Wind blowing through my hair. I feel the cold bite my face like as I remember as a child. I feel the rush of zipping through the trees. In my head, I hear my old ski racing coach yelling at me. "Left, Right, Left, Right." I can feel the adrenaline start to kick in as dart past a white art pine. I feel like I felt when I was ski racing. My mind starts to disappear into what I call the darkness. I stop thinking and all I can do is react. My knees keep absorbing every blow as I make my way through the through the glades. I see a tree line and I have too much speed. There is a line of trees and only one gap about two feet wide. My body reacts and goes straight through the gap. I feel the bark of the trees scrape my shoulders then boom. I don't remember what happened next but I felt the cold of snow against my face. I rolled over on my back and looked up at the sky for a second. I was not hurt, I must have caught one of my skies on a tree root hiding under the light snow pack. I got on my feet and took this photo.
I found myself in a small clearing of the forest. It was the first time I had been glades in almost a decade. When I grew up, my family almost never skied in the backcountry. My father pushed the technical aspect of skiing. I was going to be a ski racer. While I was always decent at racing, it was never my passion. When I say that, I don’t mean I didn’t love racing. I do. It was always the adrenaline rush I got from racing that I loved. It’s the physical and emotional feeling that I get from the speed and feeling like I am pushing the limits of my skill. Red Lodge made me push my limits and explore my passion for skiing all over again.
Red Lodge Montana is a small town of about 2,000 year round residents. Located at the eastern edge of the Rockies, it is a typical eastern Montana town with a rich history and a strong identity. Jay invited me to Red Lodge to take a break from Dallas for a few days. His family has lived in Red Lodge for a few years after moving from Houston. His father has become an avid skier in the short time of eight years since moving. The night I arrived, Jay’s father Greg and I swapped war stories of skiing in British Columbia, South America, and all over the west. At one point, he brought to the back of the house to look out the back door. There is a hill about 150 ft high behind the house. Greg asked, “Does that look familiar?” I said no and asked why? HE replied, “I call that my eastern skiing. It’s such a small hill, why would any one want to ski it.” I got a chuckle out of that. After a few glasses of wine, then a few more drinks, it was off to bed. Greg and I were going up to Red Lodge Mountain.
During a weight lifting accident, Jay became injured, so Greg, Gavin (a family friend), and I were going to go up to skiing. Red Lodge Mountain is about 15 minutes from town. Its up this long and icy road. Like the access road I remember from skiing at Gore Mountain as a child. Once we arrived, I realized that Red Lodge was going to be my type of mountain. There wasn’t any faux mountain village or five star hotels. The base was simple. Three building, a main lodge, rental and ski school building, and another bar and restaurant for après-ski. It was perfect. Not to say I don’t enjoy mega resorts like Aspen or Whistler, I just enjoy these smaller resorts a lot more. At the base, there are two lifts. A triple chair and a double. The main access to the mountain is the triple. Greg led Gavin and I to the Cole Creek area. The terrain just opened. We all caught about a foot of fresh powder. I learned I wasn’t ready for this type of skiing. I had brought my Volkl Race Tiger slalom skis. I found that once I started to sink in the fresh powder, this wasn’t going to end well. The first few runs, I fell down once of twice because I kept sinking. The terrain was great though. Lots of steeps and almost no one was on the lift. That was the amazing part of Red Lodge. For such great terrain, no was there during a holiday week. I ask Greg why the mountain was so empty and he laughed and said, “This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it.” I was so surprised. I wondered why. After a few runs off the Cole Creek lift, we made our way over to Grizzle Peak. This was my favorite terrain on the mountain because of Lazy M.
Lazy M is a long groomed icy blue. The type of run I skied all the time back east. I opened it up. It had great falls and some great dips, then we made our way over to Little Forest. One of my favorite areas on the mountain. It was some great skiing. Greg, Gavin and I did this combination about five times. Opening it up on Lazy M, then quick turns in fresh powder on in Little Forest. It was a great day. While Red Lodge does not have the brand recognition of the mega resorts, it has some of the best terrain I have ever skied. I could just imagine how it would be with a big dump. After a good day of skiing, we all headed back to town and I started to plan my next trip to the mountain.
Over the next week, I hung out in town with Jay and his friend Connor from Houston. From brewery trips to exploring town, it was a great time. The only problem was I kept planning my next trip to the mountain. Jay kept trying to rehab his injury and Connor was also dealing with a nagging injury, so I was on my own for my next trip to Red Lodge. Finally I saw an opportunity. The day before I was leaving, Red Lodge was suppose to get hit by a 12 inch storm. The perfect way to end the trip. So I planned. I was not going to ski on my race skies again, so I decided to demo a pair of Rossignol Soul 7s. What a great choice. I had not skied on a pair of all mountain skies in almost a decade, and how far they have come. While the Soul 7s were not great control wise on most hard park, they were great in the little powder we got on mountain. When I arrived to the mountain, there was about two inches of powder. The storm went south and hit Bridger Bowl instead. Oh well, I was still going to have a great day. I started on Cole Creek where no one was. I did about five runs on True Grit, Big Bear Gulch, and in the Headwaters. The Headwater reminded me of the Slides at Whiteface. It was a nice bowl with lots of trees to ski. It started to get windy, so I made my way to the lower mountain. I decided to ski off the Base Triple and ski Royal’s Run a few time. This run had some great bumps and a good fall. Then to finish, I’d hit an easy glade called Rabbit Trails. This is where I went through the gap in the tree line. I did this run about ten times before calling it a day. While I didn’t get the powder I was looking for, it was still a great trip.
So in conclusion. What did I like and what I didn’t like about Red Lodge. On the positive side, if you like backcountry and tree skiing, then you will love Red Lodge. It is a great mountain for powder, trees, and no lines. It surprised that no one was at the mountain both times I was there. For the negatives, if you looking for a luxury resort, go to Aspen, Park City, or Vail. I have nothing against those resorts, I just enjoy smaller mountains. Places where you can escape and have an personal connection with the mountain. That’s what I got with Red Lodge. A spiritual connection with that mountain. That’s why I would go back again if I had the opportunity.
