Doane Peak, East Ridge Couloir

Reed Finlay heads towards the fog layer on Jackson Lake
and the East Ridge Couloir (red line) of Doane Peak.
Click all photos for larger image.

Yeah, I’ve got a hit-list of ski descents that I want to get done, but sometimes you need to act impulsively and go with the flow and not have tunnel vision focusing only on those objectives. That being said, while crossing Jackson Lake and coming back from a tour in Quartzite Canyon the other day, I noticed a line that was illuminated by the afternoon sun. It looked quite aesthetic and centrally located in the heart of Waterfalls Canyon. When I got home, I scoured my collection of photos from previous tours, found some good images of it and knew, I just had to ski it….soon! With the snow and weather conditions kind of questionable for most descents on my hit-list, it seemed like the perfect time to go for it.

It’s a long day of ski-touring when you head into Waterfalls Canyon and only for those that like to keep moving and are in good physical shape. We logged 18 miles on this day, scored some great skiing and even had some cool bighorn sheep sightings. Here are some pictures.

Before sunrise on Jackson Lake.

Fog can really be an issue on Jackson Lake, especially in the morning
and a compass can be helpful. This was the view for about 45 minutes
as we crossed the lake.

Slowly but surely, we begin to exit the fog and to our surprise,
we were right on track towards our destination.

The skinning continues.

We startled some bighorn sheep as we neared the summit of Doane Peak.

The sheep kept running down canyon and even wallowed
in the snow for a bit, before looping back towards
the rocks which allow for easier travel.

We saw another ram a little higher up. Coincidentally, we saw the head
GTNP biologist at the pub a couple days later and told him about our sightings.
He told us the sheep pretty much don’t eat anything all winter.
Burly animals for sure!!!

Reed scopes out some recent avy debris below the summit of Doane.

Randosteve enjoys the views of Mount Moran.

Reed skins the final pitch up to Doane.

Reed skis off of Doane Peak.

We decided to hit some of the north facing shots where the snow
was primo, before making our way over to the East Ridge Couloir.
Reed scores the goods as he drops in.

The steep pitch and fluffy snow made for some slough management.
There is some video…maybe I will edit a little clip.

After another lap skiing the tenderloin,
it was time to head to our main objective.

Reed skis in front of the North Couloir of Eagles Rest Peak.
I had previously switch my camera to black and white and forgot to
switch it back, but the image still came out okay.

I was testing next year’s Dynafit Radical FT binding on this day
and this sure looks like a good run for it.

Randosteve drops into the East Ridge Couloir of Doane Peak.
The snow was chunky powder since the sun had now moved
more to the west, but the run was great.

There is no description of this line in any of the guidebooks,
but the East Ridge Couloir seems like a good name for it.