I picked up Brian Harder at 7am yesterday, both of us were anxious to get into the mountains, and I think we both lost sleep because of it. We passed the resident moose that seem to have made Gros Ventre Junction their home for the past couple weeks and we were on the trail before […]
Trip Reports By Region
Going solo today and might try to get above the clouds on the Middle Teton. Note: This TR is from February 17.2006. Last winter, Dustin, Reed and I were able to nab a coveted descent…the East Face of Fossil Mountain. I say it’s coveted, cuz I haven’t heard of anyone else ever skiing it, and […]
I slept in this morning (until 7) and didn’t get out of the house until almost nine. I was skiing solo today and it seemed to have snowed lightly all night, so I cruised to Wimpys for some more powder turns. The weather satellite looked like there might be some clearing skies today, so I […]
Got shutdown on yesterday’s adventure. The plan was to skin up the Banana Couloir on Prospectors, and then ski a spur couloir that dropped you into the bowl to the west. We got an early start under light snow and approached via ‘the maze’. We found ourselves contouring into Open Canyon through punchy, north facing […]
Well Brian Harder and I were on the trail to powder ski on Wimpys yesterday before 8AM. I could tell it was going to be a special day as the new snow got deeper and deeper as we climbed. The snow constancy was very light and there was like zero wind effect as well. Some […]
Anyone who has skied or toured on Togwotee Pass knows how popular an area it is for winter recreation. While we all have ‘rights’ to access our different ‘playgrounds’, it is important to respect area closures and wilderness boundaries so that everyone can enjoy the backcountry experience they seek. Unfortunately, evidence of snowmobilers ignoring such […]
Man, did anyone else ski in the park yesterday? It was dumping! I got up early yesterday, hoping to catch a weather window and ski something fun again. The skies cleared as the sun went down the previous night, but it was snowing once again by morning so I opted for Wimpys instead. I broke […]
It was good to see some colder temps yesterday morning. Having not been in the mountains for a few days, I wanted to ski something exciting. Most of the bigger lines in the Tetons aren’t filled in that well this season, so the dedicated skier must sniff out new terrain. I’ve stared at the Dike […]
Well now that the February issue of Backcountry Magazine, with that Hidden Couloir piece, is on the shelves, I figure I will add some fuel to the stoke. Skiing the Hidden Couloir in 2005 was a great achievement for Reeders and I, and it felt great to bag the steep, technical descent. Here is a […]
Well it is nice to be home, but I had a great trip to SLC looking at gear and talking with great people. I’m back in the store today, writing orders for next winter already, but I’m getting out on the King this morning to stretch the legs a bit before a couple days off. […]
This photo of our ski tracks on the Grand Teton was on the front page of this weekend’s edition of the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Great view of a fracture line on the East Face above the Otterbody Snowfields too. Tracks from local skiers Steve Romeo, Brian Harder, Reed Finlay and Dustin Lemke are […]
I wanted to sleep in and recover from skiing The Grand yesterday, but I’m back to work today and down to SLC for the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show this weekend…so I have to ski while I can. Luckily, my bro Dustin Lemke charged ahead with me to work out the lactic acid in the legs. […]
Great day yesterday climbing and skiing the Ford/Stettner route on the Grand Teton with Brian Harder, Reed Finlay and Dustin Lemke. We got a 4 AM start and broke trail, booting from the meadows all the way to the summit…and my quads were quivering at the end of the day. We had a leisurely pace, […]
Well I didn’t try too hard to find a partner last night, so I was skiing solo in the mountains today. I got on the trail before sunrise and was once again amazed by the alpenglow of the morning sun. I seem to have seen a ton of awesome sunrises this year. I had decided […]
Dustin and I decided to go up into Garnet Canyon today and check out the Chouinard and Ellingwood Couloirs. It has been almost a month since I’ve been up in Garnet, so it is going to be nice to check out the conditions. The morning started out nice and cold…probably about -20°F, and we waited […]
A friend asked me to help get the work out about this slide show. It sounds like it will be great and luckily I will be back from the Winds to check it out. And it’s FREE! Explore Antarctica with Mountaineer Conrad Anker Jackson, WY- Explore Antarctica with professional mountaineer Conrad Anker as your guide. […]
Sub-zero temps have settled in Jackson and it was -18F this morning. Not much of an inversion yet, but the radiant heat of the sun still warms things up nicely. TCSAR training was canceled today cuz of the cold, so it looks like I’ll be skiing. Despite the frigid temps, I still have been able […]
Taking a day off from skiing today and it is my Friday…so I’m looking forward to some full days on the slopes. In 2006 I took a trip to Italy to compete in the World Ski Mountaineering Championships and do dome skiing in the Dolomites. Here is a picture of Dr. Cary Smith skiing below […]
I was a little slow out of the gate today cuz I had a meeting at work. Thankfully, Brian Harder waited for me and we were on the trail to Taylor Mountain a bit after 10. Surprisingly, this was my first time skiing Taylor. It’s weird how certain areas never make it into the cycle, […]
Looks like I’m going up to Togwotee today with Reeders. Waiting to see what is up with the weather for larger endeavors. In honor of Fletcher Hoyt’s first descent of Mt Shasta, which occurred on Saturday (12/30), here are a few photos from my trip last spring. I had 5 days off from work in […]