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Quarter Century

2/27/2015

After a long history of bad birthdays, my 25th was the game changer. On Monday Feb 23, Joel Forrest and I set out in search of a new powder skiing zone. Out of seemingly nowhere, we stumbled upon a new-to-us area...

Tigger-pup displaying the potential of our beautiful bluebird day

Joel Forrest gettin' the goodies!

Trying my absolute best to hold onto my youth.

Three hours later we are listening to some bluegrass, drinking some beer, and reminiscing about the good ol' days! Thanks Joel for making my 25th the best so far!

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Three, Seven, Five

2/15/2015

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Three Days, Seven classic Teton ski descents, and five different ski partners. After weeks and weeks of trying to set up some skiing in Jackson with SLC local and Voile team manager Noah Howell, everything finally came together for three long and incredible days of skiing.
2/12/15
UNO - Day one consisted of the classic link-up between the V-notch and the Apocalypse couloirs. Both shots held perfect snow conditions and were a pleasure to ski. We skied the V-notch bottom up and dropped in just below the pinch. Three rappels took us into the Apocalypse where the ice fall was in condition to ski-through.
2/13/15
DOS - After hours of hemming and hawing, poking and prodding, our team of four settled on the Southern aspect of the Middle Teton: The Ellingwood and Chouinard couloirs. We skied the Ellingwood first in creamy powder-corn, then booted back up the Chouinard for some proper corn skiing. With Adam Fabricant cracking the whip, our team of four dragged ourselves up to the Teepee glacier and finished the day on the dike snowfield. Thousands of vertical feet of powder skiing brought up back to the car by just 3pm!
2/14/15
TRES - Tired, sore and sunburnt, Myself Noah and Matt (?) left taggart lake TH close to 8am with the Middle Teton Glacier route in mind. Maybe it was the weather forecast, but for a Saturday, I was surprised to see so few people out in Garnet Canyon.
with Stiff winds hitting us from the west, we booted up the thin SW couloir in neve and rime ice conditions. We were fortunate to top out with clearing skies and calming winds. After some route reconnaissance we opted to rappel into the start of the Middle Teton Glacier instead of skiing the East Face... it wouldn't have gone clean without a 6' air onto a steep snow flute in the face of some grim consequences.
We ended our day and the high pressure system with a descent of the Red Sentinel. Super fun three days out with some new really awesome ski Partners. Thanks Aaron and roommates for hosting me once again!

Noah Howell rappelling into the Glacier Route on Middle Teton. Photo: Ty Guarino

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Buck Snot... I mean Buck Shot!

2/7/2015

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    After my two week stint in the J-Hole for my AMGA ski guide course, I re-awakened my love for the glorious Tetons and headed back down south or some more Gand Teton National Park lovin'. On Saturday Jan 31st I drove the 4 hour commute through Idaho and arrived at Aaron Diamond's house in the early evening. I planned on staying for a week with hopes of a mini expedition to Mt Moran, but the weather was forecasted to close in for another storm cycle. Both Aaron and I decided we could get out into the park on Sunday Feb 1, but it would be too stormy to ski anything up high later throughout the week.
    Since neither of us had skied anything off Buck Mountain, we settled for a Stewart Draw approach and set our sights on an obscure Couloir descending from the east face: the South East Couloir. We invited Kelly WY Yurt-Dweller Ben Johnson and fellow Outward Bounder Austin Gibney along to see what we could find.
    After some disorienting route-finding and sketchy down-hill skinning, we found our way to the base of Buck's east face. I somehow forgot my crampons, Austin was feeling a little beat from his weeklong snowmobiling binge, the exit to the SE couloir looked quite thin, and snowpack seemed wind affected. By this time we were all feeling like we wanted to bail on the SE couloir and ski something else. We decided the regular East Face route would do, so we preceded to kick-step our way up the the NE ridge.
    Soon enough, we found ourselves peering into the north facing Buck Shot couloir. After little talk, we all settled for plan C. Since the snow level was quite low, we were forced to make one 30m rappel into the entrance before we were on our way. Buck Shot served up super variable and crappy snow, but was was a fun nevertheless. The top few hundred feet started off with a 47 degree crux that chocked down to two ski widths. below the choke was a wide, wind-affected bowl and another 1000 feet of couloir skiing.
    Overall, the snow was junk but the turns were fun. A great adventure with some great folks!
Photo Credit: Aaron Diamond

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Quarter Century

Three, Seven, Five

Buck Snot... I mean Buck Shot!

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