Kalispell, MT

[kevino]

Moving in September for school...will be there thru the end of January.

 

If anyone has good advice about the living, hiking, running, skiing, climbing, etc I'd love to hear it!

 

If anyone has friends/family in the area that has livable space to rent out, that would be awesome!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Quarryographer]

Obviously Glacier NP, for hiking and such. I'm personally a big fan of Stone Hill climbing, which isn't too far. Excellent quartzite, but some people have a love hate relationship with the place.

There really is a wealth of good stone, but you may end up driving in every direction for the best of it.

 

[Pete_H]

Awesome. I think you'll like it there. The Mission Mountains are pretty big and wild. Lots of Grizzlies.

 

I climbed at Lake Kukanuska / Stone Hill once and remember it being pretty fun.

[kevino]

Thanks for the info guys. Def will check out Stone Hill. Pete, I spent 5 days in the missions this spring. Really cool, hope to get back there again.

 

Are there any worthwhile published guidebooks for climbing or backcountry skiing?

[ryanb]

There is a pretty active "Montana Climbers" meetup/facebook group that was started in kalispell and has loads of folks from there:

 

http://www.meetup.com/MontanaRockandIce/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/montanarockandiceclimbers/

 

Here are a couple of sites that have some western montana skiing info (mostly Bitterroots where we are):

 

http://www.backcountryfocus.com/ (see "routes" + trs)

http://mt-adventures.blogspot.com/ (see bitterroot and mission range ski route links at right + trs from all over)

 

Not sure north of calispell.

 

The falcon "Rock Climbing Montana" is actually okay if out of date and incomplete but covers some stuff up that way.

 

There are some mini guides for bitterroot areas here:

http://millcreekreport.blogspot.com/

 

Youtube video of a ski tarverse of the bob marshal + glacier gives some glimpses of the skiing north east of kalispell

 

they skied the bitterroots too:

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/gseastmissoula/videos

 

[pup_on_the_mountain]

You might not be too far from the ice near Libby (road cut). Check out this TR. Have fun!

[kevino]

Some great info up there...I emailed a local guide and he sent me some info. Thought I'd post it here if anyone else wants it:

 

Here are a few suggestions:

 

You could climb at Kila. Forty minutes south of Whitefish. There are a few dozen routes on shale rock. Mostly sport climbing. There is a small guide book to the area.

 

You could climb at Stryker (also called Marston, or Stillwater Canyon). Forty minutes north of Whitefish. There are a few dozen routes. Mostly sport climbing. There is a one page guide sheet to the area.

 

You could climb at Stone Hill. Eighty minutes northwest of Whitefish. There are a few hundred routes. Some sport and some trad on quartzite rock. There is a guidebook for the area.

 

You could also climb at Lost Wall. Twenty minutes from Whitefish. There are just a couple of routes; but one is an excellent trad. crack climb. It can be done as one or two pitches. There is a one page sheet with direction to the Lost Wall area.

 

All above guide books/guide sheets/maps can be found at Rocky Mountain Outfitters (RMO) in Kalispell, Montana.

I believe they also have a guide book to climbing in Glacier Park where you might find some Alpine adventures.

 

Plus they can give you some beta about some new sport climbing routes in the Point of Rocks area north of Whitefish.

 

If you want serious multi-pitch trad or sport routes, you may want to head a few hours south to the Bitterroots near Missoula.

 

Good climbing.

Cheers,

Link

[kevino]

Bump if someone has a room for rent.