Day 4 of backcountry ski trip with Bell Lake Yurt guides Drew & Spencer. Part of a huge day ski traversing the northern Tobacco Roots. After skiing halfway down from Lonesome Peak, we stopped at a decision point: do we veer down the valley to the base of Horse Mountain and start the biggest climb of the day, or add the climb and ski of the aesthetic Granite Peak into the mix? After a solid 2600 vert so far with more than that to go, not all of the group was totally ecstatic to add on the 1400 vert climb of Granite. But suffering prevailed and we went for it. We started skinning up from Granite Lake in a sauna, the sun was incredibly intense. All my clothes were soaked… all I could think is thank god I wan’t wearing long underwear bottoms. As we climbed, a breeze kicked in and made things less grim, but the upper 2/3 of the climb was a blank slog that brought back memories of climbing Cascade volcanos. Spencer broke trail with the longest single switchback ever, so long that by the time we kickturned I had lost all sense of space and time, hot from cold, right from wrong. Suddenly we crested the summit and with excitement took some summit shots… but not too much excitement. We still had so much to go. The long ski down the east slopes of Granite proved to be the best of the day. Looking back it was totally worth it (easy for me to say now!).