Just ski down there and jump off something for cryin' out loud!

    Yurt skiing is one of the greatest things in the world.  Living in the relative lap of luxury miles into the backcountry.  Having huge alpine terrain out the front door of your warm, fully stocked wood fired yurt is miles ahead of the misery that is tent camping in the middle of winter.
    This year the Big Sky crew and I headed out to Bell lake for four days, and with favorable conditions in the bowls and down low got a lot of fun pillow and drop lines in, along with some bigger alpine skiing mixed in.
    This was such a rad crew to ski with that definitely pushes each other from various backgrounds, hence the tribute to the late Shane Mcconkey,

"Just ski down there and jump off something for cryin' out loud!"

The game of twelves

This December has two significant dates in it, the last date (for 89 years) of alliterate numerals: 12-12-12, and the end of the Mayan calender (or supposed end of the world, ooooh scary) 12-21-12.

The first of these dates seemed to not only make itself significant, but make the entire week leading up to it significant.  This is the deepest, best storm cycle i have skied in December. Ever.

It started thursday, when a northerly shift of the California jet-stream put a storm over us that dropped 12 inches, then 8 inches, then 12 again, and then it lifted with blue skies.  When it seemed all over, the arctic jetstream took an opposite shift, pushing mouisture in from Canada, and on the night of December 11th, it was poised.  With the snowpack still soft and deep from the early weekend, the forecast called for one to three inches.  When I awoke, there was six inches.  By the time I left the house it was snowing an inch an hour, at the end of the day it would be 20+ inches.  It Was On.

George, Andrew and I decided to forgo the pow rush at the resort, and instead stick to the original touring plan.  We were rewarded on Yellow Mountain with a strong snowpack that despite over 40" of storm snow in five days was stable enough to allow for uninhibited skiing.  This was officially the deepest December of my life,  and at the end of this week, my quads are toast and my smile is wide.  Cheers to everyone having a great season!!

Ever heard of cold smoke? Here's the Websters definition.

 

Snowy Walkabout

     Why go backpacking in October?  Why not?  Well, weather, for one...   ...but weather be damned, to the hills!!!!!

      Mark Davidson had the idea to traverse our home mountains (The Madison and Taylor-Hilgard Ranges) to fill some off season time, and when Renae and my schedules freed up for the second leg, he was nice enough to invite us along.

The Crew

Mr Mark Davidson

Miss Renae Counter

Yours Truly (despite lack of smile, stoke level was high)

       Heading from north to south,  Mark started at lava lake and spent a week passing along Table, Wilson, and Beehive ridgelines.  After the first week Renae and I joined up and we continued south, heading for cedar mountain, the sphinx, and then through the Taylor-Hilgards to Hebgen Lake.  After a beautiful sunny first day we awoke to some solid snow at cedar lake.  With a planned exit route heading over an 11,000 foot ridge, and a storm that wouldn't lift after two days, we were forced to take a long day down the Cedar Creek drainage at out to Ennis.  After a ride and a wonderful meal with gracious hosts in Ennis we stayed the night with a friend of Renae's and headed back out to the sphinx to tag back into the wrestling match.  Even with some continued storming and cold temps, we kept managing to catch just enough good luck to make it one day further, and with some ahead of schedule hustling we found ourselves at alp lakes.  The halo's around the sun finally caught us and after an awesome final night under the shadow of imp, we awoke to a rowdy snow storm winding up.  With a bow to the mountains we said adieu and headed over alp pass and down the sentinel creek drainage to the car.  We managed to only miss Hilgard basin and Avalanche lake, getting a rad adventure along the way and leaving a perfect long weekend loop for another time.  Getting a big, traversing trip like this through our home mountains is so great for realizing just how huge the beauty and potential is right out the back door.

Day 1 heading out to cedar from big sky, lone peak in the background

Mark topping out around 10,600 on the way to cedar lake

Mark descends into Cedar lake basin

taking a walk around the lake during the "clear weather"

The cedar lake outlet, with the dam from an old homestead

Evening light over cedar lake, fan mountain in the background

Cedar Falls, one of the tallest in Montana, starting its freezing cycle

Mark passing by the south face of the Sphinx

Hey Mr. Grizzly...

The south face of the Sphinx and the Helmet

Heading up the canyon from no mans lake

This day turned the stoke meter to 11, Mark working out the last bit of vert to the ridge

Our previous route looms behind as Renae climbs to the western crest of the Taylor Hilgards

Our "trail" on this day was an 11,000 foot ridgeline, crossing four peaks between no mans lake and nutters cathedral lakes

chilling with some hot drink in front of nutters cathedral peak, rest day afternoon activities included a lot of peak gazing

The north face of Imp Peak looms over a frozen nutters cathedral lake

Gazing into Alp lakes basin

East face of Imp over lower Alp lake

The moon sits above sentinel peak as the fire roars

Bouldering with a Deloriean

    I finally got some time this week to head out to cascade creek with Kevin and see the area he and a few others have been working on so hard.  I had to blink a couple of times on the trail to remind myself that it wasn't the doc with a pad in front of me. This new bouldering zone is the future of the area and well worth the Montana style full value approach.  The tacky steep gneiss boulders are so different than most of the other climbing in the state, and the really tough grades follow.

 Carpenter Boulder

 Tony giving a technique lesson

 Kevin hanging a couple holds on the beautiful project (Vreallyhard)

So far the project (V??) inspires a lot of contemplation and finger pain

Charlie launching a new dyno

Charlie sending "monkey knife fight (V9)" on his 4th go

Skiin the Grand

    It's amazing how a famous line like the Ford/Stettner couloir on the Grand Teton can go from the "maybe one day" category to stepping into your skis on the summit in less than 72 hours.  But in the alpine world when the snow conditions, climbing conditions, weather, and time off lines up; you pull the trigger.
   Such was the case last week, when a call from Pete with some ski ideas and a little beta quickly turned into a packing afternoon and a drive to Jackson the next morning.  Rocking a two day itinerary with a recon evening ski we managed to sort out the complex route and were on the way up Wednesday morning.  Despite the stable weather and complete lack of wind some moisture from the valley formed just enough light clouds to hold the sun's heat off the slope.  The lucky weather allowed a later than planned summit with snow conditions still hovering at perfect corn.  The ski was a blast, with mind boggling exposure, great snow, and steep slopes.  And after some connecting rappels we were on the tepee glacier for some bonus steep vert and then back down Garnet canyon to camp.

Hiking into Garnet Canyon, Middle Teton in the background with the black dike in the center

Pete on the way up for evening route finding

Skiing back to camp at dusk on day one

Ready for some hot food

Looking east from Teepee Spire

Pete eyeing the exposed traverse to glencoe col

Suckin wind on the summit snowfield

Pete rollin into the ford couloir

Approaching the pinch in the ford couloir

Starting the rappels through the ice flows of the Chevy Couloir