Forums Trip Reports January….. (pic intensive) Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)Author Posts February 1, 2007 at 1:54 am #568515 nomad 288 Posts…..but first, a little bit of December.I found my camera in Washington the last day before departure. These are from Stevens. snoslut and jimjar skinning Scoping an acid drop – nope, won’t goCruising out of a chute And back to January….p420 on Teton Pass p420 with the super back-seat wheelie while wysplit barrels towards him. Matt looks on. Wysplit Serenity on the top of Edelweiss Gradient Cruising The Sphinx with the Sphinxter cutting through the rocky face Cedar Mountain. One of my trips taken as a professional skinner. Kyle and I training in Hyalite Sometimes without skis There may be nearly no snow in SW Montana (except Cooke), but at least it looks pretty. Mt. Cowan in the distance. Blackmore And, finally, it was time for the Grand on Sunday. I hadn’t been above 10k all year (or 11k, 12k, or 13k for that matter), so we started early. Unfortunately, Kyle had to ski patrol, so it was just Steve and I. I think you all probably remember my Grand fiasco from last year, and this jaunt went significantly better.As dawn arrived, I could tell that Steve was hurting. I was too, but it was manageable. I sure was glad that Steve Romeo had broken trail 5 days beforehand. Thanks Steve! You’re an animal! Booting up the Teepe Glacier In the Stettner, we found 2 other groups in front of us. This significantly slowed us down and provided a nice shower of ice and snow while climbing. Luckily, they were friendly and sympathetic. Middle Teton from the Stettner. Steve following the upper Stettner. Right below him is an ice bulge that he took a small spill on. The bulge itself was fine, but one had to mantel off of it into steep snow without any tool placements (even rock), hoping that the feet would stick. It was especially sketchy with my previous ice screw being in semi-hollow ice. Twas fun though, and the rest of the climbing was quite easy. It was Steve’s first time ice climbing! Go Steve! Alas, for many reasons, the hour became too late (2:30), and I had to turn around approximately 1-200 feet from the summit, at the top of the Ford Couloir. I felt good about calling it at this point. The dude right below me was some random guy that half-soloed the ascent because his partner was sick down in the meadows. Strange circumstance, but he seemed nice enough and allowed us to do longer raps with 2 ropes. This photo cracks me up. Steve managed to get photos of me only when I had stopped, and this one just seems strange (not that mine were great). For reference, I made it approximately 150 feet past the dude behind me, and the summit is in the background. View from the top Resting in the Ford couloir. Steve ripping it. The snow and temperatures were actually the most pleasant near the summit. Once we were near the meadows, the snow turned into a 35 degree ice skating rink, definitely the crux.As usual, we had a shitty time finding our way out from Bradley Lake, and arrived at the car well into the dark and cold night. When we started, the temp was -15 F, when we finished it was -11 F. Jackson inversions suck!Pray for snow, because there isn’t even enough around Bozeman for them to groom the trails.Stay tuned for February….. February 1, 2007 at 3:46 am #593978 SanFrantastico 1514 PostsNice! Thanks for the badly needed stoke. I love the blackmore shot – really dreamlike. And the Grand Teton is so impressive to look at. It must be a trip to actually be up there. But I didn’t realize it is so heavily trafficked. Is that unusual?Putting the poo in swimming pool since 1968. February 1, 2007 at 6:41 am #593979 Ecobrad 2068 PostsHell yeah. That’s what I’m talkin about. And there’s not even any snow yet. February 1, 2007 at 8:27 am #593980 el diablo 23 Poststhat is some beautiful and hardcore stuff. February 1, 2007 at 1:58 pm #593981 TEX 2486 PostsLove it Dude. Wish I was at the pass right now. Will someone take Pops up the Grand please? February 1, 2007 at 7:59 pm #593982 UTAH 830 Poststhat’s really sick, way to go. I thought montana was doing pretty good, did it start out good? I thought I remember some early TR’s that were sick. February 1, 2007 at 8:35 pm #593983 nomad 288 PostsMontana’s snow season started out great in October, then it basically hasn’t snowed since (okay, a bit, but minimally). It’s snowing right now, but the entire base is 2 or 3 feet of rotten facets AKA death.Pops, I’d love to take you up there sometime 😉I think the grand was so heavily trafficked because of a photo a few days beforehand in the JH daily of Romeo et al’s pow turns up top. The weekend was approaching and it was still sunny, so everyone wanted to get after it. Plus, there really is only one way up and down the thing, so of course one runs into everyone else. Usually though, I think it only sees a few winter ascents. February 1, 2007 at 8:43 pm #593984 snoslut 178 PostsNomad goddamn slaying powder all across the land. Your becoming quite the powder connoisseur.Nomad if your still heading west a few people that missed out on Helens want to hit it up again. Another option was touring the Snoqualmie bc. This weekend the best weather window is Saturday. Don’t know which way I’m leaning yet.Btw I got all your pics on a cd now so next time your in town… February 1, 2007 at 9:18 pm #593985 HikeforTurns 1114 Postsnicely done!Thanks for the TR. How long did the grand trip take? February 1, 2007 at 9:52 pm #593986 hofbrau 13 PostsThanks for the TR thats hard fn’ core stuff you did! The pics are great too. February 1, 2007 at 10:41 pm #593987 SanFrantastico 1514 PostsWhat boot/binding setup are you using for that kind of climb? Thanks…Putting the poo in swimming pool since 1968. February 1, 2007 at 11:16 pm #593988 philfort 31 PostsCool beans! February 2, 2007 at 12:14 am #593989 lifelinksplit 282 Postsnice job dude. I hear ya on the professional skinning, there isn’t really much riding to be had. God I haven’t even gotten on any thing remotely steep since october February 2, 2007 at 5:59 am #593990 Edubious 23 PostsMad respect! I’ve climbed that mountain…in the summer. It was burley! Winter?! Nice tour. Great pics.😯~ Edub February 2, 2007 at 7:19 pm #593991 nomad 288 PostsSF – For trips that involve climbing, I’m now using Vasque Ice 9000 boots. I love them, but unfortunately they’re a bit too large (purchased on ebay). This makes the turns less precise than I would like and I have to retie them frequently. However, my feet have yet to get cold in them, which is a huge bonus. Bindings are some old Burton Missions that are probably due to be replaced, which probably won’t happen anytime soon ($$$). February 3, 2007 at 3:46 am #593992 bcrider 4150 Postsgood shit nomad! thanks for sharing! 8) February 5, 2007 at 5:20 am #593993 Wyomingsplit_ride 663 PostsExcellent Nomad. Matt and I were thinking about the Grand on the same day, but bailed because we figured it would be crowded up there. Guess we were right. Super sweet pics and good hooking up with you on Teton Pass. Not long before the fest! February 6, 2007 at 3:00 pm #593994 dave 100 Postsoh come on! there has to be some riding out there. even i’m finding some pow off lifts. don’t tell me the east is doing better.well, nice pics and grueling looking tours…as always. February 6, 2007 at 9:47 pm #593995 jparker 64 PostsGreat stuff!Makes me want to ride the grand even more, I read Steves TR over at tetonat.com today too. Cedar mountain looks so inviting from Big Sky, but I’ve never talked myself into the approach.I think I’m going mountain biking today though, it’s turned to spring already here apparently. 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