Broken Thumb (Couloir)

After my mom's maladies this past year, we decided to go out and get a "Broken Thumb". Okay, that's not really fair to my wonderful mother, but I thought it would be a fun play on words. the Broken Thumb we sought out is a couloir (steep, narrow gully) on the north side of a peak call 25-Short in Grand Teton National Park, so named because it is 25-ft short of 10,000 feet in elevation (9975-ft above sea level). I've had my eye on this line since the first time I heard about it: relatively easy access, not extremely committing (I suppose this is relative, but you have to admit that it is in the shadow of the South, Middle, and Grand Tetons...), and not extremely high in elevation. I saw it as a great warm-up to Teton ski mountaineering and since the snow isn't great anywhere and avalanche concerns are low, President's Day weekend was the time to give it a shot.


Alli and I, along with our friend Tom, struck out Monday morning from the Bradley-Taggart trailhead. After a short stint of loosing the skin track at the beginning, we reached the top in a little over 3 hours. It was beautiful outside. The sun was shining, it was warm, we were in high spirits. We geared up and set off for the couloir. I have to stop and admit here that it gives me a feeling of studly-ness when you put on a harness with gear on the top of a snowy mountain, amid many taller peaks, about to put skies on your feet. Go out and try it sometime!



The descent to the "squeeze" of the gully was really wonderful snow. The three of us leap-frogged down through the trees and into the throat of the gully. The section immediately above the "choke" or crux of the route, is a no-fall zone above a cliff, so our skiing slowed as we descended to the rappel anchor. We set up our rope (70 meters) and one by one walked back over into the unknown. Okay, it wasn't that dramatic, but it sure sounds good, eh?

Snow at the bottom of the rappel was steep and stiff, keeping us on our toes for another 500 feet or so until it opened up to an apron of softer snow. Then we rode the icy luge track out of the draw, across Taggart Lake and back to the car. What a fun line to grab under blue skies and sunshine in the middle of February. Happy Valentine's Day and Presidents Day all wrapped into one. Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.

January/February Check-In

Hello all! Thought we would give you a life update on the past couple of weeks since the Jackson Skimo Races. Life is so good; God is so good! Our jobs are going well and we are excited about some upcoming trips. Cue the foreshadowing music...

Since the beginning of January, we have been skiing a bunch on the weekends, though the snow this season has been dismal since December. I wish those folks in Boston would share some of their wealth. It sure doesn't appear on the news as if they want it. Teton Pass just west of Jackson has afforded plenty of adventure with Kyler and various ski buddies. There still seems as though there are unlimited new places to explore, and lots of quickly-becoming-favorites. It's fun to start to know the area enough to pick where we want to go based on conditions. 

Alli competed in a women's hockey tournament at the end of the month. She practices weekly with a team and then plays on some weekends through the season. Guess what! Their team won their class and Alli scored a goal! She seems to pick up a new technique (or 3) every week and we expect great things out of her in the next tournament in March. 

We both traveled to Bozeman the next weekend and competed in the Skimo race at Bridger Bowl. I competed in the race division among the other lycra wearers and did pretty well. Initially, I had big visions of podium finishes but settled for a battle with another racer for 6th place. There are a lot of things to learn, particularly about race strategy and skin choice, but my fitness can improve as well. It's fun to look ahead to the next season and how I can grow as a racer. The conditions were horrendous: icy, no new snow, slick skin tracks... And Alli completed the Recreation division in top form. Bless her heart, she has done this race twice and pushed through after being sick for both. I can't wait to do this again and see what she can do fully healthy.

And the big highlight recently is finally becoming fully-fledged ski patrollers at Snow King Ski Area. Look it up: the ski area is really cool, rising directly from the edge of town. And the runs are steep and north facing, so if the snow is good, skiing can be great. We volunteer to cover a lot of races for local junior racers and Olympic hopefuls alike. It was a lot of work to gain the medical training and learn the on-hill skills necessary to respond to injured skiers. To be honest, there was a little bit of selfishness in this whole thing: we wanted to gain the skills to help each other if misfortune crosses our trail or if we came upon someone injured. 

I will leave you with these final pictures of skiing in the Teton Pass backcountry. Get out there and get yourself some adventure! 

Destination in Nepal

Well, hot off the trail of the College M in Bozeman, my team is gearing up for an incredible adventure bringing supplies to the people in the Gorkha district! Rumor has it that we have our work cut out for us with elevation gain and loss, as well as trekking at altitude. Not to mention 60-75 pound packs at the beginning of the start of the trip.

As mentioned in a previous post, we will fly into Kathmandu when first arriving to the country. Then we will take a bus west toward the Annapurna Area Conservation District (I think some maps will say "Refuge"). I don't know the exact details but we will hike a large loop through the region ultimately ending in Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal. Then we will take a bus back to Kathmandu to rendezvous with the rest of our teams.

Exciting news: we plan to have a SPOT device with us to send back messages and our locations like I've done on this blog on previous trips. You'll be able to follow along on our progress here at home!

Please Pray: Pray that we might be physically fit and conditioned enough when we arrive to be able to carry out our mission.  Pray that our bodies and our heads will adjust to the altitude quickly and not suffer too badly from side effects (headaches, lack of appetite, etc.). Pray that God would open doors for us with the Gorkha people.

Beartooth Weekend

This year for Memorial Day, my family came down to visit. They picked up Larkin in Missoula, Alli and I in Bozeman, and we went on to Red Lodge and the Beartooth Highway and Scenic Byway. It was the first weekend that the road would be opened and we were hoping to go and take advantage of the lasting snow for some late season skiing. 

Family photo with a rushing stream!

Unfortunately the weather was not in our favor and the road was not opened on Saturday when we arrived. So we drove up as far as we could and posed for some family photos. Not to be denied some skiing, we then powered up to the Red Lodge ski resort where Alli, Dad and I skinned up to the summit. The snow seemed as if it would be awesome: fresh from the recent winter storm, but that was all we were skiing: 6 inches of fresh on top of grass and rocks. Dad found several with his elbows, poor guy.

Summit self timer photo having followed the "skin track to heaven" to the  top, ready for gravity to take us down.

The next day, after a wonderful mexican dinner in downtown Red Lodge, we attended church services at the local church of Christ, where our little group greatly increased the number of people in attendance. Afterwards, we went back up a newly opened Beartooth Highway (at least partly opened, up to Vista Point). But it was opened enough to get some fresh turns on the Rockcreek Headwall.

Jump on that train!

Larkin, Alli, Dad, and I got up into the alpine, even bootpacking/wallowing up a wide couloir.

Mama Lane loving it in the Beartooths. 

Skier in the middle (Alli?) coming down the Headwall, taken from the truck by Mom. 

We got snowed on while skinning up the Headwall and therefore got to ski powder turns...on May 27th! Some of the best turns of the year, just smooth as butter, blasting down through some really cool terrain.

Ski Season Pics and Stories

Especially compared with last season, which was banner by all accounts, this winter has not been the epic ski period that I pictured in my life. That's probably not a bad thing while in my first year in graduate school, my mind can focus on books and not be wandering in the mountains (too much). It's also been fun to dabble in some other activities: I've picked up hockey, been skate skiing quite a bit, and getting out climbing ice whenever I can. However, that being said, I have had some really fine days in the mountains, with good company and smooth turns. Here are some pictures of the highlights...so far! 

(There have been other amazing days as well with equally amazing people and dogs. Either I didn't have my camera with me or chose not to document the trip due to poor lighting, poor snow, or I was just being lazy.)

Great day at Moonlight skiing with ACU college friends!

Dad and my new cousin Paul on the top of Alberta Peak
at Wolf Creek Pass ski resort in Colorado.

My buddy Brett and I tried to wrestle a snow mobile up
the Jewel Basin road to get in some backcountry turns but
the road was a sheet of ice. We couldn't even get the sled
up the road! Ski trip fail...

A beautiful day on Mt. Ellis with Brett and the powder
hound Mayble.

Fellow "earn your turn junkees" Brett, Dominique, and
Master Blaster (MB) in Hyalite Canyon.

MB at the top of a couloir in an undisclosed location in
Hyalite Canyon.

Another backcountry buddy Chris shredding yet another
Hyalite couloir.

MB leading the way up a steep, narrow, powder filled
couloir I dubbed "Benign Cancer". (Look up Terminal
Cancer...) Very fun to ski!

A rad day at Big Sky actually riding the lifts, what a
concept! Friends Brett, Kirk, me, and ACU buddy Brad.

Skiing Bearhat Peak

It's been a while since I have made the time to post something. I am still alive and well for any of you who were worried. I'm going to try and do some posts over the course of the next couple of days chronicling the rest of my summer since returning from Denali: it's been pretty fun. After that I hope to begin writing and reflecting on the aforementioned trip to Alaska. A month since we returned safely and I feel like I'm mentally ready to work through remembering all the ups and downs of our adventure.

July 16th of this summer was the first Saturday that the Going-to-the-Sun highway was open all the way to Logan Pass and there was still plenty of snow to be had. I will admit that I was burnt-out on traveling on snow when we flew off the Kahiltna Glacier. But a week of not living out of a tent can do wonders for moral. I also probably have a short memory when it comes to remembering suffering in the outdoors. So, as the weekend rolled around, I couldn't wait to do some low-elevation (less than 11 thousand feet...) ski mountaineering.

Bearhat Peak has been something I've wanted to ski for a long time. A fellow teacher of my dad's had mentioned long ago that he had skied from the summit. On the 4th of July four years ago, we had given it a try, only to have a lack of snow foil our plans. We still summited but left our skis behind at the Hidden Lake overlook. Now armed with 4 more years of climbing and skiing experience, the peak came easy and the descent was super-fun.

Here's a video of our trip. I tried my first voice-over in this one. My sister encouraged me earlier this year to incorporate my writing with making videos, crafting a story in a sense. I hope to get better at combing words with pictures and video to create something more memorable than each could be on their own.


Skiing East Bearhat Peak from Colter Lane on Vimeo.
Not your average hike in the Park. My favorite ski buddy (Dad) and I climb and ski East Bearhat Peak in Glacier National Park. Fresh off of a 3 week trip in Alaska on Denali, we were hankering to summit a peak and get some good skiing in before the ski season was over for the year.

Denali Teaser

For all of you that have been waiting for an update on Denali, here it is. It's not much, but at least it will push the SPOT post out of view, eh?

Dad and I got back to Anchorage on July 6th and Kalispell on the 8th. It was nice to have some time to decompress and adjust back to "normal" life. Thanks to my friends Ben and Katie for being such amazing hosts and ushering us back into civilization with good food, good convo, and loaned bikes!

In summary, we spent a total of three weeks on the Mountain, reaching a high point of 18,200 feet at Denali Pass before being turned around by the weather. I would be misleading you if I said that I'm not disappointed about not gaining the top. However, the skills gained in mountaineering and expedition camping will be invaluable and the time spent with my dad will be something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

As a teaser, here are a couple photos:

Doing Field Work

Whew! The last month has been a crazy conglomeration of skiing, training, Denali practice, work, traveling, and weddings. In this post I wanted to highlight the last couple of days of "field work" to prep for Denali.

The pictures are from three different trips: 1) hauling sleds up the local ski resort, Big Mountain, to work on roped travel and our sled haul system. 2) hiking with heavy packs up and down BM to get some vertical and then practicing our crevasse rescue system. 3) backcountry skiing/traversing in the Jewel Basin covering over 10 miles and 4500 feet in a soft snow shred-fest.

The upside-down sled says it all: our sled system initially was not
working and I was ready to cut them loose and send them down the hill
on their own. Good mental practice to tell you the truth. It was windy
and things were not going right. But Dad has an uncanny ability
to stay positive and smile. Thankfully we figured out a better system
and made it back to the truck with no injuries or emotional trauma!

The next day we were setting up our tent and cutting a foam
floor for added insulation. 

Different tent? When we set up the good ol' North Face, we both
looked at the old fabric (I mean, it was my parents wedding present)
and shuddered at the potential of a ripped tent in -20 degree weather.
We promptly ordered a newer tent, which is going to be sweet. Check out
the Hilleburg Allak online if you want some better info on it.

Once again at Big Mountain "hanging out" on a cornice lip
practicing saving someone (Dad's pack in this case) after a crevasse
fall.  

Dad's turn at a rescue. Our cook tent, a Black Diamond Mega-light,
is in the immediate foreground and the gorgeous Flathead Valley
beyond that.

Standing at the summit of Mt. Aneas in the Jewel Basin, the highest
point of our tour. There is so much snow still in them there hills.
We skied from the summit to the east. See the tracks in the next pic.

Dad pretty pumped up after some flawless skiing.  Summit of
Aneas is behind him. Look directly above Dad and to the right of the
highest point on the ridge to see our tracks. Who said telemarkers
couldn't shred with the best of them?

Dad coming up the ridge to our second high point. Aneas is the prominent peak on left
of the far ridge. Running around on skis in the high country is an absolute blast. 

We feel in great shape for the High One. Shredding snow here in Montana gives us confidence to tackle things in Alaska (as well as gives some confidence to my mom...). Hopefully Denali goes easy on us and we are allowed passage on its flanks. We want our attitudes to be not one of conquerors, but of humble admirers of the mountains, blessed to be among them at all and closer than we've ever been to the Creator of it all.

Snow Cave Camping

It's been about two months now, but Dad and I took an overnight snow-camping expedition into the Middle Fork as a training excursion for Denali. Our goal at first was to do a traverse of of the Great Bear Wilderness, summitting 4 peaks in the process. However, it took us longer to get to the first pass than we thought and the travel of the ridge was excruciatingly slow. So we bailed on the traverse, went and dug a snow cave, made some dinner, and slept soundly. The next morning we had at least 2 inches of new snow on our camp and visibility was very poor. We went up on the side of Mt. Penrose as high as we felt comfortable with the wind slab potential and skied back to camp. Then we stumbled back down the valley, barely able to see in off-white, ping-pong ball conditions. Down lower the fresh snow was super unstable and we fled back to the trees avoiding sliding snow as much as possible.

Trip in review: no traverse, horrible skiing conditions, but a fantastic overnight trip to prepare for our Alaska expedition.

Dad on the gnarly ridge heading toward Nyack Mountain.
The cornices were bad enough that travel was too slow to continue
our intended traverse.

Snuggled up in a puffy waiting hot water for dinner.

Digging the snow cave.

Home away from home for the night. It was a lot warmer and less wet
than I had always pictured snow caves. Just one of those things: you
never know unless you try something.  

Toasting good times, warm clothes, and hot co!

Trying to ski on the inside of ping-pong ball...even the trees were
difficult and after the trees you can see there was nothing to break
up the terrain. 

Giant Day in the Great Bear

Spring generally brings better weather in Northwest Montana. High pressure systems come through more often and we actually see the sunshine. There haven't been many blue-bird days this year, with the up-side being clouds have been dumping a bunch of snow! But there is a saying I'm partial to: "Make hay while the sun is shining." In other words: when you have visibility and good weather, you better get after it because you don't know when you might get it again.

We skied the route shown by the dotted red line. It's dubbed the "Z-Couloir" by Brandon and
friends for the shape made by the optional exit off the initial ramp shown by the blue arrow.

Taking this to heart, my vertical-ski shredding buddy Brandon and I made our way into the Middle Fork area we've skied a lot this year on April 13th. New snow was glopping pretty good on my skins on the way in, but I eventually got it fixed and we jumped on a familiar ridge hoping to drop off to the west into a drainage via a gnarly line Brandon had seen from across the valley the week before. We dropped in, tested the snow, felt good about the conditions (more stability-wise, it was kind of crusty for skiing). After entering from the ridge we hooked left under some cliffs and proceeded across a strip of snow in a "no-fall" zone above some cliffs. We made it to the exit and blew down some fairly good snow to the valley floor. This is the most committing line that I have ever skied, and I have to admit I was feeling a little over my head. But skiing something like that definitely boosts one's confidence and I'd be happy to tackle something like it again, with a little better idea of what's expected.

Brando looking for the entrance. Sub-Penrose to the right
of his head and Great Bear the next peak over.

View back up the ramp. It was aesthetic, but not conducive to
good turns.

We then toured up the valley heading for the summit of Great Bear mountain. Gaining the summit, I saw terrain that I had never seen before both to the North and the South. I love Montana: so much untouched and protected land in which to explore and have fun.  We didn't have an exorbitant amount of turns off of Great Bear but the snow was soft and fast. While skinning up the valley, around a sub-peak of Penrose, we had seen a cool trough coming off the shoulder of Mt. Penrose. We headed for this next and skied a phenomenal fall-line run down to the tarn at the head of the drainage and then out to the car, completing a huge 8400' day that included some steep technical skiing, the summit of a named peak, and good powder turns. Mark it down as a Top-3 Ski Day of the season, for sure.

Summit photo on Great Bear.

Brandon shredding the trough with our earlier
ramp-route above him.

We were amazed at how good the last run was: perfect
snow and lots-o-vert. The trough is the highest non-rocky
strip of snow in the light directly above my finger.