USA 2009 - PART 1

Booking my flights way back in September I had a long wait for the trip to finally come round and when it did I was definitely in need of a break and looking forward to getting back onto the snow for the first time in a year.

Spending the previous night at my parents we setoff at just after 8am for Aberdeen airport. This year I would not be meeting up in Colorado with my dad and brother so I said my goodbyes and made for check-in, making sure that this year I was prepared to ensure that I was not ripped off by an excess baggage charge for no good reason.

Sailing through I headed for a couple of beers in JR Tennents and at last I could relax and look forward to four weeks of fun and seeing some old friends once again. Before long I made my way through to the departure gate after picking up my book for the trip, Villains: The Inside Story of Aston Villa's Hooligan Gangs by Danny Brown and Paul Brittle. The book is an extremely interesting read and an amazing insight into the horrendous violence associated with football primarily in the 1970's and 1980's.

Anyway, on to the flight and I had almost half the plane to Amsterdam to myself with the front of the plane having a sparse crowd and the rear section which was completely empty. Sign of the difficult times I guess. Arriving bang on time in Amsterdam I headed to my regular haunt when I have a spare hour or two in Schipol airport, The Casino Bar, and grabbed a large Heineken to pass the time.

The new immigration rigmarole to travel to the USA requires an extra online form to be completed but sadly nothing taken away so still the bizarre Q&A session in Amsterdam regarding your reason for heading to the USA and still the same looks when you say your going to ski for a month. Always feel as though they think I am hiding something!

After getting through immigration I landed up queuing to board the flight next to a guy from Bozeman, Montana and he was interested to know that I was heading out to Missoula to ski and pointed out that Big Sky and Bridger Bowl were close too him and well worth a look. Having been before I could not disagree.

The flight to Minneapolis was absolutely dead compared to normal and I had an entire row of 4 to myself and enjoyed my book, a couple glasses of red wine and the normal good service I have found with Northwest Airlines over the years.

Passing through Minneapolis immigration on this trip was a breeze although I started to panic when there was no sign of my skis in the collection area between Immigration Control and Customs. After a bit of a delay I found two other travellers looking for oversized items and it turns out that the conveyor had stopped and I was able to look down and see that my skis were there. Unfortunately a few Asians with a poor grasp of English were hardly a great help in getting the belt started again and it took a good ten minutes before a supervisor arrived and got things in motion.

I needed cash so went to the first cash machine I could find and was rejected so had to find another which happily shot out a $100 or so. Hopefully this would just be a blip and after a beer in The Lodge I was ready to hit Montana.

Aboard a packed flight to Missoula I was sat next to an old guy and we discussed the ongoing financial meltdown and where I was from and what I was coming to the USA for. I have to admit that I was beginning to tire by now and could feel myself drifting to sleep every now and then although every time my head headed south it quickly bounced back north. I can't sleep in a bed never mind a plane.

Arriving on time in Missoula I picked up my bags, which thankfully yet again all arrived, and headed to the Alamo desk to pickup my rental which I was expecting to be a Subaru Imprezza as I had had that last year. Keys in hand I found a full size 4x4 Nissan Armada and it was absolutely massive with all mod cons included. It was also large enough to camp in if the need should ever arise. By midnight I was tucked up in my bed in the Motel 6 just up the road from the airport and looking forward to another fantastic trip.

For me there is nothing better than waking up in Montana for the first time each year and suddenly the belief that the trip is actually underway hits me. Getting the ski gear out of the case and getting ready for the first day on the snow in 11 months provides a boost and the thought of heading up to Philipsburg to see my good friends is just the icing on the cake.

I grabbed a quick coffee in the foyer and looked out at a quite beautiful spring morning in Montana before making my way out to the 4x4 and headed to Montana Snowbowl which was just up the canyon from my motel.

Arriving at a quiet, crisp base at 10am I grabbed a ticket($38, 2600ft, 1200a) and headed to the lift and made my way up the Grizzly Chair where I could only see a handful of other skiers and snowboarders ahead. Next up I headed to the upper lift for a few laps and found a mix of conditions including some pockets of powder and corduroy grooming.

I prefer the runs to the base rather than the upper lift so I tried my luck down East Bowls and Purgatory before a lunch in the cafeteria of burger, fries and coke($9.50) before heading back out for a final few laps including a couple down Spartan Headwall which had some great conditions on the spring corn.

By 2.30pm I was beginning to tire and with 4 weeks of skiing ahead of me it was time to pack up and make my way up the road to my home for the next few nights with Bill, Kathy and Kenny in Philipsburg which is about 80 miles east. As I left I noted that the empty parking lot of the morning was now pretty full with lots of locals enjoying an early start to the weekend.

I stopped off in Drummond which is where I first met Bill, Kathy and Kenny and checked to see whether another old friend, Mike Coyle, had managed to get his bar back up and running after it had been gutted by fire in July 2008. I took a look in past but it was not open and I could see that work was still ongoing so I headed to Swede's Place for a beer there to quench the thirst after a hard day at the office.

Before leaving I decided to see if Mike was around and sure enough when I looked in the front door of the bar I could make out somebody pointing towards the side door so I took a look around and found Mike chatting to three of his pals. After a catch up Mike and his pals invited me to follow them to Hall, about 10 miles towards Philipsburg, for a few beers in Stockman's Bar and to check on what they described as Sexy Suzie.

Unfortunately the description of an older woman with missing teeth was hardly my idea of sexy but I decided to take Mike up on his offer and follow them up the road. This was another local bar that I had never been in before and it was a strange kind of place with the feeling of being in a front room of a house. Anyway, the tins of Bud Light were coming my way and in a beautiful spring evening were hitting exactly he right spot.

After an hour I said my goodbyes and headed up to Philipsburg although before leaving Mike said that he would have a cold beer for me down at The Canyon on my return in April. Arriving in the Sunshine Station in Philipsburg to buy some beer I found Bill working behind the counter. A quick chat with Bill and I headed up to the house and got my usual warm welcome from Kathy and Kenny. It was great to be back.

A few beers in the house and we all went down to the Sunshine Station to meet Bill when his shift in the store finished at 9pm. The bar was quite busy and I was introduced to Deb's behind the bar and had a few games of pool with the locals. Lorraine, a barmaid from my favourite bar in town, the White Front, bought us all a drink which was a common theme through my stay this year.

By midnight Kenny and myself were tiring fast and with Kathy working in the morning it was time to head home for a good nights sleep.

Saturday March 14th - Early Start, Late Finish

After a good nights sleep I was up and having a coffee with Kenny and looking out on another gorgeous morning so after a breakfast of eggs, sausage and toast I was keen to get up for my first day of the season at Discovery Basin($35, 1670ft, 614a) and arrived at around 10am at a busy parking lot.

I decided to spend the morning on the back lifts of Granite and Limelight which have some brilliant inbound steeps and I was not to be disappointed warming up with a cruise down Winning Ridge and Boiler Maker before dropping into the bowl that funnels out to the base of Limelight.

Next up was a few laps down the steep runs including Christmas Park, Spooky Hollow, Terminator and Haunted Forest which were all in nice condition and would be truly superb with a foot or so of new snow I thought to myself.

Deciding to head for lunch I took Claimjumper which is a wide open high speed cruising trail down to the base area. Although it is a really easy trail it is possible to really crank up the speed and put in some wide turns while flying past the odd one or two people out on the slopes. Great fun.

Lunch today was a burger, fries and coke($9.50) in a busy lodge and I sat for a good while catching my breath and chilling in the pleasant homely surroundings with a load of families that were out enjoying their day on the slopes.

Despite a busy parking lot and lodge the slopes for a Saturday were really quiet and I went back for an hour or so to ski on the back lifts before calling it a day around 2.30pm. Packing up my gear I would head down to the White Front Bar in Philipsburg for a few beers for the first time in the trip. It really is a place I could wile away a few hours in very easily, and quite often I do just that.

Lorraine, who I had been introduced to the previous evening, was bartending and I recognised a few of the usual suspects from previous trips and was introduced to Lorraine's friend Buck. Grabbing a seat at the bar it was great to settle back with a fresh glass straight from the freezer filled with Bud Light and watch the day go by while watching a programme on the television about the most lethal roads in the USA. One of which I had driven along twice in the last few years between Ouray and Silverton in Colorado. Scary stuff.

After a couple of hours it was time to head up the road to the house to catch up with Kathy and Kenny. Kathy was busy preparing dinner so I sat back and had a blether with Kenny over a couple of beers before a lovely stir fry to fill the hole. Much to Kenny's amusement Kathy was getting her makeup on for a night down at the bar.

Bill works 5 days a week, Tuesday thru Saturday so a Saturday night for Bill is like most peoples Friday night and as he finishes at 9pm Kathy and I made our way down to the Sunshine Station for the night as he finished his shift. For those who don't know the Sunshine Station is a gas station, grocery store, bar and restaurant all rolled into one.

Settling down at the bar I took on all comers at pool and was in the form of my life. I just could not miss for a change! Bill and Kathy were both off on Sunday so were quite happy to have a late night and although I was up in the morning to ski I was more than happy to exchange a night with my friends for a sore head in the morning.

However my cards were again playing up and luckily I managed to get Bill to speak to Debs to swipe my emergency credit card for some cash in the hope that I'd find other machines that would accept my Lloyds TSB cards.

By 2am the bar was closing so we went up the road for a nights sleep with the hope rather than expectation being that I might manage to ski!

Sunday March 15th - Flaming Horseradish

I had heard Kenny stirring earlier but it was about 8.30am before I sort of peered my head from beneath my blanket and could see what I thought was sign of snow or rain in the yard. However on closer inspection I found that it was also blowing a gale and hardly an inspiring thought to get up to the mountain while still feeling slightly hungover.

I dragged myself up and grabbed a coffee with Kenny who was quite happy to comment on how drunk we had all been the night before and as ever he added a few little extras to exaggerate the fact but it is all in good fun. A quick shower and I made the decision to sit it out for an hour and decide whether it was worth going up although my gut feeling was that it would be miserable at Discovery today.

Shortly after 9am a slightly bedraggled Bill appeared and admitted that he had been as drunk as he'd been in a long time and was suffering a bit. Kenny was in his element, while Bill recalled the last time he was that drunk which was several years back trying to climb a hill to his door in Philipsburg after a birthday drink or ten with his son.

Bill made for the fridge for a beer and Kenny had his kick start for the day with a slug of vodka over ice with a good helping of fruit juice and although tempted it took a while before I decided to join them and have an ice cold beer but once it was in hand it immediately made me feel a good bit better.

Bill, Kenny and I spent the morning chatting over a few sociable drinks and Kenny was in magnificent form describing in great detail how much he hates anything hot, in particular peppers and horseradish and his ill-fated attempts at killing off Bill's supply in the garden which he shuffles the entire winter's snow on top of from the front decking. Steam would spurt skyward and nothing would kill the plants according to Kenny!

With everyone up and Kenny in excellent form we decided to head to the Whitefront Bar for a few drinks in the afternoon and a leisurely game of pool against some of the locals. My partner was Buck and we had a couple of good wins as we wiled the afternoon away over a quiet beer or two while Bill and Kathy had a go at the slot machines.

By 6pm it was time to head home and fire up the BBQ for what I can only describe as the best meal I think it is possible to have anywhere in the world. In my previous visits to Bill and Kathy's they have always fed me really well but Bill knows that jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon followed by mule deer steaks wrapped in bacon will be a winner every time. This would be no exception!

Poor Kenny's eyes were watering just watching Bill and I munch our way through a dozen or so peppers and I have to say that there were a few times that I could see a bead of sweat on Bill's brow and undoubtedly I had a similar look and had to have a gulp of beer to cool the mouth every now and then. Hot stuff!

Next up was the mule deer steaks barbequed to perfection by Bill and with a side of Kathy's cheesy mashed potatoes. It always gives us a laugh that the steaks for the locals are on about 15 minutes before my ones go onto the grill and Bill has it down to a T. I think Kathy is half expecting the mule deer to walk back in itself as it's so raw but for my taste it is perfection.

I was in heaven and poor Tank must have been cursing having me as a guest as I was quite happy to have a few more steaks and landed up absolutely stuffed while he sat patiently waiting for any leftovers. Tonight he would have a long wait.

After a bit of a breather we decided to take a look down to one of the local towns down the road towards Drummond. Maxville is set off the road a little and as such I had only found out the previous year that there was a bar as from passing it looked like a dozen houses and not much else. We pulled up at the Maxville VFW(Veterans of Foreign War) and grabbed a bottle of beer and a pool queue and had a few racks of pool while laughing at a couple of guys that Bill knew who were struggling to get out of the clutches of a couple heavyweight local girls. I quite liked this bar but we were only here for one and headed to the Sunshine Station and had a few games of pool with one another and a couple of beers to finish off the day before I suggested a nightcap at the White Front. By 10pm we were home and pretty much ready for bed and the weather looked very much better for a day on the slopes in the morning.

Monday March 16th - It Simply Can't Be Beaten

When I awoke at around 7am Kenny was already up, Tank was on his back with 4 paws to the air and I seemed to be the only one in any way excited by the inch or so of fresh snow on the decking with what appeared to be a slow, steady fall of new snow. On the other hand, this was what I come across the Atlantic Ocean for each winter although it is fair to say that seeing new things and staying with my old friends certainly runs it a close second.

Today was a day for getting there as near opening as possible and after a coffee with Bill and Kenny I got my gear together and headed up towards the hill in light snow which gradually got heavier and heavier up the road until it got to such a point around the beautiful Georgetown Lake turnoff that it was a complete white out and impossible to tell if anyone was on the road in front of me.

At the base it was obvious that there was around 12" of fresh snow, a reasonable amount of people taking a day off and a whole lot of fun to be had. Knowing the mountain this was my day to test my ability on the back side of the mountain in fresh snow so I headed to Granite and Limelight with my first turns into Orphan Girl being pretty nice in knee deep snow.

Next I headed over towards Limelight by dropping off of Medicine Ridge into the bowl and had pretty much the place to myself with the occasional yelp from the distance to show that there were actually other people around.

The remainder of the morning I spent lapping Christmas Park, Haunted Forest, Mother Lode, Manhattan and Ajax and I have to say that these were probably my best Montanan turns ever. Sensational.

I spent the rest of my day making turns in the same area and by 2.30pm I was done and decided to head back to town for a well deserved beer at the White Front Bar before heading home at 5pm to see what the gang had been up to. Much to my delight Bill had been to the grocery store and stocked up on Jalapeno peppers and as Kathy was working late we had about 6 each as well as a few steaks and beers. Brilliant.

I had been due to leave Philipsburg in the morning and head west to Seattle but Bill had planted the seed that the roads would be quite bad as more snow was forecast out west and I was having such a good time that I decided to stay around a few more days and in the future I am sure I will stay even longer.

I never like to blow my own trumpet but I was secretly glowing when Kenny mentioned that we had only known one another a couple of years but how much of a friend I was and told me that prior to us meeting Bill and Kathy had described me as a breath of fresh air when I came to visit each winter at the Sky Motel down in Drummond. Bill always makes me laugh with his stories of some of the people they had come and stay there and how it was great when I came.

It was sad when he told me of the people that came for a few hours, put the heating on full blast then left the doors wide open costing them more than the nightly room rate brought back in. I guess I can't be that bad as they let me stay each winter in their own home!

After dinner we decided to head to the Sunshine Station for a few games of pool and a quiet beer although before we went Bill, Kathy and Kenny gave me a present of a proper cowboy hat which I proudly wore down to the bar although shooting pool was slightly difficult!

However, it was only the generosity of Kenny that allowed me to go out after he lent me $40 as yet again I had problems with my card during the day at ATMs. Strange as I could buy petrol and ski tickets but cash withdrawals were a major problem. This was a superb gesture from Kenny and goes to show what a brilliant set of friends I have out in Montana as I know they do not have money to throw around. I made sure that I repaid Kenny the following day after more fun with my cards.

An early night was called for so before 11pm we went home and had some ice cream before hitting the sack with dreams of what tomorrow might bring.

This article was written by Quintin Chalmers, a 34-year-old skier from Aberdeen in the north of
Scotland. Quintin has skied at over 100 US resorts and is in the process of setting up
www.offthebeatenpath.co.uk designed to help like minded people find the best turns in some of the
more unusual resorts in western USA. He has over 20 years skiing experience and enjoys nothing
more than seeing new places that many people write off as being not worth the hassle.