East Rosebud (Chamonix Couloir and Excalibur Couloir)

Beartooth Range, MT

Dates: April 18-20, 2021

Strava Links: https://www.strava.com/activities/5164189894; https://www.strava.com/activities/5164052377; https://www.strava.com/activities/5164203901;

Trip Report:

Before steep skiing season kicks off, I like to make a list of my high priority objectives for the season. The Chamonix Couloir and Project X Couloir stood high on the list. I spent a good chunk of last summer camped at East Rosebud. From East Rosebud, you can access a number of awesome trails and climbing objectives. After roughly locating the Chamonix Couloir the previous summer, I had been itching to ski it. 

Compared to other areas in the Beartooths, East Rosebud receives less snow and is a lot drier so I knew timing the ski lines in the area would be tricky. I heard varied accounts of the conditions of the Chamonix Couloir ranging from “definitely not in” to “skiing great”. I decided to roll the dice and head out to East Rosebud to spend a few nights in the Four Wheel Camper and hopefully get some skiing in.

I got to the trailhead Saturday evening with just enough light to scope out Project X Couloir. Project X is the obvious, yet super narrow line on the opposite side of East Rosebud Lake. Unfortunately, it was definitely not in and had multiple exposed rock bands. Project X has a northeast aspect, so it receives a fair amount of exposure from the sun. Project X was high on the priority list for the trip, but it looked like I would have to save it for a future season. It’s definitely an early spring line. A storm was planned for Sunday night into Monday morning, so my plan was to ski the Chamonix Couloir Sunday morning before the inclement weather rolled in.

Day 1 (Chamonix Couloir)

The approach to the Chamonix Couloir is only 2.2 miles from the trailhead so a proper alpine start was not necessary. I woke up at a leisurely 5:00 am and was on the trail by 6:00 am. After a casual, 50 minute hike in ski boots on mostly dry trail, it was time to leave the trail to head to the base of the Chamonix Couloir. I started the mild bushwhack along the right-side of the creek bed. Snow coverage improved and thankfully, there were the faint remains of a skintrack which made navigation to the base of the couloir pretty effortless. I skinned as far as I could and eventually transitioned to bootpacking. Unfortunately, there was no existing bootpack but there was a runnel channel in the middle which made for firm, efficient booting.  The middle third of the couloir was filled with chunky wet slide debris from a previous day which I was not looking forward to encountering on the descent. I made slow and steady progress up the couloir and admired the many small ice flows that line the walls of the couloir. As usual, the booting became more difficult near the top, but I made it to the top of East Rosebud Plateau after a healthy amount of wallowing. 

I took my time transitioning on the plateau and was joined at the top by another solo skier who wisely took advantage of the bootpack I set. I had talked to him the night before at the trailhead and he was unsure of his ski plans, so I was surprised to run into him again at the top of the Cham. We decided to link up and I waited for him to transition so we could ski together and pitch it out. We skied the top 1500’ together and were treated to awesome conditions. The skiers left side of the couloir held cold powder even though it had been multiple days since the last snowfall. Once we hit the top of the refrozen wet slide debris, I made the game time decision to head back up and ski the upper portion of the Cham again. It was that good. Plus, it’s always a treat to be able to make use of a bootpack I worked hard to put in. 

I breezed up to the top of the plateau on my second go around. It’s wild how much faster booting is when there’s a pre-existing bootpack compared to breaking trail. The top portion of the Cham skied just as good the second go around. I carefully worked my way through the wet slide debris that filled the middle portion of the couloir. Once I got through the debris, the lower portion of the Cham skied great and still held cold snow on the skiers left side. 

I made it down to the initial Y and decided to head up the left branch to check it out. There’s a small WI2 ice flow at the bottom of the left branch but there was an easy sneak around on the climber’s left side of it. I booted up to 9000 ft before I decided to turn around due to the rapid warming. Its due west aspect means it receives a significant amount of afternoon sun. It’s not nearly as shaded as the Cham proper. However, it looked like it kept going for a ways so I’m hopeful it extends all the way to the plateau. It’s on the hitlist for a future visit and would be great to combine with the Cham.

After skiing some hot grabby snow in the left branch, I was back at the base of the Cham and started the depproach back to the trail. I did not nail the exit back to the trail and got sucked too far skiers left into the new growth timber. All part of the fun though, right? After some post hole-tastic bushwhacking, I was back on the Beaten Path. The stroll back to the trailhead was uneventful other than my constant yearning for running shoes with each step. 

For Beartooth standards, the Chamonix Couloir isn’t very steep and was moderate, fun skiing. It’s definitely one of the classic lines of SW Montana that’s readily accessible to most skiers.

Day 2 (NW Gully of Peak 10422)

As forecasted, the snow started falling Sunday evening. I made the most of the spring storm and slept in Monday morning to recover from the previous day. After a very respectable 12 hours of sleep and a hearty breakfast, I headed out around noon with a mellow objective in mind. The plan was to ski some powder and let the snowpack adjust to the new load. I had my sights set on the NW Gully of Peak 10422. It had snowed 10 inches the previous night, so I attempted to start skinning from the trailhead. I made it a whopping 100 yards before I realized how bad of an idea that was due to how rocky the trail is. 

The NW Gully sits a little past the Chamonix Couloir and the lower portion can be seen from the trailhead. I was able to start skinning as soon as I left the Beaten path which was a nice treat and started working my way up the gully. The snow got deeper the higher I climbed, and I got increasingly excited for the ski down. Visibility also drastically decreased as I got higher, and I made the decision to transition to ski down once I reached roughly 9100 ft. I threw on my puffy and waited a few minutes for visibility to improve to make the most of what I was expecting to be some of the deepest turns of the season. The waiting paid off and I was granted a brief window of sunshine. The turns were just as good as I expected, and it was face shots at the top and over 2000 feet of skiing back to the Beaten Path. 

Day 3 (Excalibur Couloir and Buttcrack Couloir)

I had my sights set on the Excalibur Couloir for the last day of the trip. There’s virtually no info out there on the Excalibur Couloir but there is brief mention of it in “Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone”. Through some research, I was able to pinpoint the exact location of the couloir with a fair bit of certainty. Excalibur Couloir is ESE facing and lies just before Rimrock Lake. It’s over 3200 feet of sustained steep skiing and averages 45 degrees. It’s definitely a step up from the Chamonix Couloir which only averages 38 degrees. 

Due to the east aspect of Excalibur, I got a slightly earlier start and was on the trail by 5:15 AM. I started the approach hiking and transitioned to skinning once I reached Elk Lake. It’s always a gamble when to take the time to perform the lengthy transition from running shoes to skinning. There’s always the risk of dry trail beyond the next bend but I nailed the timing for once. Thankfully, the recent storm helped with coverage and the skinning was very efficient to the base of the line.

It was pretty special once the line finally came into view. I made the 6 mile approach without as much of a photo of the line. I was blown away at what I saw. Unlike the Chamonix Couloir, Excalibur is a straight shot to the plateau which means you can see the entirety of the line from the trail. 

I was able to skin up the apron all the way to the base of the couloir. Compared to the Chamonix Couloir, the coverage was significantly better down low. I started booting once I got to the base of the couloir and was instantly met with some of the biggest chunks of refrozen wet slide debris I have ever seen. The debris spanned from wall to wall of the couloir so there was no way around it. The 10 inches of new snow barely did anything to cover the debris pile if this gives you any idea of the size of the chunks. Thankfully, it was only a few hundred feet of wet slide debris to navigate. The couloir opens up as it gets higher up and the bottom is by far the narrowest part. 

The bootpacking became more laborious the higher I got as the snow got deeper but I continued trudging on. A solo, 3000 foot bootpack in knee to thigh deep snow is truly a mental battle above all else. Especially when you can see the top for literally hours. I dug some hand pits on my way up and liked what I saw and topped out around noon. I would have liked to be skiing down earlier, but there had been some passing clouds and the snow was still dry as could be.

Topping out on plateaus may be anti-climatic to some, but I think they’re pretty cool and they are very unique to the region. I transitioned to ski down and enjoyed awesome turns in Excalibur Couloir. I was honestly expecting it to be steeper as it stayed “fun steep” the whole time. No complaints here. I made it to the bottom and very carefully picked my way through the debris pile. The bottom few hundred feet took significantly longer to descend than the top few thousand feet but that was expected. Finally, I was back on the apron and enjoyed some awesome low angle, powder turns. While I was skiing the apron, I couldn’t stop turning around to look at the line I just skied. I’d say that’s a sure sign of a 5-star couloir. 

My stoke and energy levels were high, so I decided to head up the west facing couloir directly on the other side of the river from Excalibur. Apparently, it’s named Buttcrack Couloir. I had great views of it while on Excalibur and it looked beautiful. It is narrow with vertical to overhanging rock walls on both sides. It faces west and was still completely in the shade, so I knew I had plenty of time. I started booting up and the snow got deeper the higher I got. I feel like a broken record saying that lol. Once I reached 8600 feet, the snow was chest deep and forward progress was impossible. I transitioned here and skied some awesome, steep powder. The line continues to get steeper near the top and is awkwardly off camber but appears to be skiable from the top. This is also a depproach route for Ice Dragons I believe. I would have liked to ski it from the top, but it gives me something to look forward to on future trips.

I had a drama free ski/ skin out to elk lake where I transitioned back into running shoes for the rest of the hike out. I was super pumped to knock out some big lines in the Beartooths, but better yet, I was left with 10 more lines I want to come back to ski.