Busy times over the last couple weeks. Lots going on, on and off mountain events. The concept of a ‘rest day’ really not high on the agenda.
The snow situation, or lack of over the last two week has also had some effect on daily activities.
We have only seen one significant storm over the last two weeks. The snow also happened to fall around the same time as Presidents weekend. So we had to share all the fresh snow with the thousands of people that were visiting for the weekend. Not too happy about that…
So, time to explore. Which means leaving resort and getting out into the backcountry and searching for fresh snow and new terrain.
Over these last 2 weeks we would be hiking, skinning, traversing and side stepping for an average of 2 to 3 hours a day. Some days maybe only about 45mins to an hour, and other days up to 6 hours.
Tuesday February 16th was our first outing with skins. For those that don’t know, skins and a material that you attach to the base of your skis that lets you only
mover in one direction. The skin paired with the ‘Touring’ binding allows you to walk up hill with your skis on. Similar to cross country skiing.
We headed out to No Name Canyon. 3 canyons over from the Jackson Hole resort.
Last season a few of us made the trip out to No Name, the whole journey took 3 hours of hiking just to reach the top. With the addition of skins and touring bindings, the trip up took just under 2 hours. So a massive and exciting addition to our season.
Cody Peak
Friday February 19th, ABC Chutes Granite Canyon. To the North side of Jackson Hole resort, Granite Canyon is always in the shade and on the lee side of the prevailing winds. This means powder snow, but also mean danger. Because of the lack of sun and loading of snow from the wind, there is an increased avalanche danger. So when the rest of the mountain seems safe, Granite can still be a unstable and dangerous place to be. But if treated with respect and using safe and well though out travelling techniques its one of the most amazing places to be.
High light of this little adventure included amazing pillow lines filled with some of the softest snow ever. An small avalanche at the top of one of the chutes just to k
eep us on our toes. Fresh bottomless pow 1 week after a storm. Picnic lunch at the base of the canyon creak side.
Check out the you tube movie I put together of this amazing day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-qsVPkZkIo
Sunday February 21st, The North Shore. The photos speak for them self’s. Epic terrain steep loaded faces covered in lines of cliffs. We have been looking at this area for over a year now.Easily accessible, but the road out was the problem. Having never ventured out into this area before we spent the night before, establishing a plan and studying maps.
By the time we arrived it was about 12noon. For 2 to 3 hours we explored the very north end of the area. Before having lunch, and deciding to head home.
But how do we get home? This was the question…
For a while we traversed the flats to the canyon before deciding to stop following tracks and head towards the river or creak that ran through the base of the canyon that we knew would lead us home. I think the main problem with this backcountry adventure was under estimating how big the area was that we were trying to move through and how long it was going to take us.
We pushed on through the thick woods, breaking trail for about an hour before we found some skinning tracks. We preformed the ‘Skin-sition’ and continued on following the tracks. The term ‘Skin-sition,’ meaning – the transition between alpine skis to touring skis…
We pushed on, following tracks until the forked off left and right. We took the high road and ended up skinning up hill for what felt like days. In reality it was probably a 2 hour stretch. Half way up, fatigue really kicked in, tired legs tired mind…
Struggling…
We were almost at the top when we saw in the distance orange poles. Which we knew was the boundary poles from the resort. Not a sight we expected to see. Having known we were going to end up where we did we definitely would not have taken the path the we did.
Finally we arrived at the top or our skin up, just under the Jackson Hole tram. The time was 6pm, and we were loosing light. Back in the safety of the resort now, we could relax. Knowing where we were and knowing how long it would take to get down.
Fresh grommers were our reward on the ski down. Light and temperature also played a part.Almost too dark to see out my goggles and way too cold not to have goggles on. We made a B line to the Mangy Moose to de-brief over a couple beers and some wings.
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