Went for another early morning ski/ride today; same place as yesterday but a slightly different line. There was a bit more snow and even better powder conditions today! It was also even more brutally cold and windy today, especially up top.
Skier: Jeff Skoloda. Notice the howling wind and blowing snow up on the ridge.
It’s been snowing the last few days throughout Colorado, and this morning my buddy Mike and I rode our first lines of the winter! Above is a view of the top portion of the line we snowboarded. It was very cold up there, more like mid January than October.
Mike Bryson shreds the powder. Despite a few rocks lurking underneath, the snow was light and fluffy, and all in all it was a great first line, especially for October!
I’m back home in Colorado after an epic week of snowboarding in the high peaks of the Tetons in Wyoming. What a great time… I really dug the town of Jackson almost as much as the mountains themselves. I was sad to leave, but I am thinking that I will be back there for sure sooner than later.
This trip was more about the snowboarding than the shooting, but I did come away with a few good riding shots. I’ve posted a few of my favorites below.
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL MY TETONS SNOWBOARDING PHOTOS!
Jason King snowboarding down the steep northeast face of the Middle Teton, with the Grand towering behind.
Darrell Miller drops in to a steep southwestern couloir on Mt. Moran.
I am currently in Jackson, Wyoming, where I have been hiking and riding some epic lines in the Tetons. The Tetons provide massive vertical relief, and the snow this season extends all the way to the base of the mountains. The weather has been perfect so far, with warm sunny days and cold nights, making for some nice smooth spring corn snow conditions.
My friend Jason and I have been riding big mountains for the last three days in a row. The first two days were 4,000+ vertical foot descents with quick access from the truck. Yesterday, despite being pretty worked from the first two days, we made a big expedition to Mt. Moran, where we rode down an obscure 5,000 foot couloir.
We’ll rest for today and tomorrow while the weather is a bit unsettled, then the forecast looks good for more adventures later in the week. Once I get back home later in the month I’ll post a bunch of photos from the hikes and descents in these burly peaks.
Yesterday I scoped out some nice lines that were still full of all white snow, so this morning Dan and I went up to test it out. The snow was actually surprisingly good, like proper spring corn – fairly soft and smooth.
This morning I got out for some skiing/snowboarding with some visiting German friends of a friend of a friend. There is still a little bit of white snow partially covering up the horrendous Arizona dust that smothered our mountains these last few months, so the riding was still ok. Crossing the zebra patterned snow was pretty funky… the white snow smooth and fast, then the brown snow sticky and slow. At times it felt like riding down sand dunes. I’m afraid that unless we get another late season dump, the ski season here in the San Juans is pretty much done since the dust is already starting to ravage the snowpack.
Paul and I got out this morning for a quick powder sampling. Though only a day old, the powder is firming up fast. This late in the season you’ve got the get the powder while it’s fresh… it doesn’t last long, even on north aspects. But it was still good to ride, despite the fact that I guided us down the wrong chute (the one that had tracks in it already – I hate crossing tracks!)
Yesterday was a blizzard most of the day in Ouray, so today my friend Paul and I headed out for a morning powder lap. Today was a beautiful calm bluebird day, and the powder was oh so delightful.
Skier: Paul McElrea.
Lots of fun hits and features in this long gully. Here’s a helmet cam of my ride:
Click here to watch the Quicktime video.
On Saturday we headed out for another incredible day of backcountry skiing and snowboarding. This day was just as epic as the previous day, with two equally long and awesome untracked descents. These past two days have ranked among my best backcountry days in memory.
Ann Driggers skis down the premier north face descent of this prominent 13er in the San Juans.
The wide open powdery faces provided ample opportunity to haul some serious ass, as seen in my helmet cam video below.
Click here to watch the Quicktime video. (Minus the music here).
LOTS MORE PHOTOS BELOW!
