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Slogfest-Wind River Range

4/23/2015

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    I have to say that April might be my favorite month to go skiing: deep stability issues have usually subsided, wet spring storms bring deep powder skiing, the sun stays out until almost 8pm, and corn skiing while wearing your knee pads on the outside of your jeans.  Although I love the laid back atmosphere of lazy spring skiing, I wanted to get back into the mountains to check off some objectives before the real end of the season. 
    After discussing some options with some different folks, both Aaron Diamond and myself became psyched on the idea of venturing out into Titcomb Basin in the Wind River Range. My only previous experience with the Winds has been climbing in the Cirque of the Towers.  After that trip, I would still say that the Cirque is one of the most impressive and beautiful places that I have ever been.  Needless to say, I was very excited to get back inside the Wind River's signature granite walls for some couloir skiing. 
   

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    Our trip started with a snowy access road, and a few rednecks that abandoned their stuck trucks that blocked our passage to the trailhead.  After a wild rodeo in my Honda Element and 1+ hour of digging with avy shovels, we parked three miles from the trailhead and departed for Titcomb basin two hours later than we had hoped.     
    By now the sun had heated up the snow to create wet corn, which soaked our skins and made the dry snow in the shade stick and refreeze to our skis.  We were left with a balled up mess 8 inches deep on each ski, which was horribly frustrating.  It did not matter how much glob-stopper we applied, we were slowed to a crawl.  I was also pulling a sled, which made my situation even more frustrating.  

During the first six miles of our 13 mile approach, we also realized how difficult the navigation was.  We were traveling in and out of the trees with almost no landmarks or recognizable peaks in the distance.  The trail system was obviously under snow, so we were left with a scrappy combination of following a very faint skin track, pulling UTMs off a GPS, and referencing a mostly disintegrated USGS 7.5 minute quad. 
    Our plan was to make it all the way  to Titcomb on the first day, but that was soon becoming unrealistic with our rising level of frustrations.  we found a camp spot and were relieved to take our skis off and cook some dinner.  
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The following morning, we got our bearings and were able to see where we needed to set up our basecamp near Titcomb.  We left camp before the sun heated up the snow and made our way to camp in a reasonable amount of time.  Our navigation on the second day was much easier than the first, and our spirits were renewed.  We dug out a spot for our mid-type shelter and set up a kitchen under a large boulder.  after some down time hanging around camp, we cooked dinner and celebrated Aaron's 24th birthday.
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After dinner and some passing of Jose C, the weather started to dimish.  Becasue we were not expecting any weather, we packed rather light and were somewhat unprepared for what was blowing in.  Additionally, I became to realize I need to spend some money to update my expedition gear.  within a matter of two hours, the zipper on my mid became mostly non-functional, both my down booties blew out at the sole, the zippers on my puffy jacket only worked about half of the time, and the pull cord on my backpack snow collar ripped through it's rivet and was creating a larger tear. 
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My crappy attempt to eliminate snow entering my bootie through the sole.

I spent the night getting hammered with snow through the open zipper and trying to keep my wet feet warm with a hot water bottle.  We got up the next day to on-and-off white out conditions and wet sleeping bags. Both Aaron and I were feeling a bit burnt out on expedition travel and dealing with gear malfunctions. Additionally, the storm conditions were presenting stability concerns.  After discussing our options, both or us were unanimously in the "lets get the fuck out of here" mind set.   
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taking a break while on our retreat home

We made it back to Jackson around 7pm and celebrated our cross-country skinning adventure over beers and burgers!
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April in the Northern Bridgers

4/13/2015

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4/8/15: Myself and Tele-Matt Shortland fired up Matt's 600 and sledded the Fairly lake road in hopes of finding some spring pow.
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Matt Shortland nearing the summit of Sacajawea in the northern Bridgers. 
   
    After reaching the summit of Sacajawea, the two of us meandered south towards Nuya Nuki and the ski lines named Lazer, Tazer and Phazer.  I really haven't done a significant amount of skiing in the North Bridgers, so I was eager to go poke around and see how the 'Zers looked.  I chopped a cornice on I think Phazer(?).  The snow appeared well glued to the steep entrance so I hopped in and skied the double fall line shot down into the lower part "The Great One.' 
From the bottom of airplane bowl, I watched Matt ski the Lazer; a steep and very really narrow couloir that drops north of the skier's right side of the Great One.
    With the snow skiing really well, we skinned back to the summit of Nuya Nuki for seconds and got ourselves some hero skiing directly off the summit.     
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On our way back to where the sled was parked, we got one more slice of paradise...
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Thanks for a great day Matt and putting up with me riding on your sled.  This has solidified to me that I really do need my own sled to ski up north more often!
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La Plata North Face

4/6/2015

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After I sort-of healed up from being sick, I was able to squeak out a 14er before I left Colorado to head back north to Montana.  I teamed up with local badass and former COBS employee Rohan Roy.  After working together last spring, we have been talking about trying to ski together ever since.  We were both psyched on the idea of La Plata's steep North Face so we went to check it out.
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Rohan Roy skinning towards La Plata's north ridge
    After getting the top, we discussed our descent options and settled for a steep technical line that we were "pretty sure" skied through.  After about 200 vertical feet of steep chalk skiing, we realized we were headed into a definitive close-out. 
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    Although we brought a rope with us, we opted to hike back up and out to try to find a more pure line of descent. After little talk we settled for a different line that skied directly off the summit.  
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Rohan skiing the upper section of La Plata's North Face.
    Although the snow was a little grabby, we took advantage of the blue-bird weather and milked the goodies all the way out.
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Although I developed bronchitis a few days later from pushing it too hard to early, I would say the day was well worth it.  Thanks Rohan for a great day out skiing!
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Outward Bound: Missing Out?

4/6/2015

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    After a busy (and warm) start to March, I headed down south to Leadvegas Colorado to work one of Outward Bound's 8 day Backcountry ski/snowboard courses. Although the December versions of this course are notoriously cold and dark, the March version is a completely different story.  Longer days and a spring snowpack lend themselves to easier backcountry living and hero powder skiing.  I was really excited for this course because of the promising weather pattern and the all-star staff I would be working with.
    Unfortunately the sickness that I had been fighting since the beginning of the month caught up to me and I was taken hostage of a full-blown fever.   Sadly I had to sit out of the field for the whole expedition section. I did get to skin in to visit my crew one day and got to see what I had been missing out on...        
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Although I didn't have it in me to join them for a real lap, I was so happy to see their smiling faces and absorb some of their stoke.  Huge shout out goes to Chris Noah (seen above in yellow) for solo instructing his third winter course of the season.  Also big shout out to Katlynne Schaumberg for stepping up to fill in as an instructor on her first ski/ride course.  
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