Chief Mountain

 My friend Ellie and I wanted to try and summit Chief Mountain, this gorgeous, iconic hunk of rock that has served as a spiritual center for the Blackfeet for thousands of years. Here is the Eastern face of the mountain, a foreboding rock-face just daring one to try and climb it!

 Of course we weren't going to try and climb the eastern face! Here is the western side of the mountain, showing the "nice" scree ramp leading to the summit ridge.

 Here I am, in front of Chief, Ninaki (wife), and Papoose (baby)... We need to climb around Papoose and then Ninaki to get to the base of Chief.

 The hike is just incredible. This is Lee Ridge, which is basically the most beautiful sky highway you can imagine! Bands of rock and vegetation in a striped pattern because of the wind!

 This is me at the base of Papoose, heading towards Chief. Because of unforseen circumstances (including a thunder storm rolling in) we had to stop there, and just gaze in awe at Chief from afar.

 Here is Ellie high up on an alpine meadow, smiling despite the rain clouds. This was still one of the most spectacular hikes we've done!

Good-bye Chief!!