Koch peak and Lost Horse loop from MT Adventures Brian Story's account of skiing and more in Western Montana

I have recommended the North couloir on Koch as a Bitterroot classic for years ever since getting super lucky with perfect conditions when I skied it in 2008.  I have since received several tales of woe about the approach up the South Fork of Lost Horse, and have kind of rescinded my recommendation of the North couloir as a classic.  With robust low elevation still hanging on, I decided this would be a good year to ski it again.  

We skied the obvious North couloir of Koch, and the right of the twin gullies on the left margin of the photo.

Jeffrey and I left our car at 7:30 am, and icy flat skinned up the main stem of Lost Horse creek about four miles past the intersection with the South Fork trail.  My feet were still pretty raw from too much flat Bitterroot approaching, but aside from constant, low level pain, the road went by quickly enough.  We climbed up to the main stem/South fork divide, then skied a peak to creek gully right to the base of Koch.  The upper section was fun, smooth ice skiing, but the lower third was clogged with unfriendly debris which was not all that fun.  And Jeffrey lost a pole basket to the icy debris.  We made it through and were soon gearing up for the long climb to the summit of Koch.  

Jeffrey skiing our first run with the North couloir of Koch in the background.

Trail breaking on the climb was a lot of work, but it was an otherwise straightforward ascent.  We took a long lunch break on the summit, enjoying the sunny, windless day.  Skiing in the North couloir was chalky and fun.  From the base of the couloir, we made a long mid-slope traverse to the next cirque East and slowly punched a skin track to the top of a pair of 3,000 foot peak to creek gullies.  I had skied the East gully on my previous trip, so we worked our way into the West gully.  To my dismay, we encountered a sizeable rock slab about half way down.  I sketched down it, but it was too desperate for my liking.  There weren't really any great obvious detour options, but somehow we were able to find a sneak that barely allowed Jeffrey to avoid the crux step.  Reunited, we bounced down good skiing all the way to the creek.  

The North couloir of Koch, from my 2008 ski day.  Cool almost alpine cirque.

Jeffrey steep skiing above the cruxes.

To my surprise, there was an old lone set of ski tracks, and I got excited that we were going to be able to ride them all the way back to the car.  Unfortunately, the tracks headed to a long and soul sucking wander through endless re-gen forest, and we ended up forging a better high route up on the talus.  The snow was gloppy and slow, but excellent coverage allowed us to keep skis on for the first few off trail miles down the canyon.  The trail itself, stream crossing, and exit road were not bad at all, and we were back at the car tired but not too abused.  8,700 vertical feet, done in around 12 hours car to car. 

Thoughts 

I do think that the South Fork is sufficiently unfriendly to keep Koch from being a classic.  It is a beautiful, straightforward ski run on a far flung peak with a uniquely awesome view, so it is still worth doing on big snow years.  I still need to investigate approaching up the very long East ridge from Como lake.