Classic Southern Wind Pow

A Classic Powder Day in the Winds
Notch Mountain/ High Marker Hill Area- Christina Lake
January 24th, 2009

Just below "The Notch"

With 3 to 5 inches of fresh snow and no wind, we opted to try the local hill this weekend. We haven't received the snow pack that Togwotee and the Tetons have so far this year. In fact, with the high winds we've been blasted with, parts of the trail into Christina lake are looking pretty bald- perhaps the worst I've ever scene it. We just didn't expect to find the powder or conditions that we did today. Quite a nice surprise! The video says it all, one of my favorite so far...

Go!

Climbing up.

And up some more. Good powder seemed to be sticking pretty high up today.

Chuck transitions for the drop.

Karla skis it up.

The powder just got better and deeper all the way down.

Looking down a few of our runs.

Looking up at some of the same lines.

At the bottom, splitting and skinning up for more.

Chuck rides.

Chuck rips down the mountain, Christina Lake below.

My line down a classic, nifty little shot.

Chuck approaches the same shot.

Launches and lands. Poof!

My turn.

Blower

Christina Pass below.

I had my eyes set on this little kicker.

On approach.

Steady.

Weeehoo!

Poooffff!!

Is he alive?

Oh yea. Great fun!

I actually stuck my first run at this angle and approach. Check out the video (very last run) if you don't believe it. I was proud. Ha!

Six runs, 4 to 5K of vertical later, looking back on a classic Southern Wind stash. What a day!

Mount Leidy

Mount Leidy
Teton National Forest, Buffalo Ranger District
January 18th, 2009

Mount Leidy

While hunting Buffalo earlier this year, I had the opportunity to look at Mt. Leidy quite a bit. After reading more about Mt. Leidy in Thomas Turiano's "Select Peaks of Great Yellowstone" I decided it'd be a good ski objective this year. I knew the area and figured we could knock it out in a day trip if everything worked out. Matt Lloyd was game, so I picked him up a wee bit after 5:30am Sunday morning and headed up.

Matt begins the skin up.

We drove to the Hatchet Inn or Buffalo Ranger station and dumped the sleds there. From there we drove in about 19 miles. We took a bit of scenic detour on the "O" trail, which was good- it gave us a good look at the more northern aspects. Eventually we ended up taking the Leidy Lake road which puts you more on the more southern side of the mountain. Not really where we wanted to be with the warmer temperatures that were predicted. Regardless, we identified some ridgelines that looked safe and a little less exposed to the sun to begin our ascent on.

Matt skins past some old avalanche debri.

It wasn't long before our ridge line ended and we were forced to cross a run-out zone to get onto another ridgeline. The old avalanche debri was actually a good sign- chances were better that it wouldn't slide again.

Matt gains the second ridge line.

I thought that Mt. Leidy wouldn't be too challenging. An easy peak to bag, with what looked like tons of skiing options, including safer low angle treed runs. Not so. Everything leading up to the peak is steep and knife-edged.

Matt makes his way around some brush, trying to stay on the ridge.

A look out across a slope of Mt Leidy at this point, the Tetons in the background.

Matt on top of a false summit, or the final ridge we would use to access the summit.

Matt's view of me making my way up.

You can see how challenging the skin up was. North facing cornices over a wind loaded slope on one side, and sun baked warming snow on the other. Both slopes were over 35 degrees. I was pretty nervous. Over the last two Januarys I've manage to trigger and get caught in avalanches on very similar looking terrain. Though the snow pack had been stabilizing this week, there's still a deadly layer (Nov rain crust) in there that we were concerned about.

Mount Leidy's summit comes into view (Matt's making his way up).

Matt nears the summit of Mount Leidy.

On my way up.

Summit smiles.

Taking it all in.

A panoramic view from the summit of Mount Leidy.
(click to enlarge)

After a while on the summit, we had to decide how to get down. We were hoping to find an easier route down then the one we took to get up. On the way up Matt's ski binding fell apart. We didn't know if he'd be able to ski down, so something less risky was definitely in order. The problem was, there was no easy way down. Every direction off of the peak was a knife edge ridge or a avalanche path.

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3 (the way we came up)

We decided on option #3, slowly making our way back the way we came until we found something we could safely ski. First we had to modify Matt's ski binding. The heel piece on his Dynafit binding broke off, so we had to figure out a way to lock his heel down without it. Our solution hardly qualified as rocket science...

Matt's new ultra light custom Dynafit binding (a piece of bailing wire).

With his boot locked down with wire, Matt was ready to drop. He lead the way...

We really eased into the first turns, dropping to safe spots and spotting one another.

Making my way down, trying to stay on the ridge.

Finally we hit a short section with room for a couple of turns.

Dropping in and over to another ridge that looked like it might provide a good line or two down.

Matt drops in.

Wire binding seems to be holding.

Wee hoo!

Across the warming southern exposed gully (actually cut a small wet slide loose in it), Matt eyes a shady more northern ridge line that goes.

I make my way on to the same ridge. From here we had good ski lines all the way down. Time to tear it up...

Skiing Mt. Leidy!

Good stuff!

A look back at our lines.

Another look from a bit further away.

The terrain on Mt. Leidy and this area was pretty cool. Lots of ribbons and flutes. Runs ranged from 1000 to 15oo ft depending on the aspect.

The Matt Show
(He show's off how light his skis feel w/ his new binding)

Looking down the last run of the day- a great north facing shot.

Preparing for take off!

Lift off!! Matt flies above Leidy Lake.

Sticks it and skis it out, wire bindings and all!

One last look back at the aspect of Mt. Leidy that we skied.

A few more miles down the trail on our way back, and we get another final look at Mount Leidy (North Aspect).

New country, no avalanches, didn't get lost or stuck- great day! With all of the unique terrain we saw, I'm guessing we might make it into this area again this year. It seems like we just barely nibbled on it. Can't wait to see what Matt can do to it when his gear's a 100%.

The route we took...

Blue arrows indicate snowmobile route (15 miles?). Red is our climbing route (1 mile/ 1000 ft.)
(click to enlarge)

Two Ocean Powder Harvest

Two Ocean Mountain
Shoshone NF, Togwotee Pass
January 10th, 2009

Split, skinned and ready to roll. Two Ocean Mountain looms in the background.

Karla leads the way across the flats to Two Ocean Mountain.

We didn't like what we saw on our first approach. The wind drifts on the ridge were bigger than then usual, and drifted on both sides. So we down-climbed a bit to find a safer spot for our first run.

Chuck drops a little.

Later that day some other folks from Lander braved the drifts and skied some of the lower east faces. Given the east facing avi that tore loose on West Angle Mt the day before, and our history with avalanches this time of year- we let them have it. They lived too. Nothing went on them, they exercised good snow intel and caution though.

After finding what looked like might be a good test run for the day, we dug a pit. After we were finished, Karla jumped on it to get some more intel- and to cover it up.

Our pit was north facing on a 25 degree slope that was slightly wind effected. I did an extended column test (ECT). The new snow would shear (Q3) 20cm down with a couple of solid whacks, nothing sheared with wrist taps. The only major layer of concern was about a meter and half down. It may have been the Nov rain crust that's been a major concern everywhere. I had to employ and hard shovel shear to bring it out, but the shear was a Q1. The layer it slid on was very hard- knife for sure. At least 2-3cm thick- raincrust probably. I could nearly stand on it, before it failed. Nothing but sugar and depth hoar under it (about 2 or 3 feet). The entire snow pack was nearly eight feet deep. We couldn't get any of the shears to propogate across the column. After we were done in the pit, Karla hopped above it with skis on- again, the only thing that seemed to fail was the new snow and it took a hop to bring it out. After the pit we felt pretty safe skiing lower angle runs in the trees on Two Ocean. We eased our way into steeper terrain as the day went by, getting only new snow to slough or slide. It seems like the snow pack is getting deep enough that slides on the Nov rain crust will be more difficult to trigger, but man, if anything does step down to that layer... watch out! It's a plenty good reason for me to stay off the big stuff for a while.

Karla throws in the first turns for the day.

We hugged the trees pretty tight for this first run. Hard to find terrain that isn't steep on Two Ocean.

Going up for more (got five runs/ 4 to 5 K of vertical in before it was over).

Chuck eyes his next run.

Looking back a couple of classic Two Ocean lines.

A short video of the day's events.

Great powder, no avi's. Good day. I'm happy!

Raiding the Local Powder Stash

Ridin' the Winds

Southern Wind River Range, Christina Lake Area, Shoshone NF
January 3rd, 2009

Video clip (click to play)

Thrilled to finally be out for full day's romp in the snow.

The usual crew (Chuck and Karla) and I headed out, up into the Winds yesterday to see if there was any snow left after the week of 70 mph winds they received. Avi conditions as of late have been through the roof- over seven feet of snow in the Tetons since Christmas. I skied the resort the day after an in-bounds avalanche claimed the live of a local Jackson skier below the Thunder lift. The day after that I was riding some great powder down a run at the resort when they shut the whole thing down because the Headwall avalanched- doing significant damage to a new restaurant below it. See some of my TRs and post from previous years to look at pictures of the Headwall. It's an area I like to ski a lot a resort (Teton Village).

The areas we frequent in the Winds seem less prone to avalanches- mostly due to lower angles, and a more wind hammered snow pack. It's generally a good place to go when all the avi conditions are high. It's also in our backyard. To be honest, I'd take a mediocre backcountry day in the Winds, or elsewhere, any day- over a premier powder day at the resort. I hate dealing with all the people, and waiting lines, and paying out the arse for it. Over the years, we have learned where the Southern Wind powder hides. It's there. Though the 15 mile snowmobile ride in was a little rough, we made it. The powder was there too, right where it always is. Typical early season conditions- similar to last year. Good stuff!

Jumped on some small cornices at the top of a run. Got some frightening woompfs and a little cracking (to the left of left ski), but nothing went. The slope treed and is pretty low angle. None the less, we exercised caution while skiing/ riding it- beacon check/ one at time, safe spot to safe spot.

Chuck and Karla head up for another run. We got five in before it was over.

Chuck rides spreads some creamy pow.

I tried for air.

Got a little and rode it out to the bottom of the run, which was actually on Christina Lake.

Surfing Christina Lake.

A board's eye view down on of the last runs of the day.

I didn't take alot of pictures today, mostly because it was cold all day (below zero degrees). Since we were on a north facing slope, and in the trees, the lighting is pretty limited as well. I'm hoping to do more with video this season too. We'll see. My main goal this year is to avoid avalanches and hitting trees with my skidoo. So far, I'm doing good with the first goal.