Out of Bounds

Skiing Out of Bounds
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Teton Range
March 27/ 28th, 2009

The Matt Show

The JHMR Helicopter

I had a pass left to use at the Resort in Jackson before they closed. Since they were getting hammered with new snow, I figured it was a good time to go. Matt had some days to burn as well, so he agreed to come come with and introduce me to just a little of the backcountry skiing available outside of the resort boundaries. There's lots of traversing and side-stepping required to get to it all, so I decided to bring my skis. I haven't skied much this year. It was obvious.

Rendezvous Mountain and the top of the tram, in the background, from somewhere around Four Pines.

After a run down Four Pines Matt thought my snow plow turns were looking good enough to try an icy couloir. I think he was trying to put me out of my misery, or his. Ha! Nearly worked.

Dropping into Zero Gravity Couloir, working on my survival skiing. I only plunged a hundred yards at uncontrollable, break-neck speeds once.

Matt survives the ice and makes the rest look easy as he bombs through the couloir.

Bombs away!

Traversing our way over to Pinedale Canyon, where the best powder was hiding.

Dropping into a nice bowl above Pinedale canyon.

A look back at some of our lines.

Matt launches off a cornice.

Sticks the landing...

and rides the pow!

Power turns... or something.

Scoping out another huck.

Launching!

Where's Matt?

Oh! There he is. Right on!

The end of a great day.

We wrapped things up around 6pm or so that first day. After the lifts closed, we broke out the skins and clobbered some more. The snow was awesome!

Day Two:

Matt climbs up the Headwall as we make our way over to Granite Canyon.

The snow was great over there, and the lines were huge.

Matt positions himself for take off.

All clear for lift off.

Lift off!!

Matt tears it up as we get suck further down a couloir into Granite Canyon.

I'm the black dot in the middle of the couloir.

Dunno what this one is called, but it was long and fun and full of great pow.

I ride skis like I ride bikes and horses.

One last look back at a terrific run.

Pretty cool scenery on the big long traverse out of Granite Canyon.

Lots and lots of this inorder to get out of Granite Canyon and back to the resort. We did it a couple of times. Good stuff! Every bit as much work as skinning.

Some dude on skis.

West Angle Mountain Bowl

West Angle Bowl

Northeast side of West Angle Mountain
Togwotee Pass, Absaroka Range
March 22nd, 2009

With a big storm in the forecast and the previous days weather hitting 50 degrees, we really weren't sure what kind of skiing conditions we'd find. One thing was clear though, the day was designated for turns. Passes were secured. We were headed out to try something. We eventually decided to buzz the machines up the Snow Cat track on West Angle Mountain and see what was left for north facing powder shots. With sunshine and a good few inches of fresh powder on the ground, things were looking better than we'd anticipated.

The a view of the Tetons from where we parked our "Snow Cats" on top of West Angle Mt.


Matt drops into our first run of the day.

Scoping out the entrance.

A look up at Matt from a different angle.

His view of me as I dropped in.

Looking down at Matt and his exit tracks. Looked delicious!

A look back up at the first run of the day. It was already pretty tracked up, but not out. It was an awesome run. If this was any indicator of what the entire day would be like... oh boy!!!


It turned out, it pretty much was an indicator of what the rest would be like, only it just got better! Two feature motion pictures worth of better...


The Shad Show

The Matt Show

The rest of day in photos...

Matt leads the way to virgin pow.

After skiing a great tracked up run, we decided to push a little further east along the mountain, in search of fresh pow that hadn't been pillaged yet. Didn't take long before we discovered massive quantities of untouched powder fields.

Loads of cornices too.

My first glimpse of what was below one of the cornices. It made me giddy!

Matt, all grins as he let's me plow the road up, after our first run.

After a while, he took over.

A look up at one of four runs we did in this area.

A couple more.

Another perspective.

A look up from farther down.

Yet another run.

I make my way up for another.

Dropping into a little couloir as the weather finally began to deteriorate a little. This would be our last run of the day.

A look at our lines through it.
(click to enlarge and see the sloughing action)

A look back from a little farther away.

Matt expresses his dismay over the black storm clouds approaching as we decide to call good for the day and start the skin back to the sleds.

The weather was moving in fast on us. Made for some interesting views of the Tetons.

Finally back at the sleds in near white-out conditions.

It went from blue-bird to sasqwatch conditions in no time at all.

And then changed back by the time we had the sleds loaded.

One great look back at the bowl we'd spent most of the tearing up. Another, unexpected, epic day. Really worth getting out of bed for!