welcomed to quite the views (if it's not cloudy). To the south was a mini-halfpipe that I really wanted to drop into. Problem would be, it would take me way out of the way of the car. Also, it was not the line I was eyeing up.

The skiing off the North was fantastic. I would assume that no one had been up there all season. The main face, I wanted to ski, would of been great but because I was solo I opted for the safer route out on the ridge. Exiting was adventurous to say the least. As you can see in the left part of the photo above there is a massive cliff at the end of the ridge. A lot of the area is flooded with these rocky areas, so avoiding them is ideal.

Finally, where I came out (at about 6000') the trees started to get tighter and tighter. Bushwacking out is never how I like to end my day but c'est la vie. I think this is going to be my last tour out there this season because when I coming out I saw quite a bit of animal activity - tracks, a severely scratched up tree that looked fresh and scat. Enough for me to say that I am done out there until next season.

Beta Photos: