They earn their turns doing snow surveys the old-fashioned way

Northwest Montana has a host of remote stations that keep track of the region’s snowpack.

But in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, crews keep track of the snowpack annually the old-fashioned way. They ski into set sites and measure the snow depth and the moisture it holds all by hand.

The easy part is the survey. The hard part is getting there, notes Jim Flint, Fire Management Officer for the Spotted Bear Ranger District.

Flint and his colleagues ski into the heart of the Bob each winter and spring to do snow surveys at Holbrook, which is just north of the Big Prairie Ranger Station.

The flattest route to Holbrook is still a long journey. It requires riding a snowmobile to Meadow Creek Gorge, and then skiing roughly 32 miles to Big Prairie — one way.

There are shorter routes. They may shave off four miles or so, but they also require skiing up and over mountain passes, dodging avalanches and a host of hazards, like blow-downs, running streams and other nightmares of winter backcountry travel.

Typically, at least three people go, Flint said. He’s been doing surveys for years now, missing just one year in the past dozen or so. Any fewer than three people and breaking trail gets tough. Snow conditions can range from great to awful to non-existent.

The worst snow? One trip the snow softened up on them.

“It was like skiing through 10 inches of sand,” he said.

The weather can run the gamut — blizzard conditions, rain, sleet, snow, wind, sun and extreme cold. The coldest was a trip in 2011 when temperatures dropped to 23 below.

“It’s beautiful back there when it’s that cold,” he said. As long as one doesn’t freeze to death, of course.

But usually, the more snow, the better. When there’s not enough snow, you have to ski over or around down trees, creeks and brush. With deeper snows, they often go off-trail and stay high, where snow conditions are the best.

They vary up the routes. They’ve gone over Gordon and Pendant passes in the Swan Valley and from the east side via Benchmark. Gordon Pass and Pendant Passes are accessed near Holland Lake.

The days are long.

“On a typical day we start in the dark and end in the dark,” he said.

They ski from backcountry cabin to cabin, which is the one luxury of the excursion. But everyone packs survival gear in case things go wrong and they do go wrong. Skis and poles can break and when you’re in the wilderness, there’s no easy way out.

“We’ve broken a lot of gear over the years,” he said. He brings a kit along to fix a ski on the fly — hacksaw blade, clamps, epoxy, extra screws, a drill bit — to name just a few of the items.

“My tool kit is fairly substantial,” he said.

He’s also done trips in the Bob just for fun, including a 10-day trip in the Great Bear where he skied with friends Jeremy Rust and Mike Reavis up into the Trilobite Range. They had all sorts of weather, including rain, snow and sun. But the best sight was a mountain goat near Gable Peaks that appeared like an apparition through the fog on a rainy day.

Flint’s advice for the winter adventurer? First, take an avalanche class and learn how to properly assess the conditions. Second, invest in the best gear you can afford and know how to use it. Third, start slow and ease into it. Go on a mile or two trip into the wilderness and spend the night back there. If something goes wrong, you can get yourself out and you’ll learn quickly if you enjoy it. Finally, find people you get along with and enjoy spending time with who can also take the punishment of a long backcountry trip.

Because you never know, you might come around the corner like they did a few years back and there will be a bachelor herd of bull elk, all trying to scratch their antlers off in the trees.

It will be a sight that will last a lifetime and a memory that cements friendships forever.