Slogfest-Wind River Range

    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. 
   

    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.  

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.

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. 

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.   

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!