Randosteve hikes along the high open slopes of Whiskey Mountain.
After visiting the Ross Lake area of the Northern Winds River Range last year, I knew I would return. For those willing to gut out the dry approach, the variety of touring and skiing possibilities is endless. I thought this second trip would quench my need to return, but to tell you the truth, it only makes me want to go back even more.
I recruited Jackson skier Mike Calla to join me on this week’s adventure. Mike did a guest post here last season about skiing the North Face of Gannett Peak and I knew he would enjoy the trip. We left Jackson on Wednesday morning and drove by 3-7′ snow banks on Togwotee Pass, arriving to a freshly grated road to the Trail Lake Ranch Trailhead. My guess it’s for the upcoming fishing season and not the spring ski mountaineering season.
Mike finds some snow lower on the Whiskey Mountain trail.
Though one of the closest access points into the heart of the Winds, and open year round, the northeastern end of the range is relatively dry compared to the rest of the mountains. Sufficed to say, we Teton-styled it for about the first 3 miles, beneath red cliffs that made me feel far from home. The amount of snow slowly increased and finally we put the skis on our feet and milked the shaded gullies and treed areas up to the high slopes of Whiskey Mountain.
The snow filled gullies pulled us higher and higher, to a point where we had gotten a bit off route and had to descend and hunt for the trail down in a burn area. We spotted some bighorn sheep in the distance that were very keen to our presence and bolted across the horizon. We encountered some more later on, but they stayed put, trying to blend into the surroundings. Soon we were back on track and moving forward, waiting for the right time to drop down all the way to the frozen Ross Lake.
Mike begins the two and a half mile skin across Ross Lake.
Our objective on this first day was to get at least to Upper Ross Lake, but first we would have to skin the 2.5 miles on lower, Ross Lake, which sits at 9,675′. The alpine scenery in the high cirques made the time fly and the surface was firm, so we make good time. A small rise brought us to Upper Ross Lake, less than a hundred feet higher. Steep cliffs started to rise on the left, getting me more and more excited for the days to come.
Mike skins across Upper Ross Lake
It was about 6 o’clock when we reached the southern most end of Upper Ross Lake and Spider Peak was the focus of our attention the whole way. Wanting to stage a little closer to the goods, we decided to continue hiking for another hour. After about 30 minutes, we ran into a nice meadow with outstanding views of the terrain up a side canyon towards Mile Long Lake. We put on the breaks and hunted out a nice spot next to the trees, out of the way enough to cut the wind a little, but not enough to completely block the views.
Mike cooks dinner under a rising moon.
It was close to a full moon stage and we cooked dinner easily under its glow as we discussed plans for the following day. With so much terrain at our disposal, the decision was tough, but it was hard to pass up heading into the Mile Long Lake area. The temperatures quickly dropped into the single digits and we zipped into our cocoons wearing everything we had brought. Both of us had tried to cut weight by bringing our summer weight sleeping bags. Day two tomorrow!!!
You need to learn proper grammar. What’s wrong with this sentence?
For those willing to gut out the dry approach, the variety of touring and skiing possibilities is endless.
IS ENDLESS????? Try Are Endless retard.
wow,what a valuable comment, thanks for sharing bobbyb
This isn’t a grammer blog…it’s a skiing blog. But thanks for the edit…I’ll forward all my future posts your way for a proof read.
Why do you have to be so harsh anyway Bobby? Do you want me to critique your skiing ability? Sheesh!!
bobbyb, you probably mean “are endless” instead of “Are Endless”
retard? :-p
Love the pics. Just a fantastic area of the winds, also for fishing in the summer between all of the various lakes. I think I might have metioned to you last year steve, in the future, you may want to look at the route from the trailhead that basically takes you directly up and over to Hidden Lake, and then straight up the drainage through ross lakes. saves some up and down, and in the spring, might have more snow than the whiskey mountain grunt. with the lakes frozen, I expect it would be particularly fast.
as for bobbyb, why even acknowledge his comments? it is readily apparent that he must be jealous, sitting at a desk somewhere.
Thanks Gmon. Sometimes it’s hard to swallow the critique. Not loosing any sleep over it though.
I”m sorta leery of the unknown on the ‘low route’ to Ross. Looks like it would be a lot of skis on/off down there in the winter.
Hey, the grammar cop is wrong. The subject of the sentence in question is “variety.” If you leave out “of skiing and touring possibilities” you get the “variety IS endless,” and that is correct.
Sorry, bobbyb (I can only assume all those bs stand for extra bitchy), your desk jocky assholishness was all for nuttin’.
I’m wondering what conditions are usually like in June in the northern winds.
I’m a Salt Laker with emotional ties to Jackson (that is, I’m in a relationship with a lovely Jackson lady) who is thinking about spending June weeks in the WRs and coming back to JH for showers and quality time on weekends.
I’m considering any of the usual summer non-mountaineering routes. Ya know, just backpacking, but with so much snow am starting to think that I may need skis just for ease of transportation.
Any thoughts?
Thanks Brant! You mean I’m NOT retarded? Phew!
As far as the Winds are concerned. I think the high country should still have a good amount of snow in the beginning of June. However, I also think the Upper Green River Basin is the only place in the state with an below average snowpack. If your planing on staying high…skis may help. I’m hoping to get into Gannett the first week of June…for some skiing…so I might be able to give you some current condition info around then.
An SLC dude hookin’ it up with one of our local cowgirls?!?!
Dude, that brings the ratio down to something like 8.25 to 1….thanks for nothing Bayless! 😉
Steve, great stuff. And bobbyp, YOU are the retard. “Variety… is endless.” There may have been a better way to construct the sentence, but it is not incorrect. Way to go.
Doh, brant beat me to it.
Dartmouth in the house!!!
Thanks Colin. Having fun in Texas I’m sure.
somewhere a dartmouth grad is crying…….
Steve, different Colin, I’m in Northern California. I’ve got a Skinny Skis sticker on the back of my laptop though. I bet you can guess which one.
And bobbyb, where did you go to school? Fail out of the unknown English program at Bumfuck U.? Crawl back under the rock from whence you came, wanker.
we can neither confirm or deny said persons attendance at our university. he has been seen in the elk run/creekside area of jh lately…..
Wow, what a grammerathon clusterfuck! That was awesome! Haven’t seen a run of comments like that since Steve gave away the “secrets” of the Apocalypse Couloir. I, too, was ready to pounce on the grammer cop but the rest of you beat me to it in a wonderfully vindictive fashion. Bravo!
For those willing to gut out the dry approach, the variety of skiing and touring possibilties is endless.
I knew what Steve meant. (This deos nut haveu to bee a gemmer quiz.) Besides I think it takes some smart’s to run a website like this.
Thanks for the info, and I DO apologize for stealing away one more female from the equation. If your off season is blue-ball city, find me at the cadillac’s happy hour and I’ll buy you a brew.
I’ll be the only one with a date 🙂
Oh Snap!!!!
bobbyb –
Actually, “is endless” is correct, since the verb refers to “the variety”, which is singular.
After all, a Mensa member like you wouldn’t say “the variety are endless”, right?
so, can we talk about skiing again?
Sweet trip guys!
Do any of you have experience in connecting the Northern end (Dubois) of The Winds to The Green River Lake area (Cora)?
I’ve had the topo sitting around for almost 10 years now and need to check this off my list.
Slainte!
Exit stage left: Collin, you missed the crap clean up at The Clusters. Nice planning. Good luck in TX.