Category Archives: Teton Skiing

Ski Descent Otter Body Grand Teton National Park

Ski descent Otter Body Grand Teton National Park

4/16/2016

I just left a grip of incredible steep couloirs in Cooke City Montana. It was raining.This is my spring ski trip to explore and shred new mountain ranges in Montana and Idaho, but it was just too warm. While chilling in Bozeman plotting my next move, I checked the weather in all of the major Rocky Mountain ranges. I have them all as icons on my iPhone. Snow nerd? Maybe I just like steep skiing and its all about the weather.

The high Tetons were going to see low 20’s or even teens at night and mid 30’s during the day for the next few days and it was currently snowing. But it certainly wasn’t a “new range” for me. My buddy Mike and I had one line in particular we were waiting and watching for the ideal conditions to shape up. I called Mike from wet and warm Bozeman on Thursday afternoon. He returned my call in 30 minutes and said he and Chris would leave Breckenridge Friday at noon to meet at the Taggart Lake trail head for a 2am start Saturday morning.

A ski descent of the  mythical Otter Body may just come together. 1957 We wanted to ski the Grand Teton in powder. So, of course this means deep trail breaking. It also means the potential of being ‘lanched’ in the Stetener Chevy or Ford Couloirs if there was a party above us. This, and knowing the sun hits the East face at first light, meant a 2am start. We have paired our entire kit down to the lightest, yet solid mountain tested tools. Mike choose his Faction Agent 100’s with Dynafit TLT Carbon boots and of course a Dynafit binding. Expecting a mixed bag of deep pow and glazed east facing spring ice, I grabbed the Agent 90 and Ultra light Scarpa Alien 1.0 carbon boots. I’ve learned to enjoy both the big guns for shorter days and the smaller light equipment when going far and high. I’ve learned speed equals safety in the mountains and the easier the skinning, the more rad lines we ski! Two teams started some hours before us. We were able to catch up, and after thanking Inga and Blake for their hard work we took over the trail breaking duties on the Teepee Glacier. Once in the Stetener it was waist deep wallowing and our speed really slowed. We still had time with the early start and unseasonably low 15 degree temps above 11k. So hateful post-holing ensued.

We tied in and I lead up through the ice bulge the Chevy Couloir. It’s only a few spots of Ice with one AI 3 bulge to clear. Mike set off breaking trail into the Ford Couloir while I finished belaying Chris.

Booter up the Ford Couloir pictured here. The summit was close now and the views got real.

Shot of Inga and Blake at top of Ford where previous photo was taken from.

A tall summit always feels even better with skis doesn’t it!

We had been forecasting the snow stability from far away for a couple weeks. Checking precip, wind, temps, Avy forecast and other skiing activity. Doing our homework leading up to a big high consequence line is a prerequisite for my partners and I. I don’t go for the send unless I learn most of the deck is stacked in our favor.

Here we make the final assessment of recent snow before committing to the steeper wide open East face. Soft and stable. Check!

The upper east face skied a foot deep of soft with 3-4″ of light and fresh on top. That is, until we were 2000′ lower and it rolled over steeper. Right before the first rappel the new snow had sloughed off to reveal the spring glaze. Thank you JD at Alpine Sports Breck for the 3 degree side bevel! Slow it down and locate the anchors man! Mike and I worked together to find them.

One 30 meter rap brought us to the line’s namesake Otter Body. Despite this snowfield hanging over a 700′ cliff it didn’t seem as heavy or steep as other pitches on the line. Maybe 43 degrees here but the gravity below kept us honest. And the snow was great again. Of course until it steepens right before searching for hidden anchors. I was sensing a devious trend here.

The need to be dialed on steep skiing with the weight of our standard day touring pack, plus mountaineering gear goes without saying. But despite shredding with the heavier pack, the skiing is not the hard part for solid Freeriders. It’s the mountaineering spidey sense, to sniff out the usually buried anchors, and quick efficient rope handling skills. Then there is the ‘ski-to-rap, stash-the-poles, grab-the-ice axe’ type transitions. And no matter how smooth we are, there is always some jerry like antics to factor into the timing. It’s all good if we have built in the ‘unknown time suck’ factor and most importantly, Jerry doesn’t drop the rope. You laugh but it happened to the best. On this mountain, one week prior, twice in one day, by two separate pro Jerrys! I say that with much respect two of them are the real deal with ski mountaineering resumes to rival the greats! Keep it tight-loose!

If you look carefully you can see Chris rappelling through the last major cliff feature. One day on a monster El Niño year some bad ass will ski the 60 degree ice and send this 100 footer to the massive slough pile at the top of the Teepee Glacier. I bet that day is far away. Or is it?

Mike rapped last, tied in and pulled the rope by skiing away. We were mega stoked to be down off the gnar and wanted to get out of the Avy bomb zone as it was really beginning to heat up

Teague Holmes, Chris and Mike are amped to have skis on the Teepee glacier and DAMN….to have skied the Otterbody on the GFT!!!

Teague Holmes, Inga and Blake successfully shredded up the Ford Couloir and figure 8 it up past the Teepee Spire. Thanks for the skinner up to the Spire!

The Otterbody route on East Face of The Grand Teton Grand Teton National Park Wyoming USA

What a way to top off a rad winter of lapping the resort when it’s deep, riding park when it’s not, human powered dawn patrols and weekend backcountry tours. What do we have our eye on this  spring!?

Teton Trifecta

10-11/03/2015

The Teton Trifecta

Jason and Andy Dorais and Tom Goth and I seem to share an insatiable appetite for ski mountaineering in a light full throttle style. We seem to to line up mountains and stack ski lines to march through with non stop enthusiasm and group mega stoke! This adventure found us taking brakes cooking and skiing in the dark.  We were still able to complete a good sized enchainment and the down time along the way was a bit chilly, and awesome!

After a mid afternoon start from Salt Lake we drove to the Tagart Lake Trail head.  After quickly packing and splitting group climbing gear and a stove we shoved off at about 2:15PM.  After shouldering the packs up the South Teton we skied the NW down to the col. The crew of Andy Dorais, Tom Goth and Jason Dorais and I then booted up the South West Couloir of the Middle Teton in the waining low light.  From the summit of the Middle Teton we were treated to a stunning sunset.   After rapping in from the towering dark summit we clicked in.  It was a surreal experience to ski the cold soft snow on the Glacier Route on the East face by starlight.  Once we reached the foot of the Grand Teton we took turns manning the stove and napping while we brewed up some food and water and dozing off for a few hours.  Well Tom and I manned the stove while Jason and Andy enjoyed their reclined position in our little pseudo biv snow hole.  It’s ok, as they pull their share and then some.  The Night air ushered us up the Teepee Glacier to the Stettner Couloir up the Ice bulges of the Chevy and on to the Ford where we climbed to our second snow hole to kill some darkness just below the summit rock.  So now it’s about 4am and shiver-bivi only lasted an hour or two until Andy jumped up and shouted “I can’t do this any more I’m skiing!” We taped to summit, looked around at the stars since the stunning Grand Teton ariel views were covered in darkness, and skied off into the icy abyss.  Sounds moons but it wasn’t bad as we all had skied it a few times prior.  I had only skied it once, though it’s the kind of line that becomes forever etched into my mind.  It felt so familiar, like an old friend you once feared and now love.  While skiing the Ford Couloir in the total dark I closed my eyes to see the views I’ve seen during daylight adventures there. Turns out the feeling of exposure on a steep icy line goes away in the dark.  The sun painted these iconic peaks of the Grand Teton National Park while we rappelled the Chevy Couloir.  the word ‘grace’ came to mind.  How lucky are we, to move through and take in this beauty?  Once back on the Teepee Glacier we skated along the glazed ‘never gonna corn up today) surface to the Dike Couloir and out Glacier Gulch and breakfast at the Bunnery in Jackson Hole.

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Looking back to the South Teton from the middle at sunset

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Jason Dorais rapping in on theMiddle

 

 

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Grace The Middle Teton – Glacier Rt/East Face looking good

 

 

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Tom Goth dropping into the final apron and some hot ramen and stove duty.
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The boys digging in for a snow testing ski belay. We found stable conditions though when it’s dark one becomes a bit conservative.
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Andy Dorais is happy to be cold? and Jason Dorais is trying to pay for his dinner in skins.
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Down climbing the Stettner Couloir. Some day during a fat winter some lucky skier will ski through the Chevy and Sterner. For now, we are happy to even be there. What a position!
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The Grand Teton our third summit of the Teton Trifecta The Ford Couloir drops from the East Face Where it ends in a cliff one takes the thin Chevy Couloir to escape to the Stettener visible lower right.

 

  We completed The Teton Trifecta in  a long overnight style quite different than our usual light and fast speed touring ways.  And it sure was a unique ski mountaineering adventure.  Switch up the style and who knows what we’ll experience!