Trailhead: Skiumah Trailhead
Distance: 9.2 miles, 4,600’ gain
Difficulty: Hard
One of the most popular and easiest access points for backcountry skiing out of Flathead Valley is along Highway 2. The Rescue Creek drainage offers a plethora of skiing opportunities. The majority of the terrain is considered complex, so an appropriate understanding of the avalanche hazard is recommended before committing to this zone. Summiting Mount Penrose offers beautiful views of the bowls of Nyack Mountain, the smooth W face of Great Northern, and the horizon of GNP.
To start the trip park on the N side of Highway 2 at the Skiumah Creek Trailhead. The summer road is marked with a forest service sign. Start your journey SE along the power lines for about mile until you cross Rescue Creek. Just past the creek crossing (via a bridge) you will head SW along the summer trail into the Great Bear Wilderness Area.While this skin does consist of some side hilling, there is usually a skin track that stays above the creek and continues up the drainage. After a short mile through the forest, the views open. You may notice the downed trees, stacked logs, rocky creek area and obvious demolition from a massive avalanche cycle. In the summer the evidence becomes especially obvious.
The recommend skin route is fairly obvious. In simple terms, follow up the middle of the drainage in the lowest consequence path in the most manageable pitch for travel. You’ll start to see the saddle between Nyack and Penrose and that’s where you head! After you gain the saddle, the route along the ridge offers excellent views, or heading into the trees may provide slightly more sheltered and lower angle - terrain. As you increase in elevation, the slope angle begins to reduce as the trees start to thin out allowing the last push to provide excellent views. It is a consistent, long and fun ski back to the car if you go the same way you came up! Some alternative skiing options will be come visible as you view the drainage off the E face of Penrose, the N face of Nyack.
Other routes in this area include: Rescue to Cascadilla Traverse, Marion Lake, Great Northern, Running Rabbit Traverse, Cascadilla Drainage