Mt Seamus and Sioux Pass

Touring the Southern Winds

Mt. Seamus and Sioux Pass

January 28th, 2011

Mt. Seamus

Been a few years since I rode on Mt. Seamus (can't find a name for the peak anywhere- so I named it this, since I rode it right after Seamus was born). Since the snow conditions seemed to be variable, not much pow left... figured it might as well be a good day to tour around. Chuck and Karla hadn't ever been up Mt. Seamus, and I've only been once, so we figured it might make a good hike at least. Mt Seamus isn't as far in as Christina Lake. Only about 10 miles (just off the B trail a little way), opposed to 15 or 16 miles in, like the peaks around Christina Lake.

We did a couple of runs on Mt. Seamus then decided to head back to the sleds, and buzz over to Sioux Pass to try some more north facing slopes. It was kind of fun, and nice to be able to move around to different mountains so quickly. Not something we do often.

The terrain around Sioux Pass is pretty fun. We had a blast. Check out the video (towards the end). I accidently jumped over Chuck while he was running the camera. Ooops.

Mt. Seamus/ Sioux Pass Tour

Climbing up near the top of Mt. Seamus.



Lettin' er rip!



A few turns in.

Fish eye profile of some of our lines down Mt. Seamus.

Heading up for another.

Looking down the north aspect of Mt. Seamus.

A look back at our lines down (clickk to enlarge).

Good stuff! Hope to visit again some day- maybe in corn conditions.

Later in the day, hucking a cornice near Sioux Pass

Weehoo!

Chuck gazes on in astonishment, thankful I cleared him and didn't land on him.

Instant replay... or something.

Looking across the way at Mt. Seamus, the mountain we skied earlier in the day.

Another great day in the Winds!

Go-Lite Tour

Touring Go-Lite Mt.

Southern Winds, Christina Lake Area

January 22nd, 2011

Chuck and Karla climb Go-lite, Christina Lake in the background.

The Video

Another blue bird day in the winds. Windy though- and the wind was coming out of an unusual direct (north to northeast). It pretty much hammered all of our stashes. You can almost always count on good snow on Go-Lite and similar aspects, but not today. The wind pretty much hammerd it. It was soft, but slabby. Even the stuff in the trees was heavy... not as bad... but not the light fluffy pow-pow we were hoping for. Oh well. We made the best of it. Did a big tour of the areas instead.

Mandy throws in a turn up high.

The snow was better lower.


Wish the whole Mt was like this.

Finding a place to drop from further down the ridge.

In the background, you can see a line that I was very interested in. Everyone was out of gas though for today. So... it'd have to wait. It's on my list now though.

Gustave Lake

Gustave Lake Run

Southern Windriver Range

January 16th, 2010

On a mountain above Gustave Lake, Cony Mt, Silas Canyon and Christina Lake in the background.

The video summary.

On a time line and not really in the mood for anything too big, I left from Bruces in Sinks canyon about 9:30am, thinking I'd try snooping around Cony Mt. somewheres. I quickly discovered the trail into Cony wasn't fully punched in yet, and since I was alone, I figured I'd better not try. So I decided to hop on the B trail from Fiddlers and zip on over to Christina, where options a plently awaited- Gustave Lake being the closest. It looked alright when I arrived, so I figured I'd try it out.

Perched on top, ready for my first run.

Gustave Lake below.

If you look on the ridgline you can see my tracks. Not the best snow- not the worse. It was better in the trees.

Looking down a shaded, more protected shot that was a bit better.

Still, I've skied it in better snow. Oh well. Beat layin' on the couch.

After a few runs, I called it quits- figured I'd ride the ol' skidoo around a bit, before heading home.

The riding lasted about 20 minutes or so, before I got brave and tried something... well um... yeh...

Yup. This one would require the shovel. Grrr.

This is why my arms feel like rubber tonight... I eventually won though.

Finally turned around and out of the crater, with still barely enough time to get home by 5pm. Whew!

Shadow Mountain (GTNP)

Touring in the Tetons: Shadow Mountain

Grand Teton National Park

January 8th, 2010

Lee and Ken lead the way up into the Tetons.

Funny how things pan out sometimes. I had to stay home from work Friday to hang with sick kiddos, which also made me cancel a ski trip with the school and my daughter for Saturday. So... I emailed Darran and let him know I had Sat open all of a sudden. He hooked me up with this crew and a tour they had planned in the Tetons, something I've been itching to do more of for a long time.

Although objectives like the Sliver couloir were in mind, the weather pretty much dictated tree lower tree skiing. Concensus was to hit Shadow Mt, and go from there. Powder/ trees skiing options were abundant up there as well as anywhere.

Darran and Matt bring up the rear (five of us total).

Starting to get up and out of the trees a bit.


Following a good trail- maybe with an inch or two of snow on it.


Approaching the top of Shadow Mt, weather getting worse by the minute. No big stuff today.


Matt waiting at the bottom of a nice shot.

Didn't get too many photos on this trip. The weather wasn't that conducive, and these boys wanted to ski... which was fine. We did four different runs- a couple over two thousand feet. Matt guesstimates somewhere around 7000 vertical for the day. Definitely was more than the 4-5k I'm used to putting in. I was cooked. The snow was good, a little wind effected, not the best of the season so far. It took some energy to turn in it, but was still soft enough to pounce off pillows and stuff. Lotta fun!

At the bottom (Bradley Lake) of the last run of the day.



Short video summary of the day (mostly hiking)... but hey, that's probably a good summary. Ha!

A look back at Shadow Mt and the last run we did (the white stripe curving down the center).

A fine day, good to get out in the Tetons every once in while. I don't do that enough.

Thanks guys!

With five inches of fresh and more falling, I couldn't resist getting out again, the next day. I did some touring with my kiddos in our back yard...

Powder pups (hounds in training)!