Category Archives: Trip Report

Amor a Vida Couloir

February 25, 2015 Rene 1 Comment

Location: GTNP, Garnet Canyon, South Teton, Amor a Vida Couloir
Elevation: Gain/Loss: 12,514’, 6,360’ gain/loss
Distance: 15 miles RT
Difficulty: 4 stars
Time: 7-9 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 02/23/2015
Snow Conditions: Powder, sun crust, warm/dense snow, wind crust

With a small storming dropping a few inches on us recently and a weather window opening, Dane and I decided to tackle a larger line off the South Teton. Amor a Vida, meaning Love Life in Spanish, is a beautiful couloir off of the South Teton. I had booted up it a few years back, but with warming temperatures that day, did not connect the South Face of the South Teton to the couloir. Dane and I got an early start, leaving Bradley-Taggart around 6:20am and made quick work of the skin into the Meadows.

The Middle, watching over Garnet Canyon.

We worked our way up to the left and into the South Fork of Garnet Canyon, very surprised that the track was in great shape and the wind was calm. As we came up below the Ellingwood and Chouinard Couloirs, we noticed a few guys slowly making progress up the Ellingwood. The snow looked deep, so we were hopeful that pour couloir was holding some similar snow.

Chouinard (left) and Ellingwood (right) Couloirs off the Middle Teton.

We proceeded up canyon, making our way through the mine field of rocks that litter the South Fork. There is enough coverage to skin through this section, which is great, but you have to be careful with each step. We found ourselves below the North Face of the South Teton, with a ramp of snow leading us towards the ridge and the Northwest Couloir.

Dane, working his way up to the Northwest Couloir. — Dane, working his way up to the ridge and the Northwest Couloir.

Just below the ridge, we switched over to bootpack mode and quickly gained the ridge and made our way into the Northwest Couloir. The snow was pretty consolidated, which made for a relatively easy climb up.

Dane, starting up the Northwest Couloir.

Almost into to the top. (photo: Dane Etter-Garrette) — Almost to the top. (photo: Dane Etter-Garrette)

Once out of the couloir, we were greeted with sunshine and a calm day in the high alpine. We still had about 100′ of climbing until we were at the summit, but were excited to be in the sun. We made our way through some deep snow and over a few rocks, until we were standing on top of the South Teton. The weather was perfect and we both felt great about the climb and ski ahead.

Mount Wister with Veiled Peak on the right. — Mount Wister, with Veiled Peak on the right and the North Face of Buck in the background.

Snowfield, skiers left of the summit (funnels into Southeast Couloir).

We geared up and discussed our options for getting to the South Face. Dane had skied the Southeast Couloir last year and thought that we could ski the snowfield directly left of the summit down and then cut hard right to get onto the South Face. We skied two turns down the snowfield to get a look and determined that the coverage was a little low for that entry onto the South Face. We made our way back up to the summit and to the right of a rock bulge separating the snowfield and a scree field that lead to the South Face. After making our way through the snow covered scree, we got a good look at the South Face and the lower entry to the Southeast Couloir.

A look into the Southeast Couloir. It doesn't look to go through right now. — A look into the Southeast Couloir. It doesn’t look to go through right now.

The South Face looked skiable, but we could tell that the snow was going to be varied; sun crust, wind crust, breakable crust, and powder. Dane skied onto the face and tested out the steep upper pitch with a quick ski cut, then made his way through some rock bands to a safe spot on the right.

Making my way through the upper rock bands (photo: Dane Etter-Garrette)

From here, we made some fun pow turns down the face and towards the entry to Amor a Vida. Even with the avalanche danger low, the exposure (1000′ cliff) below the South Face makes you focus on your every move.

Staring down the South Face. The entry to Amor a Vida is the first large rock outcropping on the right of the South Face. (photo: Dane Etter-Garrette)

Dane, making is way to the entry of Amora Vida. — Dane, making his way to the entry of Amor a Vida.

Glad to be off the South Face. — Decent snow on the South Face.

We got to the entry, but had to double check that it was in fact the Amor a Vida Couloir. After a quick check, we confirmed that we were in the right spot and worked our way down the rock filled entry.

The entry into the Amora Vida Couloir. — The entry into the Amor a Vida Couloir.

Once into the couloir, we tried to get a look at the tight upper section of the couloir proper (skiers left). It looked like it went, but was barely a ski length wide, so we opted to cross right over a few rock bands and approach the couloir from the snowfields. This exposed us to large hanging snowfields above, but we felt pretty good about the snow and quickly worked our way down through the rock bands.

Dane, cutting across and down the upper snowfield of the Amora Vida. — Dane, cutting across and down the upper snowfield of the Amor a Vida.

From here, we worked our way down and to our left into the main path of the couloir. Amor a Vida is one of the most amazing couloirs in the Tetons, with massive overhanging rock walls, a great pitch and some fun skiing. We had a blast getting down the run, taking it in numerous sections to ensure we were taking it all in. The couloir was predominately powder in the main path, with a few pockets of crust, but overall it was amazing skiing!

Working down into the main path of the Amora Vida. — Working our way down to the left, into the main path of the Amor a Vida.

The Amora Vida was skiing good! — The Amor a Vida was skiing good!

Beautiful couloir. (photo: Dane Etter-Garrette)

Dane, towards the middle of Amora Vida. — Dane, towards the middle of the couloir.

Making my way down.. (photo: Dane Etter-Garrette)

Dane, nearing the bottom of the couloir.

After making it down the 1600′ couloir safe, we still had about 2500′ of skiing until we hit the Avalanche Canyon traverse. We milked the turns and were just pumped to have skied such a fun run. We made it back to the trailhead in 8hrs and were already looking forward to more adventures in this special place we call home.

Amora Vida Couloir — Amor a Vida Couloir

Backcountry Skiing, Trip Report

West Hourglass

February 25, 2015 Dane Leave a comment

Location: GTNP, Garnet Canyon, Nez Perce, West Hourglass Couloir
Elevation, gain/loss: 11,132’, 5,287’ gain/loss
Distance: 8 miles RT
Difficulty: 3 stars
Time: 6-7 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 02/20/2015
Snow Conditions: Powder, some sun crust under 6″-10″ of new light density snow.

The return of snow! The feeling of fresh snow returned to us on Friday with the onslaught of fresh snow falling on the Tetons once again. Tristan and I decided last Thursday night to head into the park to try and get some powder turns and a little storm skiing. Leaving the trailhead at 7am we cruised up into the Meadows area in around 2 hours.

Tristan and a view of the lower section of the West and East Hourglass

Working our way through the Meadows and into the apron of West and East Hourglass, we made good progress through the spitting snow. There was a persistent crust and some wind packed rollers that became very slick with the new snow. On the way down this made for some interesting / tentative skiing. Switching over to the boot pack, we opted for crampons and soon were knee to waist deep in newly deposited snow in the lower half of the West Hourglass.

The middle and top sections were a bit rocky, but to the skiers left, there was plenty of snow for some good skiing. We were happy to be dropping into a storm filled couloir once again. It was a great climb up, and with the return of snow and wind we felt lucky to be there.

On the lower section, right at the roll over, I managed to kick off a small soft slap that went roughly 400 feet down into the apron. I had plenty of speed to ski off to the right and get out of the way. It was a reminder that with only a few inches and the right wind, things can get serious pretty quickly. But we were good and happy.

Fracture line right below the roll over.

Ski Mountaineering

Buck Mountain, East Face

February 18, 2015 Rene 1 Comment

Location: GTNP, Death Canyon Trailhead, Stewart Draw
Elevation, Gain/Loss: 11,938’, 5,652’ gain/loss
Distance: 11 miles RT
Difficulty: 4 stars
Time: 6-8 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 2/17/2015
Snow Condition: Hard sun crust, wind blown pockets of dense snow, some sun warmed “corn” like snow, dense powder on north facing aspects with a mild breakable crust.

As everyone around the Jackson area knows, the weather has been warm and dry lately. Despite that, we still have a deep snowpack and a low avalanche danger. These combine for primetime opportunities to ski some big lines, if you can get over the fact that more than likely you are not going to be skiing anything resembling powder. So, with this in mind: Dane, Tristan and I chatted Monday night about what to ski the following day. We threw out a bunch of options, but settled on the East Face of Buck Mountain. I have skied it once and attempted to ski it twice, being turned around last spring due to warm snow conditions. We met at 6am and departed for the Death Canyon Trailhead. We were moving at 6:40am and worked our way up the track and towards the turnoff for Whimpys Knob and Albright Peak.

Alpenglow on Buck's East Face. — Alpenglow on Buck’s East Face.

We climbed up the field in front of Whimpys for about 300 vertical feet, before veering right towards the open field beyond a small stand of trees and some large rocks. This is the summer “climbers trail” to Buck Mountain. We sidehilled across the field and began to contour into Stewart Draw. Be sure to go far right, because if you go up too fast, you will be in Static Draw instead. Once in the “canyon”, we began the slow climb up towards Buck. It is a frustrating skin, because you are constantly sidehill climbing, which can be a little annoying. Both Dane and Tristan had some ski crampons, which seemed to help with the firm snow conditions, but I just battled it out with the firm snow. We made it up to the base of the East Face as an ungodly wind began whipping out of the northwest in about 3.5hrs.

The constant sidehill up Stewart Draw. — The constant sidehill skinning up Stewart Draw.

Dane, just below the start of the climb. — Dane, just below the start of the East Face.

We geared up with crampons and stashed our skins in the rocks to the right of the entry “couloir”. At this point, I was beginning to wonder if I should have brought my ice axe. I had a whippet, but with the wind howling at a solid 30mph, with gusts up to 50mph, I was a bit concerned with the decision to climb the East Ridge. I had anticipated we would just boot up the face, but with a bootpack already in on the ridge, the group decided the East Ridge made the most sense. So, we started up towards the East Ridge and the summit of Buck Mountain.

Working our way up the "entry" couloir on Buck's East Face. — Working our way up the “entry” couloir on Buck’s East Face.

We cruised up and onto the ridge in no time, stopping once to discus if the ridge was in fact the route we wanted to proceed up. Once on the ridge, the wind was definitely going to be a factor, but it seemed manageable. We began climbing up, trying not to look to our right where the ridge dropped off 1200′ at points.

Tristen, making his way up the beginnings of the East Ridge. — Tristan, making his way up the beginnings of the East Ridge.

We were making pretty good time until we got to the more challenging ridge climbing. Here, I definitely missed my ice axe. At times, I was being blown off balance while staring down the 1200′ drop into the South Fork of Avalanche Canyon. I made the most of it my ramming my crampons in lower then the set bootpack and punching my whippet into the snow, but it was still not ideal. We slowly worked our way along a few exposed areas, eventually finding our way off the ridge to the steep upper East Face.

Yup, it drops off a bit here... — Yup, it drops off a bit here…

Views north, the East Face of Wister looks to be skiable.

It is not often that the climb up to the skiing proves to be the most memorable, enjoyable part of a ski adventure, but that was the case with the East Ridge. It proved to be fun, challenging and most of all spicy. We worked our way up the upper East Face as winds whipped us from the right, a couple times knocking me off balance, but in no time we were standing on the summit.

Tristen battling the wind on the summit. — Tristan battling the wind on the summit.

Tristen contemplating life. — Tristan contemplating life.

We took some time to look around and enjoy the scenery, snapping a few reconnaissance photos of lines in Death Canyon, then geared up for the skiing.

The upper portion of the East Face is pretty steep (45 degrees plus) and rolls over about 200′ down, so we made some cautions turns on the firm surface, testing out the snow and our edges. We did find some half decent snow just below the summit, firm snow with a slight crust and made our way down to the left, below the major cliff band on the East Face.

Tristen, skiing of the summit. — Tristan, skiing off the summit.

Approaching the rollover. — Approaching the rollover, skiing into eternity.

After joining up below the cliff band, we worked left and down the fun, low angle “belly” of the East Face. The snow was decent here, not quite corn, but soft and fast with a little crust to keep you honest. After I skied down to a point above the “entry” couloir, Dane and Tristan decided to ski that section “Canadian Style” and put in some powder 8’s on the face. While not recommended, the snow conditions allowed us to have some fun!

Powder 8's on the East Face. — Powder 8’s on the East Face.

Some fun turns in the "belly". — Some fun turns in the “belly”.

From here, Tristan worked his way down and through the “entry” couloir while Dane and I waited for his hoot to signal he was through. After that, we both worked our way down and through the couloir, being careful not to catch a ski on the many frozen chicken heads littering the zone.

Tristen, skiing down to the "entry" couloir. — Tristan, skiing down to the “entry” couloir.

Dane making a few last turns on the East Face.

After making it down safe, we gathered our skins and had a quick rest before skiing out of Stewart Draw. In past trips up to this zone, I have always enjoyed the out. There are many options for playful skiing and a couple fun north facing slopes to make some turns on. While the snow was not great, we did find some decent wind blown pockets to make some powder turns in and cruised out of the lower fields; feeling like it was April, not February.

Working our way to the north facing shots.

We made it back to the skin track and cruised out to the truck in 6hrs 30min. We were happy with the day and decision to summit a big peak. With the weather looking to stay dry and warm, we may be trying to tackle some larger lines in the coming weeks. More to come…

Ski Mountaineering

Apocalypse Couloir

February 18, 2015 Rene 4 Comments

Location: GTNP, Death Canyon, Prospector Mountain
Tags: Backcountry Skiing, Skiing, Ski Mountaineering
Elevation: 10,104′, 5,049′ gain/loss
Distance: 9 miles RT
Difficulty: 4 stars
Time: 6-8 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 2/11/2015
Snow Conditions: 7″ of dense powder, stable with pockets of deeper snow. Fast moving sluff, but no area of concern.

After a decent storm dropped around 2 feet of snow in the mountains a week ago, we decided it was time to get out and do some exploring. With warm temperatures and sunny days following the storm, the northern aspects were the only areas holding some quality snow. After some discussion, we decided on the Apocalypse Couloir. I skied this last year in awful conditions, so was hopeful that we would find some couloir powder. Dane, Tristan, Darren and I met at 6am in town and made our way out to the Death Canyon Trailhead. We left the car a little before 7am and worked our way along the track.

Working our way to the Prospectors Mountain. — Working our way to Prospector Mountain.

We followed the same route up to Apocalypse Couloir that you do to Son of Apocalypse, only you proceed another 700 vertical feet or so up along the southern ridge. Just to the left of the termination of the ridge is the entrance to the Apocalypse.

Dane working his way up the ridge. Slightly left of the high point is the entry point to Apocalypse. — Dane working his way up the ridge above Son of Apocalypse. Slightly left of the high point is the entry point to the Apocalypse Couloir.

A cloud layer enveloping the valley, with Albright Peak to the left.

There is one large tree to the left of the entrance that the cordelette is to tied around. The two times I have skied this line, I had to dig around for it in the snow, but it is there. It is purple and does not show any sign of wear. As always, I would recommend bringing along some extra webbing, cordelette and a few nuts for this adventure. We geared up in our harnesses and soaked in the last of the sunshine before descending into the dark gully.

The "V Notch Couloir". — The “V Notch Couloir” to the South.

Looking into the upper section of Apocalypse. A few rappels are necessary to get into the skiable park of the couloir. — Looking into the upper section of Apocalypse. A few rappels are necessary to get into the skiable portion of the couloir.

We rappelled off the top anchor and found a decent anchor about 20m down on the lookers right. It consisted of 4 nuts with some webbing. We had to make some adjustments to the anchor to balance it, but felt good about it after and worked our way down from there. After the second rappel, we were 6m short of some purple anchors down on the lookers left (we used a 60m rope). Here, we all should have just downclimbed in the steep snow to the last anchor, but instead everyone but myself put their skis on and sideslipped over some rocks to the anchor.

Dane rappelling off the second anchor, working his way over a bulge.

Tristen, stoked for the adventure. — Tristan, stoked for the adventure.

Last year, you could just slip your way down into the skiable portion of the couloir from here, but this year there was a 6ft drop with a small rock ledge below preventing that. It was very tight at this point, barely a ski length and getting the skis straight to make the jump seemed a bit risky to me. Tristan and Darren decided that they felt comfortable with the risk and gave the drop a go, each landing in soft snow and making a hard right turn to get in a safe spot. Dane and I rappelled the section, quickly coiling the rope and getting ready for the skiing. We encountered what I call “rope time” during our rappels. When time seems to slow because of your focus, but in reality everything is taking an exorbitant amount of time. We were all getting pretty cold standing around in the shade and were pumped to get moving. We skied the large, mellow first pitch tentatively, checking the stability of the snow before it drops into the “elevator shaft”. The snow was stable, soft and fun to our surprise and delight!

Dane making some powder turns in the upper portion of the couloir.

Before the steep rollover, we regrouped and quickly made our way down the 50 degree slope.

Tristen, working his way down the steepest portion of the run. — Tristan, working his way down the steepest portion of the run.

From here, we skied across the “main” gully of the couloir, below the Four Horsemen and took a look down into the narrows. We couldn’t see the ice bulge (pinch) of the run from this vantage point, but were all hopeful we had had the correct beta that it was filled in and skiable. We skied down to the pinch to inspect the ice bulge.

Working our way down to the crux of the run.

Standing above the bulge, we could see that it was indeed skiable. It was at most a ski length at its tightest point, but with a little side slip we could make it through. I “skied” down through it first, marveling at the beauty of this special spot in the park, but aware that we needed to move fast. A runnel had formed from all our sluff, which made it even more difficult to navigate the crux, but with some careful work, I made it through, into the tight lower section of the couloir.

Tristen slashing the couloir powder as he exits the crux. — Slashing couloir powder is fun!

Everyone made it through the ice bulge safely and quickly. The difficult part of the run was over, so we skied the lower section out to the apron of the couloir. We did this “Canadian Style” and were sitting at the base of the couloir a few minutes later, elated to have skied such a great run.

We quickly made our way out of Death Canyon and enjoyed a few snacks and laughs in the sun before skinning up the Phelps Lake Overlook. We made a fast exit to the truck, arriving in just over 7hrs. It was a great day and even more special because our good friend Darren Johnson had come down from Big Sky, MT to join us on the adventure. Hopefully he sees the light soon and makes the move to Jackson.

Ski Mountaineering

Dike Couloir

February 5, 2015 Rene Leave a comment

Location: GTNP, Garnet Canyon, Teepee Glacier, Glacier Gulch
Elevation, Gain/Loss: 11,165’, 5,545’ gain/loss
Distance: 8 miles RT
Difficulty: 3 stars
Time: 5-6 hours

Trip Report:

Date: 1/31/2015 Snow Condition: Powder, Packed Powder, some sun crust on the way up Garnet Canyon. Soft dense snow on the lower east face of Disappointment Peak.

After a few small storms brought a 6″ inches of snow to the mountains and a couple awful days skiing around the resort, I decided it was time to get into the park. North facing aspects seemed to be skiing the best over the past couple days, so I mulled over a few options and decided on the Dike Couloir near Teepee Glacier.

Zelie and I were a little late to start, leaving the truck right at 10am, but it was supposed to be cool and sunny through the day and felt fine about the departure time. We left Bradley/Taggart trailhead and proceeded towards Bradley Lake, out to the right along the normal track to Garnet Canyon. At the point along the moraine between the two lakes that the track either goes straight (to Shadow) or down to the right, we dropped right and made our way to Bradley Lake.

Beautiful view of the Grand from Bradley Lake.

We made quick work of the up into Garnet Canyon and were in the Meadows enjoying the beauty of the canyon in 2hrs. We saw a few guys booting up the “summer trail” to our right on their way to the Red Sentinel, a couple people going for the West Hourglass and later two guys on top of the col between the Ellingwood Couloir and Middle Teton Glacier. People were teeing off in Garnet and we were hoping not to run into to many tracks on our run. We decided the easiest way up was the skin track to the left of Spaulding Falls. At this point, the canyon was alive with spindrift flying off the mountain summits, as the sun crept above Nez Perce.

Zelie working her way up Garnet Canyon. — Zelie working her way up Garnet Canyon with the Middle Teton looming.

The South Fork of Garnet Canyon with Cloudveil Dome and Nez Perce in the background.

We worked our way up the steep skin track, eventually switching over to bootpack mode just above the falls. We continued up and to the right, eventually coming to boulder field, exposed by the constant wind that comes through the canyon. We saw the two guys from earlier, struggling into the South Sentinel, on their way to the Red Sentinel to our right, and continued to work our way up to our objective. We eventually came out into Teepee Glacier at around 4hrs and were pretty excited that the majority of the work was done. We switched over to skin mode for one last minor push, but paused to take a look around the seldom viewed corner of the canyon.

Middle Teton Glacier and the East Face of the Middle.

We worked our way up and to the right, eventually finding the entry into the Dike Couloir. It looked a little thin up top, but we imagined it was all filled in down low.

Top of the Black Dike Couloir. — Top of the Dike Couloir.

We hung out in the sun for a bit, until the newly developed northerly wind began to be too much. We geared up and started to make our way down. After a couple side slips, we worked our way through the upper section and had some fun turns down to the rollover. Here we could see that the couloir had been HACKED. I couldn’t believe how many tracks were in the run…it reminded me of a Granite Canyon run two weeks into a dry cycle. Regardless, we were able to find some fun, fluffy turns on the sides of the couloir and made our way down in a few sections.

Fun turns in the heart of the Dike Couloir.

Looking down the bottom half of the couloir. — Looking down the bottom half of the couloir, with Zelie slaying pow.

The skiing was surprisingly fun, with plenty of powder to go around. We made our way down into Glacier Gulch, turning before dropping down to Delta Lake to admire the scenery.

The Grand, Owen and a shoulder of Teewinot looming large in Glacier Gulch.

Overall, the couloir is only about 1000′ of vertical, but some of the best part of skiing in this zone is the fun terrain that you get to ski down to Bradley Lake. We made our way down and across Delta Lake, then traversed right and found some fun snow to work with all the way down to a point where we started to go right around the base of Disappointment Peak and to the moraine to the right (north) of Bradley Lake. Apparently, you can just ski down to the valley floor and work your way to the right, eventually finding the parking lot as well, but we opted for the skin track out. We crossed Bradley Lake and made quick work of the out, taking our boots off at around 6hrs. If was a great day to get out into the park and another fun ski with the lady!

OutdoorBeta

Category Archives: Trip Report

Amor a Vida Couloir

Trip Report:

West Hourglass

Trip Report:

Buck Mountain, East Face

Trip Report:

Apocalypse Couloir

Trip Report:

Dike Couloir

Trip Report:

Adventure Lives Here