The Skillet has always been a bit elusive to me because the traditional approach is difficult. Jackson Lake presents the main issue. Either you wait until late spring or early summer until Jackson Lake thaws so you can row a boat across. But, later in the season, freezes stop happening and the east facing line becomes more prone to wet slides. The other option is to go earlier in the season and skate-ski across the fully frozen lake. But, getting to the lake early in the season is a chore as the road into Teton National Park is closed all but a few miles from the southern boarder. So, approaching Jackson Lake early season requires a snowmobile (if there’s even snow) or a long bike ride. I’ve known people to do both, and both are hard.

Really, the best time to ski the Skillet is early to mid-May. But, Jackson Lake is not frozen enough to cross, and not thawed enough to row. But, as I mulled over the idea of the Skillet with our friend Hans, I learned something new. Hans had moved to Jackson from Colorado in 2014, but we knew him from skiing in Colorado. He told me that he thought Mt. Moran could be approached from the String Lake Trailhead via Leigh Lake Trail, and that the road to String Lake opened up on May 1st. He hadn’t known anyone who had done it. But, looking on a map, it seemed easy enough – a 5 mile, mostly flat, approach to the bottom of the route and then a 5700 vertical foot climb from there. This would be a long one, but I’ve done longer, harder, steeper routes with greater vertical before. Avoiding Jackson Lake seemed like the way to go.

The approach was one that seemed to favor camping on the approach, especially since the line is east facing and requires and early start. It seemed that making the 5 mile approach and camping near Jackson Lake was the best option. But we decided it would ultimately be easier to do it in a one-day push, keeping our gear light, and using less energy overall. We slept a few hours at the String Lake trailhead, set the alarm for midnight, and began skinning before 1 am.

We used a pre-planned route marked on Gaia to help us find our way on the Leigh Lake trail, which was difficult to see in the dark, eventually leaving the trail and b-lining toward Jackson Lake. My track also helped guide us up the correct drainage on Mt. Moran to approach the Skillet. We had a bit of difficulty navigating our way around a group of cliff bands and steep terrain near the base of the mountain in the dark. But once we got past that, it was smooth sailing. And the sunrise was beautiful.

The main gut of the route had quite a bit of avy debris which made us switch from skinning to booting.

What a beautiful place to be.

A group of 3 was in front of us, but decided to turn around about 1000 feet short of the summit. We kept passing pair from Salt Lake City back and forth until they took the lead at the end. Both parties had camped near Jackson Lake the night before.

And the climb kept going and going…. I mean, it is about 5700 vertical feet…

When we rounded the top of the Skillet, we still had a couple more hundred vertical feet to make our way to the true summit of Mt. Moran at 12,605′.

Me rounding my way to the top.

Transitioning with the Grand Teton taunting us from a distance.

Looking southeast.

The thing about standing on a summit is that you see at least a dozen other summits that you want, like this one – Thor Peak.

Larry, ready to go!

Time for the ski! We skied from the summit back to the Skillet, but had to take off our ski for a small downclimb through some rocks. And then the real skiing started. Larry dropping in to ski the Skillet.

Me.

Larry.

Me.

Larry.

Like the climb, the ski was long too. But the last 4000 feet were perfect corn. Me.

Larry.

As we neared the end of the route, we traversed over toward Bear Paw Lake and eventually finding our way through the forest back to Leigh Lake Trail. While beautiful, Leigh Lake trail is a bit of a flat slog out.

17.1 miles, 6200 vertical feet, and 14 hours after we left the car, we returned back to it. After emerging out of the pain cave, celebrations ensued, and we had dinner with Hans and his family. That night I went to bed, as tired as I could ever be, but smiling. The Skillet was a good one to check off the list.

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The East Face of Mt. St. John. Towering over 4000-feet above the valley floor, this line is not to be undervalued.

We began in the dark with headlamps from the String Lake trailhead, winding around the lake before reaching the lower flanks of St. John. As we ascended through the area that had been stricken by a forest fire in 1999, the sun began to peak over the the eastern landscape.

Frank by the hidden Laurel Lake.

The rising sun highlighted our surroundings in rose colors for only a few moments.

And the climb went on.

….and on.

Finally, we reached the top of our line, which is still a few hundred feet short of the westward summit.

The Cathedral Group, which consists of Teewinot, Owen, and the Grand.

After a brief break on the top of our line, it was time to ski. Frank skiing off the face of the Earth…..

The skiing was GOOD. Frank with Jackson Lake and Leigh Lake in the distance.

Brittany with Jenny Lake behind.

It was hard to take a bad picture.

Frank.

Brittany lower down on the face.

As we descended the trees thickened. Brittany.

Frank.

We skied all the way to String Lake, a little over 4000-vertical feet and spent about 20 minutes walking back to the parking lot. Not bad for a morning mission before a 10 hour drive home. A great ski, this the East Face of Mt. St. John was a great way to end our short trip to the Tetons

We came to the Tetons over Memorial Day weekend to escape a storm that would have prevented us from being able to ski in the alpine. Although we didn’t have the opportunity to ski the bigger lines on our Teton list, we were still pleased to have another fabulous taste of the Tetons. We will definitely be back

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The approach to this route is the same approach used to access Grand and Middle Tetons, but unlike other trips to this valley, we chose to approach via Burnt Wagon Gulch. Pick your poison- the tedious sidehilling of the Lupine Meadows trail, the equally tedious morraines of the Bradley/Taggart route, or the more direct Burnt Wagon route- none of the routes to upper Garnet canyon are particularly fun. Overall, we were on snow for most of this route, so it wasn’t bad. Early morning light from the trailhead- Nez Perce is on the left.

Once exiting the woods, you’re in an amazing location filled with possibilities.

The West Hourglass couloir doesn’t look like much, all things considered, from the bottom, with much of the route hiding. As often happens in ranges with more vertical relief than the norm here in Colorado, what looked like a quick climb ended up being far longer than I expected- a little over 2,500′ in fact.

From the top of the couloir, we were greeted with great views of the surrounding peaks. Cloudveil Dome and South Teton:

Great views of the Middle, with the Choinard and Ellingwood couloirs:

The route to the summit is a 4th class scramble which we skipped, especially in light of the warming temps and mediocre overnight freeze.

We also had a great view of the Grand. The Otterbody route is very visible, as is the top of the Ford.

Conditions were all over the place- frozen in the shade, and a bit past its prime in the sun. Overall, this was still a great route, considered a classic in the Tetons. Brittany:

Frank:

Hans had climbed halfway up the couloir with us, when he had decided to stop and ski down. Amazingly, it must have been a premonition, as on of the heel pins on his Plum bindings had sheared off. He waited for us in the valley far below. Did I mention this is a 2,500′ line?

Nice background eh?

Great skiing even low on the route:

We were able to ski most of the way to the valley floor, far below (it’s close to 5,000′ from the trailhead to the top of the line).

It’s easy to see why this is considered a classic line in a range filled with classic lines. The beautiful rock walls, the location in the midst of the big prizes of the Tetons, and the deceptively long length made for a great day. It also let us know the conditions we were dealing with- light freezes (at best) for 10 days. While the mostly North facing Hourglass route was fairing well, we could see the damage on other routes we had in mind, like the Ellingwood couloir, which had a big runnel in it. And that was on top of the fact that wet slides were booming off all the sunny slopes around us. We headed to Hans house sondering just what the next day was going to have in store for us…

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Frank and I headed out with our friends Tony and Doug. We made the slog through the forested skin track which eventually opened up to this:

Yes, the Fin had been skied – quite a lot lately. But, the tracks didn’t make it any less alluring. These “spines” looked particularly interesting.

From the eastern side of the basin, there are several ways to approach the Fin, which lies on the west side. Not being very familiar with the area, we were happy to skin all the way around on the ridge to check out other potential ski lines, both near and far.

Woody Ridge.

Abiathar.

The couloirs that lead off the summit of Republic tempted us, but we decided to save those for another day.

But, the Fin was simply beautiful.

The boys, at the top of the Fin, ready to ski.

Somehow, I convinced them to let me go first

I let out a long-drawn “woot”. The snow was as good as it gets.

From below, it was difficult to get pictures, except for the lower, more playful terrain. Frank.

Doug.

Tony.

At the bottom, there was no discussion. We were going back up for more. The skin track, already well-established, was both beautiful and intimidating.

But the second run was just as delicious as the first. Tony.

Though the light was turning flat from an approaching front, Frank ventured over to the spines we drooled over. He has dubbed them State Line Spines, as these lie on the border between Wyoming and Montana. He started out in Wyoming…..

And crossed the border into Montana a few turns later….

But, the day was not yet done. We still had to make our way out of the basin, and descend the couloirs we skied the previous day. The skin.

The ski.

Republic delivered and we skied three fantastic runs that day. With it’s easy access and proximity to the town, it beckons skiers who arrive in Cooke City. But, we knew a whole lot more was waiting for us. We just had to head a little bit more northeast. We went to bed with dreams of powder turns in our heads…..

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.

Cooke City Posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

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Cooke City is mostly known as a snowmobile destination, though it has a small and committed group of sled skiers there as well. Cooke City is located more or less between the Absaroka mountains to the South and the Beartooths to the North. This convergence of ranges leads to snow- and a lot of it- in the Cooke City area. If you’re there for the first time, you can use Beartooth Mountain Guides as you get familiar with the area. Plenty of snowmobilers end up in Cooke City from places like Minnesota and the Dakotas, so if the thought of waking up every morning to the smell of two-stroke sounds appalling to you- well then you’ll miss out on the great skiing the area has to offer.

From Colorado and other points South, it’s a pain to get to. Highway 212 from Red Lodge over Beartooth Pass is closed in winter, as is 296 over Dead Indian Pass from Cody, WY. This means that the only way in is via 89 from Livingston, MT through Yellowstone National Park- a two and a half hour drive to a dead-end in Cooke City, home of roughly 50 year-round residents. Because we were going for only a short time, we decided not to bring our snowmobiles, instead relying on whatever shuttle services, friendly locals, snowmobile rentals, and road trailheads we might find. (Note: If we go again, we might choose to take our snowmobiles to Cody, WY and ride 296, which is apparently a short, easy ride and would cut our drive time by 4 hours)

We rolled in at night and the first thing a skier will be drawn to in Cooke City is “The Fin”, right above town on Mt. Rebublic. Once we realized there were tracks and a skintrack already on the face, we knew we had come to the right place. Tony met up with us and his book showed the route going up the trees right below The Fin, which seemed about right, so that’s the way we went. Tony wasn’t impressed with this book in his home range of the Bridgers, and after wandering around for a bit, we realized that most skiers actually access via the opposite side of the mountain, which is why we weren’t finding the skintrack.

We regrouped and headed off in the more popular direction, though it was obvious that we had burned too much daylight to ski The Fin that day. We had spied a line on the lower flanks that looked like it held promise, and we quickly found ourselves on top, looking down at town:

Not a bad consolation prize, eh? Frank:

Brittany:

It was an interesting line, and we kept switching from one couloir to another to make sure we found the one on the far skier’s right that didn’t cliff out. Tony:

Tony drops into the final choke:

Brittany:

The snow was pretty good, all the way down near the valley. Brittany’s smile says it all:

Cooke City is pretty amazing- just don’t expect your cell phone to work there. I kept thinking to myself “This place is more Alaska than Alaska!” The Bearclaw Bakery is highly recommended, The Miner’s Saloon makes a mean burger (make sure to ask for Ranch! {Wink}), and the Loving Cup makes a good cup of coffee. We stayed at the Cooke City Alpine- the price was right but the walls were thin. More adventures from Cooke City coming up soon…

Update: In April, 2018 our friend Tony perished in an avalanche skiing solo outside the boundaries at Bridger Bowl. Tony was a great person and we miss him greatly.

Cooke City Posts:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

The post Cooke City, Montana: Overview and Day 1. appeared first on 14erskiers.com.

It’s a fine line between “giving it your best shot” or “pushing your limits” or whatever other cliche you can think of and, well, disaster. The other side of the coin is another cliche- “The mountain will still be there” (Unless one tried to ski Mt St Helens in early May of 1980, and was hoping to give it another go in June, of course). Let’s go back to the Grand for a moment. Bill Briggs’ first descent was completed with a solo, thigh-deep slush ascent of the upper East face. Anyone with a passing knowledge of wet slides could argue that thigh-deep slush is a no-go. Of course Briggs did go, so we have a hero with a landmark first descent. But what if the slope had gone, would we just look at Bill Briggs as a cautionary tale in the history of ski mountaineering?

I’m not trying to “Monday morning quarterback” Briggs’ decision. I simply want to make the point that the line between success and failure gets very sharp as one gets to the upper end of things. People don’t push themselves, or the sport, or even simply knock off classic lines without some amount of risk entering the equation. Doubt will always creep into your mind, so when is the reason for turning around just an excuse that placates your fears?

Sometimes you’ve simply got to be bold if you’ve got big dreams. This is of course true not just in ski mountaineering, but in life as well. But as Kenny Rogers’ famously said, “You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, Know when to walk away and know when to run.” Well said, Kenny. How do you know? Experience and gut instinct, I guess. Which can still lead to giving up too early, or pushing it too far. Both lead to an unpleasant feeling in the pit of one’s stomach. Tough game to play, given the consequences. Palliative care workers say the terminally ill regret the things they didn’t do more than the things they did do. I’m not sure if that totally applies here, but I’ll throw it out there as food for thought anyway.

I would LOVE to hear from our readers on this one. One thing I hope to see more of here at 14erskiers is the great dialogue among our readership that other websites get. So please, if you have any thoughts on this, let’s hear them.

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The weather forecast wasn’t perfect later in the week, so we decided to jump right into things and go after the big objective- The Grand. Jordan and I had already tried the Grand back in 2009, but in the end we wandered around in thick fog and sleet in upper Garnet canyon before mistakenly summiting Middle Teton. A midnight alarm clock had us leaving the Bradley/Taggart trailhead around 1am, where there was just barely enough snow to skin right from the trailhead.

After a long drive and only a little sleep, with thoughts of a big climb weighing on our minds, we all retreated into our own heads and zombie-walked through the rolling terrain to the base of Garnet canyon. I’m sure many of you reading this know exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to these surreal dark’o’clock experiences. It looks a bit like this:

It was still dark when we made the turn into the N fork of Garnet canyon, the turn which Jordan and I had missed the last time around. Finally we started to gain some easy elevation and the sun bathed the Middle Teton in an orange glow.

It was about this time that I realized we had once again been overeager and missed the Teepe glacier. Thankfully we hadn’t wasted much time and we made an ascending traverse up to the Teepe through the moraine.

The view of the Glacier Route (East Face) of the Middle Teton kept getting better, and someone had laid down some nice tracks on it:

Up the Teepe:

Brittany in front of the Teepe Pillar:

At this point, our large group began shrinking. Anton had been feeling a cold coming on, and midnight hiking blew it up into a full-blown cold. Brittany, meanwhile, hadn’t been feeling great either, complaining of occasional dizziness thanks to the lack of sleep. So we said goodbye at the top of the Teepe glacier and Josh, Jordan and I continued on, quickly reaching the bottom of the Stettner couloir and Glencoe col. The “real” climbing starts quickly at this point. Jordan:

Not far above this pitch was the first rap/belay station. Since it was dangling 12-15′ above Jordan’s 6’4″ frame, it was pretty obvious that the Stettner wasn’t filled in this season like it is in better seasons. Josh above the first pitch:

Jordan on the next pitch:

Just above this, it was clear that another route takes off to the left. Since it looked completely uninviting compared to the relatively easier terrain heading right (the Stettner), we went right. As it turns out, we may have wanted to go left as the ice bulges we were looking at are the start of the Chevy couloir that leads to the easier terrain of the Ford couloir. The Grand is a complicated mountain, and it takes a while to get it figured out. Heck, it took the late Steve Romeo 5 tries and Andrew McLean 3 to ski the Grand, so there you go. The Ford/Chevy/Stettner has become the standard on the Grand, but it should be noted that Bill Briggs’ first descent was via the Stettner without the Ford variation, so basically we were climbing the Briggs’ route.

Back to our story- we continued up the Stettner through 2 more pitches of snow, rock, and ice. We reached a point at about 12,800′ that ended up being our high point. Why did we stop and turn around? 1-It was taking too long and we were behind schedule. 2-It was really windy thanks to the incoming storm, so we were constantly getting pummeled by icy pellets blown off the upper face. 3-the wind also made us concerned that the snow wouldn’t soften. 4-The mountain seemed to say to me “Not today, boys.” The wind, the low snow conditions, etc were all talking to me. 5-This season didn’t just suck due to the lack of snow over most of the lower 48, but because a lot of people I know died. Not to get all hippy, but 2012 has a bad aura, at least for me. 6-Most everyone I know who has skied the Grand skied it in high style during high tide conditions- with just a small rap or 2. We were looking at 4 or more rappels and it just wasn’t what I wanted my Grand experience to be. As Tom Turiano writes in his book Teton Skiing, “In lesser snow years, skiers may have to make as many as five rappels, making the descent barely worth the effort.”

Blue= Brittany and Anton’s high point
White= Start of the Stettner couloir
Yellow= Chevy couloir
Red= Ford couloir
Pink= Where we stopped

So down we went. Josh waiting to head down (don’t worry, we weren’t using the janky pieces in the foreground)

Hey look, there’s Idaho!

After 4 rappels/downclimbs, we were back by the Teepee Pillar, and we finally got to put our skis back on. Josh drops into the Teepe Glacier:

Jordan, with the Teepe Pillar behind:

Jordan again:

Frank. The Otter Body route can be seen above me in the first photo:

Brittany and Anton had only recently begun descending, so we caught up to them in the flats below the Teepe glacier:

Brittany descending. There were some great turns coming out of the obvious diagonal couloir on Nez Perce behind her:

Brittany making the last steep turns before the meadows of Garnet Canyon:

From there, it was some easy cruising down Garnett until Bradley lake, at which point getting back to the car becomes extremely tedious with small uphill sections dotting the route the rest of the way to the car. I guess the Grand is staying on the list a while longer, but it’s good to have some goals for down the road.

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Hurry, just 3 days left to use this coupon from Backcountry.com:

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