And now for something completely different …
And now for something completely different … Despite the Monty Python comedy sketches likely called to mind for most people by that phrase, I tend to think of climbing in Montana. Either way, everyone ends up smiling. Anyway, when I let some of my favorite climbs in the Last Best Place run through my mind, … Read more
Avalanche Gulch – the other one
I’d be lying if I said it was a shame. But, when I try to talk about climbing at Avalanche Gulch, most people around these parts think I’m describing the little chossy towers standing on either side of a certain ski run at Bridger Bowl. They could be imagining something further from the truth, just … Read more
Northern Bourbon
“So we were kind of joking, it’s kind a like a finer quality whiskey. You know, our bourbon.” That’s how Tom Kingsbury, a Homestake Pass bouldering pioneer, described the Northern Bourbons area during the first annual Butte Bouldering Bash. Having climbed down the road at Whiskey (Gulch), I have to agree with him. And, if … Read more
Notes on building walls
At the time, I didn’t think of myself as a dirtbag climber – admittedly a step above most other dirtbags – then one Christmas my parents gave me an acoustic guitar because they didn’t know what else to get someone without a consistent source of electricity. Now I pay a bill that regularly shows up … Read more
Fall there
This might not sound quite as crazy as heading for the West did back in the day, just close. I went back east to go climbing. And to see some of those much heralded autumn colors. Everyone I know from there talks about them. The fiery reds and oranges and bright yellows even made “shrapnel-bursts” … Read more
Fall here
Autumn. The best kind of fall. Not that I’ve always enjoyed it, but it is a charming season. Used to be, for me, that these few months, or weeks, were just an interminable wait for snow to fly. Around here, the usually small, though picturesque, swathes of fiery changing colors aren’t popular enough to warrant … Read more
Climbing the N.B.s
It’s kind of funny that in a big ol’ state like this one there would be two climbing areas with the initials N.B., within a couple hundred miles of each other. It’s a little weird there would be two with the same initials, period. But anyway, at the Northern Bourbouns – across the dirt road … Read more
Montana climb-stone: Exploring gneiss in Beehive Basin
It’s kind of like the hole-in-the-wall gem that most people find an easy excuse to avoid.
Montana climbing: The seasons and faces
This article by Big Sky/Bozeman-based writer Emily Stifler appeared in ‘The Amazing Issue’ of Rock and Ice in October 2010.
