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Steep Camp with Dan Egan at Big Sky (3/15 -3/17/12) PHOTOS! & Moonlight Basin

post #1 of 30
3/21/12 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 
(EDIT - I added Steep Camp later to this title. Didn't start out that way, but morphed into it later on):

I'll post much more from our trip to Big Sky, Bridger Bowl and Moonlight Basin as soon as I get a chance - Briefly, we did a steeps clinic with Dan Egan at Big Sky and it was AWESOME! We were also fortunate to have Rio show us around Bridger for a day - great guy and excellent skier! But for now, I just wanted to upload a couple quick photos that tell it all about how lucky we were to be at Moonlight on Monday. I don't need to say much more for now except to say that these 3 mountains are phenominal and Montana ROCKS!

Moonlight:

Richie
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Steve
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Me
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Edited by carvemeister - 3/31/12 at 1:07pm
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post #2 of 30
3/21/12 at 8:17pm

OMG!!!! That is incredible!!!

 

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post #3 of 30
3/21/12 at 8:50pm

Where are all the other skiers?

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post #4 of 30
3/22/12 at 6:03am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rio View Post

Where are all the other skiers?


Hey Rodger! Great skiing with you on Sunday. I guess everybody was at Big Sky th_dunno-1[1].gif or if they wanted even deeper snow > Bridger! But there was almost nobody at Moonlight which is another reason we decided to give it a shot. We found untracked lines all day with just a little effort. What a great day. Topped it off with a pretty good dinner at the McKenzie River Pizza Company. Really liked Bozeman!! beercheer.gif
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post #5 of 30
3/24/12 at 8:31am

Carvmeister, I just noticed your Location: Damnit!

I roflmao.gif

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post #6 of 30
3/24/12 at 8:42am
Thread Starter 
What, you mean Long Island? Yep - it's a skier's hell! Although it is fine golf weather today. smile.gif
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post #7 of 30
3/24/12 at 9:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by carvemeister View Post
Topped it off with a pretty good dinner at the McKenzie River Pizza Company. Really liked Bozeman!! beercheer.gif


This must be a typo. Someone from New York had a 'pretty good dinner' at a Montana pizza joint?

 

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post #8 of 30
3/26/12 at 6:45am
Thread Starter 
No typo - Nice place. Great beer. Two of us who had the pizza thought it was pretty good and Richie, who had lasagna, gave it a big thumbs up as well. We've actually found some great Italian food outside NY on some of our trips. smile.gif Last year, some place in Whitefish and before that, in Gunnison (don't remember the names). I've had to travel further for good pizza on L.I. at times than I did in Bozeman - there are actually several lousy pizza joints out where I live. frown.gif
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post #9 of 30
3/26/12 at 6:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by carvemeister View Post

No typo - Nice place. Great beer. Two of us who had the pizza thought it was pretty good and Richie, who had lasagna, gave it a big thumbs up as well. We've actually found some great Italian food outside NY on some of our trips. smile.gif Last year, some place in Whitefish and before that, in Gunnison (don't remember the names). I've had to travel further for good pizza on L.I. at times than I did in Bozeman - there are actually several lousy pizza joints out where I live. frown.gif


When you come to Tahoe, you'll have to let Philpug take you to his favorite pizza place. 

305101_10150876877675018_830505017_21020736_1929143857_n.jpg

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post #10 of 30
3/26/12 at 1:23pm

I think you guys went to Ciao Mambo, another Foley enterprise (in addition to Mackenzie River Pizza).  
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by carvemeister View Post

No typo - Nice place. Great beer. Two of us who had the pizza thought it was pretty good and Richie, who had lasagna, gave it a big thumbs up as well. We've actually found some great Italian food outside NY on some of our trips. smile.gif Last year, some place in Whitefish and before that, in Gunnison (don't remember the names). I've had to travel further for good pizza on L.I. at times than I did in Bozeman - there are actually several lousy pizza joints out where I live. frown.gif


 

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post #11 of 30
3/28/12 at 2:06pm

My wife and I were in Big Sky/Bozeman skiing 3/16 to 3/26. The conditions 3/16-3/21 were awesome. I have never skied so hard in my life. 5 days in a row, 1 day off, and then 2 more days to finish the trip. Totally love the area (second time we've spent a week + there) and is an area I'd totally move to. Glad you guys had a good trip. We spent all day on 3/19 lapping the Challenger Lift at Big Sky since the tram and triple chair were closed due to winds.

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post #12 of 30
3/28/12 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 
Judging by the crust, I'd say that pizza looks pretty good! Although I suspect that slice may be a bit on the cheezy side for me. icon14.gif


Quote:
Originally Posted by Trekchick View Post



When you come to Tahoe, you'll have to let Philpug take you to his favorite pizza place. 

305101_10150876877675018_830505017_21020736_1929143857_n.jpg

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post #13 of 30
3/28/12 at 6:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by CornfldsSkiGuy View Post

My wife and I were in Big Sky/Bozeman skiing 3/16 to 3/26. The conditions 3/16-3/21 were awesome. I have never skied so hard in my life. 5 days in a row, 1 day off, and then 2 more days to finish the trip. Totally love the area (second time we've spent a week + there) and is an area I'd totally move to. Glad you guys had a good trip. We spent all day on 3/19 lapping the Challenger Lift at Big Sky since the tram and triple chair were closed due to winds.


Wow, very little winds on 3/19, just over the ridge from you at Moonlight. Although we did decide to stay away from the Headwaters that day since it looked like dense sastrugi when they finally opened that lift. Snow was just too good everywhere else. Our steeps clinic group got early-ups at 08:00 on Saturday, thanks to Dan Egan's clout with Big Sky! In addition, I think (at least until noonish) we were the only people to get up the triple chair due to the winds. Only us on the tram and the patrol let us ski the Big Couloir, even though the wind was raging and the Big was a total whiteout, top to bottom.

I had never skied it before, so I was freaking wigged out in those conditions! eek.gif

I planned (or plan) on doing a separate trip report on that, but for now, I'll link my horrid trip down The Big here. Hardly worth watching, I guess, but check out that wind at the top of the couloir!!


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post #14 of 30
3/29/12 at 5:34pm

Remind me NEVER to take this camp....

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post #15 of 30
3/31/12 at 3:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sibhusky View Post

Remind me NEVER to take this camp....


Come on!! Don't be such a poo-pooer! It was "mostly" a great (or shall I say memorable) experience. eek.gif Actually nobody was ever pressured to ski anything they didn't feel comfortable with, but the goal was to overcome some of our anxiety of challenging terrain. Dan asked who wanted to ski "The Big" and then decided if he thought we were ready enough.

Pete, who is 68 has been taking Dan's camps for years and had a ball. He's not seen in the above video because he decided to go another route with the rest of the group. Actually, Dan went with them after setting two of us up with the guy from ski patrol who would lead me and Mike down because we said we wanted to do it. In fact, on day 1, everyone said they wanted to do it, including Pete and they did.

I had planned on it, but took a pretty scary slide just before lunch. When we went down to the base to pick up some avy gear, Dan took me aside and asked if I still wanted to ski the Big. I said reluctantly, "yes." He thought about it for a minute and then said he thought I really should sit it out. I was a bit surprised and didn't want to be the only guy not to ski it - that happened to be a beautiful sunny day too! But I said, "He knows I damaged my psyche, and he's right." So I sat that one out. It was the right decision and I gave Dan a lot of credit for setting me straight.

We had "early ups" on day 3, a powder day, but the wind was fierce. Dan wanted to give me my shot at skiing The Big because he knew I didn't want to go home as the only guy not to ski it. He took me aside and gave me a good pep talk before we went into the booth and really gave me a lot of confidence. I felt ready. Unfortunately, the wind and visibility were horrific. Dan hooked the two of us up with Brandon, the sales director at BS, and a Whitefish local friend of his, Ben Storm, to also ski it with us. Both GREAT guys who helped me find my way down.

I'd take that camp again tomorrow to ski with Dan for sure. It was a great experience and Dan was a real pleasure to hang out with afterward as well. But I actually had my best time on one or two afternoons when we spent time doing some ugly crud skiing in a wide open bowl that nobody else would ski. Dan taught me some good techniques and we were ripping it up with big huge gs turns top to bottom. It was a hell of a lot of fun and became much easier than I could have imagined.

I have to say it broke me out of a rut or two. Considering the wildly variable weather, we covered a lot of ground and where I may have safely stuck to groomers otherwise, we got out and really explored. After the morning run you see above, we headed off to ski some nice soft bumps and terrific glades much lower on the mountain where the visibility was good and ended up the day with Brandon leading us to a great powder stash off the Challenger chair! We all finished up by enjoying several hours of revelry at Whiskey Jacks on St. Patty's Day! beercheer.gif
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post #16 of 30
3/31/12 at 3:33am

Carvmeister, good for you!

 

I've been to  "The Next Level Ski Camp" lead by Jessica Sobolowski and Ingrid Backstrom.  Its a women specific camp that is similar to Dan Egan's X-Team camps. 

People who sign up for them do it so that they can go to the next level of skiing, probably because they want to learn how to go places that may otherwise seem intimidating or out of reach. 

 

Dan has been an ESA Coach for a few years and always got great reviews by those in his group.  He really is quite an incredible guy and a good coach if you want to learn to ski the terrain tactically.  I'm so glad that you got to experience some of his talents. biggrin.gif

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post #17 of 30
3/31/12 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
Well, looks like this turned into my Steep Camp with www.SkiClinics.com review after all. I wanted to do a separate review and wll still attempt to when I find the time.

Dan also uses the Sports Diamond concept, which I knew about and he gave credit to Weems for. I liked it and it was one reason I knew I had to get into The Big on my last day - I had the wiil already, but I had to say, Yes. So I did. It was ugly, but I survived and I'm glad I did it for sure - Although I may or may not ever want to ski that thing again. We'll see. I'm not sure if it's more frightening to ski blind or when you can see all the rocks and steepness for 1000' vertical. Some say it hardly matters, but at least the snow was, "money" as Dan promised although somewhat windloaded.

Dan was truly a great coach. Not overwhelming with tactics and talk, but just the right amount of both and we skied our butts off. Trying to emulate his big line turns was an eye opener and then it blew our minds to watch him shred a steep mogul field like it was a groomer! Makes you realize how much better skiing most of have the headroom for. He also picked up on the subtle fact that although my legs were in great shape and aerobically I was decent, that I needed to work on my core strength. He asked if I rode a bike (in addition to hill running) and when I said not in the past year or two he said that's one important thing I needed to add to my routine. He was right.

So, huge props to Dan and alos to Big Sky for really hooking us up! Not to mention the ski patrol guys there are absolutely phenominal and gave Dan much deserved respect! (and Vice Versa) icon14.gificon14.gif

P.S. - I also have to give props to our 68-yr. old classmate, Pete Johnson. Helluva great guy and excellent skier. He came out with some of the funniest comments. Along with hearing him rant about how skiing at Vail was for "p&ssies" - after skiing the Big Couloir, he told Dan that the Sports Diamond needed a 5th component, right there in the middle. Dan asked, "What's that?" and Pete replied, "F&@kin' REALITY !!" biggrin.gif
Edited by carvemeister - 3/31/12 at 4:17pm
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post #18 of 30
3/31/12 at 1:04pm
Thread Starter 
Alright then, since this has morphed into my Steep Camp thread, here are some photos.

First thing you need to know is if you ski with Dan Egan, voluptuous women will suddenly appear at your table and hang out with you:

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This was our group (minus Ben from Whitefish who came down for a day):
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Pete Johnson presenting me a lovely token for my 1st run down The Big:

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The Big:

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A great day skiing at Bridger with Rodger RIO:

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A few others:

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The flatlanders frpm L.I. & N.J. (Rich, Me, Mike, Steve)
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A view of Moonlight:

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And some beautiful scenery en route from Bozeman (actually taken from a moving vehicle, except for #2):

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Edited by carvemeister - 3/31/12 at 4:22pm
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post #19 of 30
3/31/12 at 3:05pm
GREAT pictures!
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post #20 of 30
4/1/12 at 5:38am

Great pics and having skied with Dan In Chile, I can related....  there is no one that can push you beyond your mental boundaries better than Dan. 

 

Can you edit down that video?  Can't stream it well enough for a 15 minute clip and its too long.... 

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post #21 of 30
4/1/12 at 6:08am

Thanks  for the vid.  It reminds me of a Scottish bus tour, "..and there on y'err left, if you could but see it through the fog, is...."   Lucky you had a guide; it looks like the visibility was almost poor enough not to find the way down.

 

Can you draw a line on the photo showing which line you took, for some reason I can't seem to recognize it on the photo from the video?

 

 

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post #22 of 30
4/1/12 at 7:34am

I enjoyed the whole painful vid.  That's just how I would have reacted too.

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post #23 of 30
4/2/12 at 3:23pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghost View Post

Can you draw a line on the photo showing which line you took, for some reason I can't seem to recognize it on the photo from the video?

 

 


Here you go:

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post #24 of 30
4/2/12 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Finndog View Post

...Can't stream it well enough for a 15 minute clip and its too long.... 


When I get a chance, I'll cut it down. Really not much to see though once I get into the couloir. Lots of standing around and heavy panic breathing between every 3 turns or so! eek.gif
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post #25 of 30
4/2/12 at 4:39pm

Nice TR, interesting video, and that is one scary line to ski down in whiteout conditions like you faced, actually surprised but am assuming all expert skiers in group, but even then, that looks pretty dangerous in lit up conditions, in whiteout, well glad you had a fine time and made it out safe and sound. Good for the soul and confidence.

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post #26 of 30
4/3/12 at 5:22am

Nice!  Looks like some good snow, the Egan's are good people too!

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post #27 of 30
4/3/12 at 7:37am

no worries, good for you guys!  Its a accomplishment and you should feel good about that. 
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by carvemeister View Post


When I get a chance, I'll cut it down. Really not much to see though once I get into the couloir. Lots of standing around and heavy panic breathing between every 3 turns or so! eek.gif


 

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post #28 of 30
4/3/12 at 10:33am

Comments:  thanks for sharing the nice still photos.  Shame you didn't get a clear day for the video.  Props for sharing the not so flattering video of your trip down The Big.  Major cojones.  It is something I'll probably never try in this lifetime. Not sure which would be scarier, in the clouds or with a clear view of the drop, but I think I'd rather see what I'm getting into.eek.gif  Did I hear you say around 10:30, "this is harder than I expected", then music - the Statesboro Blues?

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post #29 of 30
4/3/12 at 6:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamesj View Post

Did I hear you say around 10:30, "this is harder than I expected", then music - the Statesboro Blues?


Ha ha!! Yes, that's certainly the only part in this video with any humorous value! That's my phone ringtone and the mic sure picked that up very well. It was my friend, Mike who had skied the couloir just before me, wondering where the hell I was. Of course he had skied it for his third time by then and had a bit of better run than me to say the least. There was no way in hell I was going to answer that one. Very good ear, BTW! icon14.gificon14.gif
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post #30 of 30
4/5/12 at 1:36pm

carvemeister,

 

If you recall... before you left I warned you to expect the unexpected from the Egans and no whining (complete with a story about being forced to ski bumps blindfolded after one of the students complained about poor visibility, lol). Was that story spot-on or what?!  biggrin.gif

 

Seriously, congratulations on a great trip and a heroically whine-free descent of the Big Couloir! That was WAAAAAY more gnarl than my whiteout skiing lesson from Dan's equally crazed brother. Props to you and glad you had a great time. As all who've skied with him know, Dan has a way of inspiring things we didn't know we had in us.

 

 

 

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