St. Patrick's Day

Central!

Yesterday, I skiied my personal nemesis, Central Couloir, a gnarly line off Cody Peak in the Jackson Hole backcountry.  It is a super steep and very exposed line, with a 30' cornice on the entry and a 30' jump on the exit (at least this year).  It's a line I've done before, but not since rupturing my ACL three seasons ago. Central requires that you ride it in near perfect conditions, as any mistake could be fatal or at least result in serious injury.  And since it takes more than an hour to hike to, and its position on the mountain is unique, conditions are rarely what you expect them to be; you are often forced to turn away.  My knee situation in particular precludes most attempts, and I must approach the line with extra caution.  Yesterday, with conditions sketchy at best (poor visibility and strong, persistent southwest winds loading the entry), I hiked up to the entrance to see what was up.  I found deep, powdery windblown snow, with two tracks (not always an indicator of safety!) leading the way. While the wind was still blowing, the skies cleared briefly, just enough for me to make out the contours in the snow.  I dropped in behind two others who graciously requested priority, as it was apparent from my setup that I wanted to rappel.  The snow was knee deep, slightly damp, and very slabby, but I let it slough below me on each turn.  As I approached the exit, I stopped, assessed the size of the jump, concluded that I could do it if I had to, and took a deep, reassured  breath.   I then built a snow anchor and used all 40 meters of my rope to rappel the cliff.  I unclipped, stowed the rope away in my pack, and dropped the last 7-10 foot air before riding out.  Mission accomplished.

Satisfied with my season, I am setting off tomorrow morning for Chamonix and La Grave, where the snow is deeper and the lines even bigger!

Three Days of Ski Mountaineering in the Tetons

On Monday my good friend Brent Hutchenson came to Jackson for a quick visit and to take advantage of the fantastic conditions here.  I know that Brent likes to get after it, so in anticipation of his arrival I did some recon on Sunday for potential lines.  I dropped into Horseshoe couloir off the backside of the tram for the first time this year to check out conditions and size up the cliff band in the middle.  Luckily, I brought my rope, as the drop was at least 20', and upwards of 30'+ depending on your point of entry.  I found an anchor, and rappelled in with little difficulty, avoiding the jump altogether.  After some sweet turns in good snow, I hiked out in a short amount of time, and decided to check out another area that I had not yet been to before, the Northwest Territories in Granite Canyon, immediately off the northwestern ridge of JHMR, but within the Grand Teton National Park boundary.  I dropped a very aesthetic couloir called Triple-A chute, a beautiful line of close to 3000' surrounded by massive rock walls on either side, with two tight chokes and one mandatory air of about 7-10 feet.  It was burly, with a tricky entry and a fair amount of exposure, but surely one the coolest lines in the Northern Rockies. On the following day, Brent joined me, and we repeated the same itinerary exactly 24 hours later.  This time there was fresh snow (and zero tracks), as a small system dropped 3-4 inches overnight and winds blew in even more, requiring a roped ski cut on one entry.  We had cool, sunny weather and perfect snow all day.  The following morning we did a quick hike off the tram and up Cody Peak, with Central Couloir in our sights.  Due to some marginal conditions (cold weather and clouds had seized up the snow even in shaded aspects), we decided Four Shadows was a safer line, and dropped in hot from the top, making big GS turns in chalky snow. Our exit from the canyon, on the other hand, involved a mixed bag of conditions: everything from soft snow to hard-pack and ice, to slush and death cookies (or frozen slush), and we moved much more cautiously.  Before Brent left, we made plans to return together and ride Central another day.  Photos below:

Our tour through Granite Canyon (photographer unknown)

 

Day Two: Repeat

Day Three: Cody Peak

(photo taken in April, 2011)

Nez Perce/ West Hourglass Couloir, GTNP

Yesterday I completed a two day solo tour of Garnet Canyon in the Cathedral Group of Grand Teton National Park.  I climbed nearly 5,000 vertical feet, skinning most of the way, and when it became impossible to skin, I boot-packed the remaining 2,000' or so up a steep couloir named West Hourglass. I left the parking area at around 9:00 in the morning, topped out at about 11,000' at 6:00 p.m., and rode the long, narrow (and dark) couloir in under 5 minutes.  I bivouacked overnight in a snow pit under a large boulder at the base of another couloir I planned to hike in the morning.  I barely had enough insulation as my bag was rated for 20 degrees and the mercury dropped to around eight that night. Luckily I brought a bivy sack to squirm into, and the snow pit encasing my tent added another measure of warmth.  I arose at dawn, brushing away the snow that had accumulated in my tent, stepped out into the sun and attempted to insert my already numb feet into solidly frozen boots.  As I struggled, an obviously fit man in tights skinned past me, completely oblivious to my plight.  He was lightly geared, but with his track angling towards the high saddle connecting the Grand and the Middle Teton, and two ice axes strapped to his pack, he looked like he was getting into some heavy shit. After breaking camp, and lacking sufficient energy for anything more challenging, I reluctantly pulled myself and my unwieldy pack up the aforementioned couloir, topping out before noon.  I was rewarded with a splendid view of the Grand Teton, Nez Perce, Shadow Peak, and the Shadow Peak cirque, with the east-facing Sliver couloir just out of view from my position. Before strapping in to drop the chute I had just booted up, I stopped to snap a few pictures of the Grand.  As I did this, I noticed a single track coming off the summit and down to the top of the Stettner couloir.  Had my friend in tights summited the Grand Teton in the time it took me to break camp, have breakfast, and hike this relatively minor couloir, descending the Stettner with the help of his ice axes? I will never know, but I would bet a fair sum that it was his track I had scoped, as the conditions were ideal for a single day ascent/descent of the Grand, and there are athletes in this valley that are more than capable of such an achievement.

I rode a brilliant line close to my original skin track, returning to my car around 1:00 p.m., via the frozen Bradley lake and over the terminal moraine bordering it, utterly exhausted.  To think that another man could climb 7,000' of technical rock, ice, and snow, and descend one of the most dangerous lines in North America in the span of half a day was well, almost unthinkable!  Had he even beat me to the parking area?  In any event, all I could think about at the moment was a Quarter Pounder with cheese, large fries, and a Coke. Without an ounce of guilt, I drove straight for McDonald's.

It was a great tour and a big accomplishment for me, but it was tempered by some tragic news I was told by my friend on the way home:  Two highly skilled and accomplished local skiers had perished in an avalanche two canyons over from me the previous afternoon, on a southeast, sunlit couloir, nearly 3,000' in length.  The entire couloir slid, over rocks and cliff bands, burying the skiers under just a few feet of debris, but killing them instantly, as the size and extent of the slide path made it unsurvivable.  I rationalize the event somehow by acknowledging my decision to stay in shaded, north-facing slopes, foregoing my original plan to ski the Sliver, which happens to be the same aspect as the one which slid.  Of course, as they say hindsight is 20-20; Steve Romeo and Chris Onufer were two of the world's most experienced backcountry skiers, skiing in relatively moderate conditions.  Despite the best precautions, you never really know what the mountains might have in store for you.

Some photos (read captions first, then click any photo for slideshow):

My route, minus the leftward summit section (photographer unknown)

Untracked Pow!

Skin track, 'Platforms'

Platforms

Same

2nd Couloir

2nd Couloir

Skin track through the 'Meadows'

Skin track through the 'Meadows'

Snowboarder descending West Hourglass

Same

East Hourglass Couloir

East Hourglass Couloir

West Hourglass, at 50+ degrees

East Hourglass Couloir

East Hourglass

Upper Garnett Canyon

Two skiers ascending upper Garnet Canyon

Same, close up

Same

Same

West Hourglass, looking up towards choke

West Hourglass

West Hourglass

West Hourglass

The Grand

Close up of the Grand, Teepee Pillar in foreground

West Hourglass, two-thirds up

Grand Teton

West Hourglass from the top (6:00 p.m.)

Campsite

Campsite

Middle Teton

Middle Teton

Self-portrait

Middle Teton

Same

Shadow Peak Cirque

My line just above my campsite, bootpack visible below

Same

The Other Half of the Story (from my facebook page):

I only knew Steve from occasional encounters at his gear shop in Jackson, when he was actually there and not skinning up a mountain somewhere. I felt I knew him more intimately, however, from reading the blogs on his website TetonAT.com, as I'm sure most of us who followed it did.  His colorful descriptions and unqualified documentation of local ski descents, his attention to sometimes very esoteric details regarding equipment or travel, his enthusiasm for big, steep lines and the mountains in general (especially the Tetons), indeed his life, served as inspiration to me and countless others. It's hard to believe that such an iconic and intrepid figure, with all his skill and experience, is actually gone from this world.  If any single piece of news could discourage one in avoiding the backcountry altogether, this would surely qualify.  Hell, It was from Steve's own website that we as a community got most of our information about avalanches and avalanche fatalities.  I didn't know Chris at all, but I'm sure as Steve's regular skiing partner, he had similar and admirable traits. In any case, even to those unfamiliar to them, they are both worth at least a few minutes to read about, remember, and ponder. Courtesy of Andrew McLean:

Reembering Steve Romeo

Well shit.  Sad news today from Jackson Hole today that Steve Romeo and Chris Onufer were buried and died in an avalanche somewhere in the Grand Teton National Park.  I didn't know Chris, but had spent quite a bit of time with Steve and my thoughts go out to both their families and friends. ...

By: Andrew McLean

 ·  · Share · 14 hours ago

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    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000529976462 http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/story/_/id/7662874/two-die-backcountry-avalanche-grand-teton-national-park

    
    

    
    

    Two die in avalanche in Teton National Park

    
    
    
    
    

    espn.go.com

    Jackson Hole employee Chris Onufer and ski blogger Steve Romeo killed in avalanche