Wow! What a tremendous amount of snow this winter. We’ve been on Apgar View Ranch for 6 seasons and have not seen anything close to this.
Definately been challenging dealing with this much snow when you are caring for horses. They keep their trail open to the barn
and I keep their feeding areas clean.
This amount of snow also makes for some fabulous skiing. The dogs love getting to go on ski outings.
With a welcomed break in the snow and a little nicer weather I made an attempt to ski into the elk creek/dirtyface area. To access this area you either have to cross the middle fork of the flathead or cross on the railroad trestle at Java creek. 
After you cross the trestle you drop down and cross Java creek.
The Java cut across trail does have some very steep exposed areas that can have some small slide dangers. 
I was able to navigate through these areas right up to where the cut across trail drops down to the dirtyface trail. At this point I encountered a bad area that had slid on about 1/2 the slope and not on the side I entered. 
At this point I elected to turn around. When you are in the back country alone sometimes you have to decide to punt rather than take chances that may result in accidents. Even though this trip got cut short it was still enjoyable and a beautiful day to get out.
Lake McDonald always has picturesque moments on these clear days
Spring is coming!