Winter 2002-03

Winter kiting on the fly.  I enjoy flying a kite on a breezy day, and I look forward to skiing every winter. But I must confess, I have never wanted to do both at the same time. I'm one of those skiers you're just as…

Aka, the Beartooths.Cooke City is nestled near the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park and isolated from eastern access much of the year by the rugged Beartooth Mountains. A virtual dead end in winter months,…

Bozeman's backyard beast, the lynx.Very few of us have ever seen a lynx in the wild. To do so you must be doubly lucky, because the lynx is both shy and rare. Like the mountain lion and bobcat, the lynx is silent and…

Winter's bracing air and muffling blanket of snow may send the grizzly into its seasonal coma, but for outdoors lovers, it simply means a change of gear. It's the same for the sky, which this season trots out a set of…

An emergence took place here in Bozeman that shoved some classic fly patterns to the back slots of many local fishermen’s fly boxes. Their Brassies, Sawyer Nymphs, and Peacock Nymphs have had to move over for the Dave’s…

When buying ski passes, or heading up Slushman’s with protein bars and avalanche beacons, we don’t normally think about the mountains themselves—our minds are on deep powder and first tracks. But just for a moment, forget…

I had the dream again. The one where my friends and I end up stranded on a remote mountain during an eight-foot snowstorm. Unintentional "Survivor" with wet socks and no voting. I, as the hero (it’s MY dream), am a cross…

Many Montana creatures pass the winter in a state of near or total hibernation. In protected burrows, animals such as squirrels, snakes, turtles, and bears enter a sleep-like dormancy for months at a time. The mammals live…

This fall, as visitors from around the world stopped to gawk at bison and ooh & ahh at Old Faithful, scientists scrambled to record some "unusual" geothermal events. Steamboat Geyser in the Norris area erupted for the…

Freida Johnson is proof that it’s never too late to learn something new and even excel at it. She began Nordic skiing in her late thirties alongside her teenage son Greg (who went on to race for MSU, then coached the MSU…

I have been selling sleeping bags for over 20 years. That makes for a lot of stories about cold feet and sleepless nights trying to stay warm in under-built bags. Enter Western Mountaineering (WM) from San Jose, California…

Safety resources for the backcountry. If you’re like me, riding fresh powder is one of the greatest feelings of all—the type of addictive pleasure that influences life decisions. It’s that addiction that brings us away…

It's the ever-looming question: When will Bridger Bowl allow access to the backcountry from its north and south boundaries? Bridger Bowl and the Forest Service have been in discussion over this for many years and there are…

Diving feet-first into the world of snowshoeing.From the first snowfall in late September to the lingering remnants in early May, buck up buttercup, winter's here! I'm a summer person, and besides disliking the cold, I used…

There's a distinct sense of adventure in following animal tracks in the snow, and winter is probably the best time for developing your tracking skills. As soon as the ground is covered in a continuous blanket of snow, don…

In the staid, contemplative world of fine art, humor isn’t just out of place—it’s a social crime of the highest order. After all, we are told, the purpose of art is to transcend the ephemeral, to create a portal through…