Breaking the Fun Barrier

By: Jacob Glass

By KAVU

May 2^nd, 2023

Long, cold winters are the reality in western Montana. Chilly nights by mid-September soon give way to frequent snow, and frigid temperatures. The landscape changes character a bit, but the beauty remains.

Luckily, there are ample opportunities to make the most of the season! This winter I made some good memories skiing with friends and chasing around local wildlife.

Still, most of us are yearning for warmer days by this time of the year. There have been enough hints of Spring to remember what is ahead; the snow begins to melt, and the rivers begin to thaw. A few bluebird days... and you reach into the back of the gear closet for an old friend.

However, the battle for Spring here is prolonged and hard-won. Obviously, it'll still be a while before we are running around in shorts and t-shirts again....

Tom and I bumped into one another while biking the single track in the area this past summer. He is an inspired rider with a strong appreciation for making the most of his time in the outdoors. We hit it off and started chasing each other around on his favorite trails down in the Bitterroots.

So, when I got a call from my friend Tom, who lives down in the Bitterroot Valley, with an invitation to go up into the high country to look for “the deepest snowfall in the state,” I was a little over freezing my tail off. Undaunted, Tom promised that we would “break the Fun Barrier” with what he had planned…

Well, of course, that piqued my interest!

Clearly, we were fair weather friends. But that quickly changed when I pulled up to this driveway to see what he had been scheming:

Timbersleds, also known as snowbikes, were completely new to me. The basic idea is that you replace the wheels on a dirtbike with a track in the back and a skag in the front. Tom and his son had been riding these machines around the local high passes for the past five years or so. His son is off to college in Bozeman these days, so Tom wanted someone to explore the aftermath of the heavy snowfall with!

Lucky me!

We drove south to Chief Joseph Pass at the Montana-Idaho border. The snow pack measured about 7 feet, according to the accumulation gauge at the entrance to the parking lot. The day’s forecast called for steady snowfall and light winds. We unloaded the bikes, let the engines warm up, and chatted with the XC-skiers.

Ready to roll, we rode across the highway and connected to a trail that would take us out to Anderson Mountain.

The conditions were supremely ideal! The bikes really came alive in the almost bottomless snow. We put them to a gallop as we took turns 'breaking trail'. The leader got to set the pace through untouched awesomeness! The only downside was frequently taking bucketfuls of fluffy snow to the face....

..... but does that even really count? ;)

After 6 miles of alternating between playing in the open meadows and weaving through tight, treed, single track, we arrived at Anderson Mountain. Though partially socked in the clouds, the setting was still surreal. We were the only two out there, and accessing terrain packed in that deeply would not have been possible without these incredible machines.

We killed the engines and took in the silence. It felt a bit like discovering another world.

The ride back to the truck was the ultimate thrill. Tom took off like a mad-man, and I tried my best to keep up. He opened up the throttle, and I tried to avoid the rooster tail of snow flying in his wake. Frosted conifer trees whipped by in our peripherals.

This is what it means to be Busy Living!

Skidding back into the parking lot, we hopped into the truck to warm up before loading the bikes. The euphoric trance had set in. Both of us were saying things like,

“That was amazing!! That was insane!! Was that real?!?”

“No one enjoyed today more than we did!”

“BEST. DAY. EVER!!”

Tom was right. We had broken the Fun Barrier.

The spirit of KAVU is to make the most of every season, to connect with the great people around you, and to be ready to learn something new. Winter is retreating, and I am truly grateful to Tom for the wonderfully snow-filled day!!