Teton Range from West to East

Easter Sunday, we continued to enjoy the beautiful clear skies and skied from Teton Canyon on the west side of the range up and over Table Mtn and out Avalanche Canyon to Bradley Taggart. This is definitely a must-do route for any backcountry skier who enjoys spending time up high in the range. No big peaks. No huge lines to ski. No long pitches of powder to enjoy. Just a long tour up in the high country. And well worth the effort!

After a 5am start, we reached the summer TH and the beginning of the climb up to Table. 2,000ft up and we were looking back down Teton Canyon into Teton Valley, ID

10,000ft and nearing the big peaks



We skied the south side of Table (crispy!), traversed over to Hurricane Pass, and had this view to the north down South Cascade Canyon.

Our three lines off of Hurricane Pass over Schoolroom Glacier and across the frozen glacial lake.

Arriving at the Avalanche/South Cascade Canyon divide

Mt. Wister and Buck Mtn across the upper reaches of Avalanche Canyon

The Amora Vida Couloir. This one's still very much on the list.

The most unusual avalanche debris. It was like a million softballs had run down the slope and frozen together. We were skiing over this mess that appeared to have come down the day before. It was fresh. By this time, it was close to 1pm, the day had warmed up considerably, and we were glad to be on our way down and past the slide paths as we were now seeing and hearing sluffs off some of the steeper areas on the south and east facing aspects that were receiving the sun. We arrived at Bradley Taggart a bit past 2pm. A 9 hour tour. And we realized we hadn't seen a single other person out there the entire time.

Easter Weekend - Saturday

Which brings me to the present. Whew. I'll type more soon, but in the meantime, here are a few photos from this past Saturday starting with an early 7am ascent up Glory and another 1,500ft of boot-top deep fluff to enjoy on my way over to work (I mean seriously, how many people have a commute like this?!?!). And then the view from Jackson Lake Dam at the turnaround of our bike ride along the Inner Teton Park Road that afternoon.

April in the Tetons: Closing in on 700 inches

Post spring-break, it was back to winter in the Tetons and the next Sunday, April 10th, we were back up on Maverick skiing powder. Again.




There has been so much snow this year and so many consistent, violent storms that these cornices have actually created an entirely new ridgetop located a good 40 feet north of where the actual ridgetop lies. It was fascinating to look at how the snow layers had formed on top of one another and see how these layers were gradually built and steadily pushed further north and east from the winds settling the snow on the leeward side of the trees marking the ridgetop. A bit disorienting. Another day up high in the Tetons. Another day skiing powder. Yes, we had just come from a warm desert, and had not had more than one day above 50 degrees so far locally, but hey, if it's not going to warm up, at least we still have powder skiing to be had!

More of the same the following weekend as continuous storms cycled through the area and left a few more feet of snow behind. So naturally, not having to work on Saturday made for an easy decision to head up to Teton Pass and partake in a couple of Glory laps. And glorious it was. A foot of fresh snow to enjoy all the way down and two, 1,500ft laps by 11am. Perfect. The following morning, it was back up to the Pass for another quick run, this one was ok, but not quite as good as the prior day as the storm system had warmed enough to the point where it was barely above freezing at 9,000ft. Still fresh, but a little heavier. So having all afternoon available, we did the next best thing to skiing powder and headed down to the Kelly Canyon area and headed out on a 4 hour, 20 mile run. It's nice having Heise Hot Springs available at the end to have a nice soak afterwards. Temperatures were warmer there than in Teton Valley, but still not entirely "warm."

Fruita

It was on to Fruita, CO for the last three days of the trip.

Not being in charge of the route selections made it easy to just go out for a ride and see what it was all about while also maintaining a guilt-free conscience.

Day 1, Thursday: Horsethief Butte

Day 2, Friday: The Edge Loop

There may be a small percentage of riders who come to Fruita and know this route exists. Fewer end up giving it consideration. And there must be an even smaller percentage who actually attempt it.

Handies

In the days following our R2R2R effort, we spent some time in recovery mode by taking the mountain bikes out for a spin around the South Rim the following morning (Monday) and Mesa Verde, the next day before dawdling our way up and over to Silverton, CO. Objective: Handies Peak, one of Colorado's 14'ers and the high point of the Hard Rock 100 coming up on the agenda this July. I thought it'd be a great way to get some beta on the terrain albeit in a vastly different winter environment, but nonetheless, I was very interested in seeing it.

This is as close as I would come.

At a tad over 13,000ft, we arrived at a saddle across from Handies overlooking an enormous basin (American Fork, I think?) and a severely wind-loaded, high-angle, concave 1,000ft slope dropping down into it. A strong storm had moved through the area overnight and blown through just as we arrived at the saddle, but the high winds persisted and the new snow was being blown over this precipice in volumes and had been since some point the night before. We'd had a great morning. No need to ruin it. With miles of untracked snow behind us, we turned around and savored an area of the San Juans all to ourselves under beautiful blue skies.

Happy Easter!

Spring Break - Go South!

Amother R2R2R.





Another amazing day.



After spending Saturday night at the Mather Campground, we woke up Sunday morning at 4am, drove the 2 or 3 miles over to the Bright Angel Lodge, and were on foot by 5am on our way over to the South Kaibab TH via the maze of park roads and paths that form a web of confusion around the South Rim development. But we made it.

By 6am we were on our way down.

And, as fate would have it, this would be the sole photo of the entire run (about halfway down the S Kaibab Trail) as my frozen battery quickly reached the end of it's charge (it was below freezing for the first 1 1/2 hours of our run).

We were down to the river in under 3 hours, across to the North Rim in just under 7, and back to the river in just over 11. A very casual pace. From there, we diverted over to the Bright Angel Trail for our ascent back up to the South Rim where the car was waiting. We reached the top about an hour past sundown. 15 hours total. And by adding the additional mileage between Bright Angel and South Kaibab at the beginning of the run, we ended up with a total of a tad over 50 miles.

Bright Angel Fault

Into March...

The last weekend in February presented us with one of the few glorious bluebird days we'd had all winter and we made it back up to Maverick with only one other group of four with which to share the entire mountain with.

Glorious

Monkey tree


Looking north toward the Grand

The next weekend, March 5th, we headed into Garnet Canyon with the West Hourglass Coulior in our sights.

From the top of West Hourglass, we had a great shot into the upper reaches of South Garnet Canyon and the wind-scrubbed slopes leading up to the saddle between the South and Middle Teton.

Grand, Disappointment Peak, Teewinot

Looking down in West Hourglass

Middle Teton with a great view of the massive Ellingwood Couloir cutting down the SE flank.

Skiing the West Hourglass

The following week, we headed towards the Spoon Couloir and another route up Disappointment Peak, but conditions were questionable and general fatigue and exhaustion made it an easy decision to bail and find a sweet little couloir tucked away into the north side of the ridge that led down into Glacier Gulch. I would have no idea this route even existed, but oh what a little gem it is. And surely rarely skiied.

It's tight!

After scrubbing the slope and hopping over the pinch, it was Liz's turn.

What a beauty of a chute! At the bottom, Liz politely directed my attention to the fact that my fly was open (from my last nature break a half hour earlier), so we discreetly dubbed it Open-Fly Couloir. I'm sure it already has a name, but this gives it special meaning to us.