Category Archives: Backcountry Skiing

Son of Apocalypse

January 20, 2015 Rene 1 Comment

Location: GTNP, Death Canyon, Prospector Mountain
Tags: Backcountry Skiing, Skiing, Ski Mountaineering
Elevation: 9,413′, 4,262′ gain/loss
Distance: 8 miles RT
Difficulty: 4 stars
Time: 5-6 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 1/17/2015
Snow Conditions: 10″ of consolidated powder, stable with pockets of deeper snow

With around 10″ of snow and more on the way: Chase, Tim and I decided to venture into GTNP during a weather window to try and tackle Son of Apocalypse. It is one of many north facing couloirs off Prospector Mountain that end up in Death Canyon. We left town around 8:15am, delighted by the amazing weather and great visibility. We were moving from the Death Canyon parking area at 9am and made some good time up to Phelps Overlook. Here, we took off our skins and traversed right (south), following the summer trail until we crossed onto the large field to the west of Phelps Lake.

We made a few fun turns down the field and then straight-lined it for the far end of the field and the snow covered bridge towards the south west of the field. We transitioned back to skin mode and started moving up and to the right – onto a flank of Prospector Mountain. In the past, I have gone across the south west corner of Phelps Lake and started skinning up the obvious avalanche path, but we decided to try a different path considering we were going to be breaking trail regardless.

The far avalanche path is the "normal" starting point of the skin. — The far avalanche path is the “normal” starting point of the skin.

We worked our way up, through some tight growth and eventually found ourselves lookers right of the avalanche path and the “normal” skin up. We crossed the path and continued up the ridge, finding a faint skin track from a few days earlier. The up was fairly easy and we soon found ourselves on the ridge that eventually leads to the Son of Apocalypse. We found the little depression in the ridge we were looking for around 4hrs from leaving the truck. While waiting for the group, I scoped out an alternative entry to the couloir that would provide a lot more spice, but looked doable if the conditions were right.

Alternative entry couloir into Son of Apocalypse.

We changed over to ski mode and made some quick assessments of the snowpack. It seemed stable, with no areas of concern and we decided on a few ski cuts to test our theory. This provided no movement, so we proceeded on with cautious optimism.

The snow proved to be very fun and deep, with minimal sluff or crust. We cruised down the first pitch and then got into the heart of the couloir, with large rock walls and numerous hanging snow fields rising from each side.

Tim, skiing down the second pitch. — Tim, skiing in the distance down the second pitch.

We made our way down the massive couloir, each having a blast and amazed at the amount of snow in the couloir. We were unsure if the rock band in the middle of the couloir had filled in, but were confident that we could either air/down climb it if necessary. So with a little trepidation, we reached the crux and found that it has filled in enough to pick our way through it.

Chase and Tim above the crux of the ski.

From here, the couloir eventually pinched into a fairly tight choke toward the bottom of the run, before opening up to the exit apron. We skied down to the pinch and passed through without incident.

Chase, looking nothing like a Colorado skier. — Chase, looking nothing like a Colorado skier coming out of the pinch.

We skied the apron down for a bit and had a look up to Apocalypse Couloir to see if the ice bulge was filled in. We couldn’t determine if it was, but could tell that if it was skiable, it must be about a ski length wide at most.

From here, we crossed the stream and found the summer trail out of Death Canyon, which proved to be quite fast (up on the north side of the canyon). We eventually put our skins back on and made our way across the field from earlier and up to Phelps Overlook. We took one last look at Prospector Mountain and Death Canyon before turning our backs on the zone and making our way back to the truck.

The traverse/ski back was fairly fast, with us arriving at the truck in 5hrs 40min. We felt pretty lucky to have skied a couloir like that in deep snow and even more fortunate that the snow was completely stable. We knew that days like this were few and far between in the Tetons and soaked in the joy as we made the drive back to town.

Backcountry Skiing, Trip Report

Albright Peak

January 19, 2015 Rene 1 Comment

Location: GTNP, Death Canyon, Albright Peak
Tags: Backcountry Skiing, Skiing
Elevation: 10,236′, 4,065′ gain/loss
Distance: 7 miles RT
Difficulty: 3 stars
Time: 4-5 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 1/3/2015
Snow Conditions: 8″ of bouncy powder with a playful sun/wind crust underneath (barely noticeable). North facing pockets of deep powder.

After recovering from the holiday season, Zelie and I decided to venture into the park for a mellow skin up Albright Peak to see what the conditions were like in the park. We made it to Death Canyon parking area at around 10:30am and were moving shortly after. We made our way up the road until the fork for Death Canyon/Mavericks and made our way left to our destination.

The fork: Death Canyon (Whimpy's, Albright, Stewarts Draw) left, Mavericks right. — The fork: Death Canyon (Whimpy’s, Albright, Stewarts Draw) far left (out of frame), Mavericks far right.

We continued past the summer trailhead and made our way onto the Valley Trail until the skin track forked right and into the open field below Wimpy’s Knob that signals the start of the climb. For some reason, this is one of my least favorite skin tracks in GTNP. It seems to always be set in the most asinine manner; usually steep with numerous switchbacks – but most importantly, it gets a good amount of sun and is always a bit slick. So, with this in the back of my mind, we worked our way through the field and began our climb. It was not as bad as usual, but it was not ideal. We worked our way up for around 1.5hrs and eventually came to the final slope that leads to the top of Wimpy’s Knob. Here, we began left about 300′ from the summit of Wimpy’s. We crossed through some trees and above some rock outcroppings, eventually coming to the ridge that connects Wimpy’s to Albright. We continued along the ridge until the East face of Albright was above us to our right and we needed to cross the slope to get to the south ridge and the normal boot pack up the 300′ top portion of the face. Here, the wind had created a thick crust, which made the skinning tough, but we made it across to the south ridge and had a decision to make. The face looked like it had slid during the past storm cycle and was riddled with wind whales. It looked like the skiing from the top would be mediocre at best, so we opted to just ski from the ridge, about 300′ below the summit. We geared up and ripped the gut of Albright Peak, working our way down and to the right below some large rocks.

Zelie, making some powder turns down the first section of Albright's East face. — Zelie, making some powder turns down the first section of Albright’s East face.

We worked our way down and to the right below a rock band, finding some amazing snow on north facing aspects, until we had to ski hard right to avoid the choke towards the bottom of the face. Here, we found ourselves with an untouched canvas of powder on the lower faces of Albright.

We milked the powder all the way to the bottom, linking some fun turns together on the mellow lower face. At the bottom, we worked our way left – eventually finding the Valley Trail and our ticket home. The track was pretty quick on the way out (one of the bonuses of skiing in this zone), making our way to the truck in around 15minutes. In total, the whole ski took 4hrs 30min, at a very leisurely pace. It was another great day in the park (we have been spoiled this winter) and left us looking forward to the next ski.

Backcountry Skiing, Trip Report

Peak 10,686

January 17, 2015 Rene Leave a comment

Location: GTNP, Waterfall Canyon, Jackson Lake
Tags: Backcountry Skiing, Ski Mountaineering
Elevation, Gain/Loss: 10,686’, 4,127’ gain/loss
Distance: 9 miles
Difficulty: 4 stars
Time: 7-9 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 1/14/2015
Snow Conditions: Faceted Snow, Powder, Breakable Crust, Bouncy Snow

A week of high pressure and some light snow begged me into GTNP to see what the high alpine skiing was like. After a relatively late alpine start (6:30am from Jackson), Grant and I were off to Colter Bay and the always exhilarating lake crossing. We were moving at 7:50am, finding the inversion had lifted enough to give us a view of the shore in front of Waterfalls Canyon.

Grant making his way to Waterfalls Canyon right before the fog enveloped us.

After about 15 minutes on the ice, we were engulfed by a fog layer that made it hard to see beyond our ski tips. As we proceeded in the direction we thought was the shore, we quickly realized that we were zigzagging north to south and needed to pull out a compass. After many, many failed attempts to go straight and several scary “drops” into trapped surface water, we finally saw a faint shoreline and headed for it. We reached land around 2hrs from leaving the truck, a far cry from the 45min it usually takes to cross the lake, but we were happy to have made it and ready for the uphill. At this point, we were not 100% sure which side of Waterfalls Canyon we had landed on, but had a hunch we needed to move left. So, we gained some elevation and slowly made our way out of the fog and into a beautiful, sunny paradise.

After determining where we were, we decided that Black Hole Couloir and Eagles Rest Peak were out of the question for the day (our initial objectives), but since we were already on a moraine of Peak 10,686, we decided to continue up and ski one of the many bowls it offered. The up was constant, gaining 2000′ in just over an hour at one point, but we broke trail and kept moving forward until we reached the final ridge that would bring us to the summit.

Grant, making his way to up the summit ridge.

From this vantage point, we had great views into Waterfalls Canyon and an excellent look into Black Hole Couloir. It looked like it would have been amazing and a line I would like to ski again soon if the conditions allowed.

We continued up the ridge for around 500′, until the wind drifts became too large to skin up, so we transitioned to boot pack mode and made our way up the remaining 500′ to the summit. From here, the east face of Ranger Peak looked very tempting and an unnamed couloir deep in Waterfalls Canyon, on a sub peak of Doane Peak seemed to be a promising objective for another day.

"Unnamed Couloir", Waterfalls Canyon — “Unnamed Couloir”, Waterfalls Canyon

After the sightseeing, we geared up for the ski and decided on the run down. Since we were a little unsure of the snow pack, we decided on a minor ski cut at the top of the bowl and then some “safe” turns along the ridge until we felt comfortable with the snow. Surprisingly, the snow was very stable and playful in the top bowl…allowing us to open up some big turns down to a north facing treed aspect.

The upper bowl of 10,686 was skiing nice.

We skied the bowl down to the main gully and kept high right to avoid the tight “meat grinder”, making playful turns down mini north facing faces. Here we came around from the north, now facing Jackson Lake, and were able to take a look at our awful skin track across the lake (sorry!).

After taking a moment to reflect on our amazing skin track, we continued down to the lake and were greeted by some fantastic turns down wide open mellow powder fields. We made our way back to the shoreline and prepared for the skin back across frozen Jackson Lake. The skin back wasn’t too bad, considering its imperfect line, and we made it across in just over an hour.

Views of the Tetons from Jackson Lake. — View of the Tetons from Jackson Lake.

In total, the trip took us 8 hours and 30 minutes, but considering the time spent on the ice, I was content. It was a fantastic day: great skiing, good problem solving and above all another fun rip in GTNP.

Backcountry Skiing, Trip Report

4 Hour Couloir

January 10, 2015 Rene 2 Comments

Location: GTNP, Shadow Peak, Avalanche Canyon
Elevation, Gain/Loss: 9877’, 3,673’ gain/loss
Distance: 6 miles RT
Difficulty: 3 stars
Time: 4-5 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 12/31/2014 Snow Condition: Powder, Sun Affected Soft Snow

We had experienced an amazing holiday week in Jackson, with a huge storm cycle bringing upwards to 4 feet of snow to the area in around 10 days. The turns around JHMR were pretty unbelievable during that time, but the lines were also a little unbelievable, so getting out into the park for a New Years Eve ski seemed like the right thing to do. With some nasty north/northeast winds trailing the system, most aspects were fairly wind affected, so we thought a south facing shot might have the best chance at skiing well. Hank, B.Close and I decided on the 4 Hour Couloir, off Shadow Peak. None of us had skied it before, but we all were excited for the relatively easy approach for a 2100′ couloir. The approach is very simple. You follow the normal route up Shadow Peak, but just as it benches out and you are about to go up the northeast facing “bowl” that is the skiers summit, look left. There is an obvious “col” which is the entry point to the 4 Hour Couloir. We made pretty good time up to beginning of the ski, leaving the truck around 9:45am and reaching the couloir in 2hrs 30min. We enjoyed the views and warmth of the inverted sun on our skin for a bit before we decided to drop in. While sitting here, we did notice a massive crown on the East face of the Grand. It looked to have a depth of 6-8ft and ran the length of the entire face, directly above the Otter Body.

The Grand, with a massive crown across it's East face. (Unfortunately, the crown is not visible) — The Grand, with a massive crown across it’s East face. (Unfortunately, the crown is not visible)

While we were getting ready, a group of three came upon us from above. They had a similar idea for the day and after a quick chat, they took off down the couloir and we slowly got ready, wanting to give them plenty of time to ski the line. After about 15 minutes, we decided they must be out of harms way and got moving. The first few turns were a little heavy, with the sun and inverted temperatures doing a bit of damage on the snow, but quickly we found some dry powder snow.

Close making his way down the upper portion of the couloir.

Once into the couloir, the snow was surprisingly good, with dense powder in most places. We skied it in 4 sections, but could have easily done it in two if we were concerned about the snow stability. Mostly, we were just having fun skiing a beautiful couloir in the relative warmth of an inverted day and didn’t feel the need to rush the experience.

Hank skiing from the halfway point of the 4 Hour Couloir.

Turkey Chute off 25 Short across Avalanche Canyon.

We continued down, making some great turns and really opening it up as the couloir starts to widen near the bottom. The snow towards the bottom was some of the best, dense and chalky – which was a nice finish to the great day.

B.Close mid turn (or straight-lining?) towards the bottom

Looking up into the 4 Hour Couloir from Avalanche Canyon. The couloir goes up to the right.

After finishing the run, we were greeted with a debris pile from an avalanche that had probably occurred sometime during the last storm cycle. After making it through all the land mines, we slowly worked our way out of Avalanche Canyon. I say slowly because the inversion had created snow temperates so low that we were basically walking out, not skiing. Along the “walk” out, we ran into the group of three who had skied the couloir before us. They emphatically informed us that they had come across an adolescent black bear 400′ into the couloir. They said it was hanging out above them in a treed area before it truly tightened into a couloir. We were shocked, simultaneously glad and a little jealous that they had gone first. Add bears encounters to the long list of dangers that backcountry skiers face! We continued out at a “blistering” pace, finally crossing Taggart Lake and making it back to the truck in 4hrs 30min. We enjoyed some laughs and quickly made our way to Dornan’s for a few beverages to start the New Years festivities.

Backcountry Skiing, Trip Report

Northeast “Couloir” off Mount Wister

December 18, 2014 Rene Leave a comment

Location: GTNP, Mount Wister
Elevation, Gain/Loss: 10,854’, 4,652’ gain/loss
Distance: 8 miles RT
Difficulty: 3+ stars
Time: 5-7 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 12/17/2014
Snow Condition: Powder, Packed Powder, Light Breakable Crust 12″ under consolidated Powder

A wave of anxiety rushed over me as I stared down the large “couloir” Dane and I had just bootpacked up. The wind had been whipping over the ridge from the south during most of the climb and we began to wonder if the avalanche conditions were as safe as we thought. The run rolled over to a 40 degrees slope from the col, into a mild pinch, then mellowing to a 30 degree run out 800′ to the bottom. After a few quick ski cuts, our nerves were replaced with elation as we skied deep powder 1200′ to the bottom of the cirque.

We started the day around 8am, leaving Bradley/Taggart and heading towards Avalanche Canyon. After spending the previous day skiing Turkey Chute, we knew there was coverage in the canyon and had spotted a skin track heading below The Nugget and up to Lake Taminah. The morning was very pleasant and the skin track proved to be quite enjoyable through the densely treed canyon.

We made our way past 4 Hour Couloir and through the small trees that are scattered around the fork of Avalanche Canyon. The skin track worked its way right into the North Fork, eventually up a steep slot in the prominent rock band before reaching Lake Taminah. As we got out onto the lake, the wind came rushing through the canyon and we immediately needed to layer up for the rest of the trip. Working our way across the lake, we saw the “couloir” that we wanted to ski in the distance on our left. We were slightly disappointed that the East Face of Wister was in the clouds, which meant we would not get an opportunity to see if it was skiable. We worked our way up into the cirque, through some deep snow that we were getting excited to ski on our way down. It took us 3hours and 15minutes to get into the cirque. Here, we took a little break and geared up for the climb. We skinned up the first third of the run to some rocks that were still exposed and then had to switch over to bootpack mode.

From here, the booting was relatively easy, considering it was powder the whole way up. It consolidated well with each step, rarely giving out and sending us back down to our starting point. This was a nice surprise and we made quick work of the climb to the col of Mount Wister. It took us around 4 1/2 hours to get to this point, gaining 4,652′ to an elevation of 10,854′, so we felt pretty good about our pace. We got ready to ski and after a brief discussion and a few ski cuts, we were set to rip.

The snow was pretty fantastic up high, deep and playful, with the light sluff giving you the sense that you were gliding down the run. We skied through the pinch and pulled off to our right under some rocks to decide with way to proceed down. Here, we got a glimpse of the East Face of Mount Wister (11,490′) and decided it would need some more snow to make it a worthy ski. We skied down to the right, trying to miss the exposed rocks in the middle of the run, making pow turns one after the other. After making it through the rocks, we cruised down to the bottom of the cirque, each beaming with joy.

The Northeast " Couloir off Wister. — The Northeast ” Couloir off Wister.

With the more challenging part of the ski done, we made our way down and across the lake, linking some fun turns together in the surprise powder field.

After the lake, we made our way down to the fork of Avalanche Canyon, finding more powder and more smiles all the way to the traverse out. We made it back to the truck and our waiting beverage in just over 6 hours, each overjoyed about the day. Once again, GTNP did not disappoint.

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Category Archives: Backcountry Skiing

Son of Apocalypse

Trip Report:

Albright Peak

Trip Report:

Peak 10,686

Trip Report:

4 Hour Couloir

Trip Report:

Northeast “Couloir” off Mount Wister

Trip Report:

Adventure Lives Here