The MWA hike to the Mizpah Bowls was cancelled due to predicted very cold weather and wind, but the weather took a turn and was actually 40 degrees warmer on Porphyry Peak and King's Hill in the Little Belt mountains than it was in the town of Great Falls.
We left town at 8:30 with a high of -10 degrees but the Showdown ski hill reporting 9 above. When we reached Neihart, we were still showing below zero weather, which disheartened us a bit but by the time we reached the summit, it was 20 degrees.
As we descended to the area of the Bowls, the temps dipped to 16 above but by the end of our hike at 1 p.m. it had warmed to whopping 38! Needless to say, we all had on way too many layers.
No one in town believed it could be that warm on the ski hill, so Showdown only had two or three skiers evident on all of the runs, such a pity on a very nice, windless day.
Katie and her hubby Tom along with Lisa and her hubby Chad enjoyed a quiet hike with off-and-on sun and deep powder which pushed us over a few times.
When we returned to Great Falls, we felt like we had enjoyed a day of spring as the temps were at -8 still in town. An unbelievable warm pocket of air in the mountains while the plains suffered a terrible inversion of very icy air.
We left town at 8:30 with a high of -10 degrees but the Showdown ski hill reporting 9 above. When we reached Neihart, we were still showing below zero weather, which disheartened us a bit but by the time we reached the summit, it was 20 degrees.
As we descended to the area of the Bowls, the temps dipped to 16 above but by the end of our hike at 1 p.m. it had warmed to whopping 38! Needless to say, we all had on way too many layers.
No one in town believed it could be that warm on the ski hill, so Showdown only had two or three skiers evident on all of the runs, such a pity on a very nice, windless day.
Katie and her hubby Tom along with Lisa and her hubby Chad enjoyed a quiet hike with off-and-on sun and deep powder which pushed us over a few times.
When we returned to Great Falls, we felt like we had enjoyed a day of spring as the temps were at -8 still in town. An unbelievable warm pocket of air in the mountains while the plains suffered a terrible inversion of very icy air.