Trans Teton Ski Tour 1.16.05

Today was the final day of my AMGA Ski Guiding course. The last two days we spent crossing the Teton mountain range. This trip was amazing. Sunday morning we started the tour at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Our group of eight students and two instructors were on our way up the tram a half hour before it opens at 9am. It had snowed three inches the night before and it was extremely windy. I could feel the cumulative concern in the tram that morning. I think we all felt a bit worried as we heard the gusts at the top of the tram were reaching 50 mph and blowing the tram all over the place. It felt like an elevator to the arctic as we got off the tram at the top of Rendezvous... ding. We headed South West out of the ski area boundary above Cody bowl. After a short traverse we had to climb the top of Cody Mountain, it was a rocky and snowy face so we threw our skis on our packs and scrambled up.

From here Hans was our lead guide and he did a great job of getting us some pretty amazing knee deep powder turns in a lightly gladed area (here is a video of me skiing it). The weather was such that we were the only ones in the backcountry and on my own I would not have chosen a two day trans Teton trip in a snow storm and 50 mph winds. Our trip had started out pretty well. We all sort of helped navigate to our traverse. We traveled North West across the Middle and South Fork of Granite Creek and up a little ridge just before the climb to Housetop Mountain.

We had planned on camping around Housetop at 10,537 feet but that with the low visibility and high winds we decided to stop short. We camped below the ridge in a safe batch of trees. Here we ran an avalanche scenario where we had 3 transceivers buried. It was a surprise so after some initial chaos we found them all in 16 minutes or so. It was extremely cold so we got to making our shelters then covering it with our guides’ tarp. We used our skis and poles as the structure then covered it with snow for insulation.

The next morning we started our ski ascent of Housetop Mountain (10,627’) at 8am, it was 4 degrees. I could not warm up. I had every bit of clothing on I brought with me, but it didn’t seem to matter. On top of that we were keeping a clients pace which meant we weren’t skinning as fast as we would on our own. After the initial few hundred feet we were on the ridge to Housetop. This was the hardest most exposed section of the tour. The wind was blowing us off balance as we negotiated this corniced ridge. It wasn’t always obvious how we could progress and we did quite a bit of dropping low to avoid breaking cornices and then climbing back up. The female in our group started to get frost nip and by her moans of pain I wasn’t sure if she was going to make it out. We finally made it to the top of Housetop Mountain and started our mostly downhill traverse along the ridge. At the top of Housetop it was my turn to lead the group. At one point we came upon a knife ridge with 45 degree slopes on both sides and soft cornices on top.

The other group had started to attach their skis to their packs to boot pack it. I thought the snow was way too soft for that so we skinned on. This is where I looked back at Rob our instructor with a “this looks terribly dangerous” expression on my face. He just said “keep going”, you gotta love the seasoned confidence of a weathered mountain man. And so I skinned up the side of this knife ridge with soft snow cornices on one side

and avalanche slide danger on the other. After this assent we got some pretty sweet turns down to the creek before Baldy Knoll. The weather cleared a bit and we could see the Tetons in all their glory. That view made the whole trip worth it.

We then skinned around Baldy Knoll and out Fox Creek. We started at 9am on Sunday and finished the tour on the other side of the Tetons around 2:30pm on Monday, all told going clients pace we most likely spent 9 hours on skis.

We ascended 3,500 feet, descended 7,383 feet and our maximum elevation was 10,627. This route could be done in one day at a fast pace. Hopefully I’ll be able to find someone to journey out there with me before it’s time to leave this wonderful hole.
Click this image to see a larger version of the TOPO’s route – it’s pretty cool.

A few nice little tours in the Tetons

The AMGA guiding course has been a great learning experience for me. During the course we discuss techniques and then usually go into the field and practice… and this means we get to ski the Teton backcountry. Thursday the 12th we traveled into Grand Teton National Park and skinned up “25 Short”, which is named for being 25 feet short of 10,000 feet. The skin was about 3,300 feet to the top. We dug pits to analyze the snow pack, did some compression tests, then got to ski down taking turns guiding our groups. The snow was amazing, knee deep powder. This tour is perfectly safe for me to do alone as there is a well treed option with no avalanche danger. I think I’ll be spending a lot of time training here in the next few weeks.

Friday the 13th we skinned up to ski "Wimpies". This meant climbing and skiing Albright Mountain, which is south of 25 Short in the Grand Teton National Park. Almost at the top of Albright however the objective danger became too much for almost everyone in the class. There is a clear avy path from the peak of Albright. When we arrived there were three skiers clearly struggling to skin up this section. Since they were above us, and would be until they summited, then skied down, it was not a good idea to be below them. We crossed below one at a time and skied the ridge and glades all the way down. Amazing turns and incredible snow once again.

Saturday Dec 14th the day before our big “Trans Teton” two day tour our group did a 2,200 foot boot pack up Glory Bowl. Since it’s a boot pack, right off the Teton Pass road and close to Teton Village it’s a heavily traveled ski route for both snowboarders and skiers alike. With that said there a good number of skiing options from the top, so we were all pleasantly surprised to find we could ski untracked shin deep powder the entire way down. Did I mention that Jackson Hole has the best backcountry skiing known to man? On the top we discussed our options belaying clients in sketchy situations, then focused on rescue sleds and practiced lowering and dragging them uphill. These are skills I have never worked on so I learned a good deal.

Guide class day one and an epic day on the hill

My AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) Ski Guiding course started today. Our instructor is Rob Hess, CEO and owner of Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. Our morning session was in the classroom. We got oriented, did a course overview, discussed navigation a bit and reviewed what happens at a morning “guides meeting”. A typical morning for a ski guide obviously starts with a review of the weather, avalanche danger and current conditions. Rob took us into an office to show us some of the data. Turns out it was Doug Coomb’s office, as he strolled in later. I've also seen Olypic Gold medalist Tommy Moe, more confirmation that this is the best place on earth to ski.

Sunday was one of the best days of skiing I’ve had in my life.. quite possibly THE best. Without some local knowledge there is only so much you can do, and skiing the backcountry alone is not even an option. So I asked my classmate Bryan from my level II avy course who works at the JHR to show me around on his day off. Well his day off was Sunday. We discussed options and he said if the storm drops a foot or more we’ll ski the resort, if not we tour into the backcountry. I knew right then this was a good guy to ski with. Turns out he and his boys are pretty sick, hard chargin’, cliff droppin’ freaks. Just the way I like it. The storm dropped a foot and we skied perfect powder all day. The best runs were in the afternoon when we climbed the headwall to ski the Crags, 10-20 foot pillow drops into perfect snow.. unreal. I think I now know why people give up everything to become ski bums. I wish I had taken some photos but there are no friends on a powder day and apparently no cameras either.