Guest TR: Grasshopper Glacier, Glacier Peak, MT

I got an email from a stoked Sam Petri the other day who was fired up after having made turns in the Beartooths last week. Props to Sam and his bros for gettin’ some. Be sure to catch the vid at the end…looks like the little doggie could use some spikes! 😀

Grasshopper Glacier sits on the west side of Glacier Peak, a mere remnant
of what used to be a giant ice-cap
that covered this section of the Eastern Beartooths.

I don’t think either Travis or I will ever have enough loot to make it to South America to ski. Knowing that we will almost never be able to raise the $2,000 or so a piece that would sustain a month long trip to Las Lenas—or anywhere else, we decided to split a tank of gas and drive from Jackson, Wyo. to the Beartooth Mountains of Montana to get our summer ski kicks. It only cost us $20 a piece.

Travis McAlpine motivates a handful of riders in town, including myself. I ski. He snowboards. But regardless of the plank(s) beneath our feet, we enjoy the same snow. I feel lucky to know this cat because he never sleeps; he never stops pursuing the mission for turns. Ask anyone who rides with him and they will say, “One of the best days of riding I’ve ever had was with Travis…” and the story will go on from there.

This past Friday, August 24 was no different. Trav’ and I skied the Grasshopper Glacier in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. Both of us have skied in the Beartooth’s in August before and knew there’d be snow there. We 4-wheeled up the Goose Lake Jeep trail with his girlfriend’s Dodge truck, hiked 4 moderate miles into a saddle beneath the glacier, and kicked it at our camp spot. We even got snowed on a bit! We then hiked over the saddle to the snow the next day.

Nothing about the mission was particularly ambitious, other than the fact that we were way the fuck back there, skiing in August, while a bunch of ATV guys were trying to get their jollies on their quads. They asked us, “Who’s Dodge is that?” Travis said, “Mine.” They said, “No way!” This shit is fun to us. I can’t deny these turns, however short. Man, I grew up in Orange County New York (of the same fame as the Discovery Channel show Orange County Choppers) where we had Orange County Ski Hill–it was shorter than this run and featured a T-Bar! The Beartooths are spectacular.

-Sam Petri