Woody Creek Cabin was in great condition, especially the thick new memory foam mattresses - a nice surprise when compared to your standard mattress pads! Solar power worked well, and the kitchen was fully stocked with nice new pots & pans for cooking. The front deck made for a great place to hang out at the end of the day (and, for late-night dance parties).

A group of nine of us were out for a five-day trip up at the cabin. On our first day, we toured up with Hunter from Beartooth Powder Guides for our mandatory first-time hut user orientation. The tour in was manageable at ~2 miles and 1,000' of climbing and took us about an hour and a half.

Once at the hut, we pored over maps and the BPG run atlas to get our bearings and to select some terrain to explore during our trip. That afternoon, we chose to head towards Rip Curl - an E-facing slope coming off of Woody Ridge. In sub-30 degree terrain, we were experiencing significant whoomphs and collapses. We decided to bail on heading higher and return to the hut for the day.

On our second day, Jake & Gloria from BPG met us at the hut for a day of guided skiing in the Hayden Creek basin - mostly around the Headwaters off Cooke Mountain. Given our unfamiliarity with the zone and the considerable avy danger, our group was glad to have at least a single guided day to better understand terrain behavior, recent ski quality, and recent avalanche activity. Our day with BPG set us up for a super fun week of skiing!

On our third day, we toured up to Submarine Bowl and got a broader look at the Beartooths and all of the terrain in our zone. We took a run down Submarine Bowl and back up to Krumholtz Alley and the sparse trees below.

On our last day, we toured into Ole's Trees for some low angle skiing. These were some super mellow glades in the low-to-mid 20s; even though the vert was small, the low slope angle made for longer runs and easy laps.

The Cooke City zone had been experiencing unseasonable spring-like conditions leading up to our arrival - minimal precipitation, warm temps, and a base hovering around 40" with persistent weak layer problems. Fortunately for us, 4-6" had fallen before the start of our trip and we heard positive anecdotes of good skiing the day prior.

During our trip, we experienced snowfall at 1-3" per day which provided a welcome refresh to our turns and turns from the group before us. Temperatures during the day hovered in the 20 - 30 degree range, and skies were generally cloudy with occasional breaks - visibility in the basin was generally good, though! Winds were mostly calm at and below treeline, but we witnessed consistent ~20mph winds and strong gusts above treeline most days.

Avalanche observations included recent wind & storm slab avalanche activity: ~9,800' on a N-facing aspect across from Ole's Woods; ~9,400' on the E-facing aspect of Woody Ridge. Our group experienced regular whoomphing while traveling each day - both on flat approaches in the creek as well as on terrain at/below 30 degrees. That set the tone for more conservative terrain choices.