South Teewinot

I live 4 hrs from the greatest collection of  ski mountaineering routes in the lower 48 and have never skied there until this spring. What the fuck! Seriously?! I’ve been to Antarctica, Svalbard, Baffin Island, but never just up the street to ski in Teton National Park?! I really don’t have a good excuse, or reason. In fact, I’m embarrassed about it, and I don’t embarrass easily (I once jumped up onto The Bull of Wall Street in downtown NYC and rode the bastard while yelling “riding the bull” at the top of my lungs). I guess it’s that I’m usually seeking more exotic locations when things stabilize in the spring, but enough excuses for the inexcusable.

One visit into the range has lit the fire within (copyright 2002 Winter Olympics) and shown me that I’ve got some making up to do.
Getting a late start on the range, but early start on the day. Just a few iphone pics since I was focusing on video.

“The grand lift of the Tetons is more than a mechanistic fold and faulting of the earth’s crust; it becomes a primal gesture of the earth beneath a greater sky.”

-Ansel Adams- 1950

Thanks to Paul Kimbrough for showing Jonah and I around. We headed up just after a storm to try and round out Paul’s segment in our upcoming Powderwhore film. Paul had been out recently and the snowpack was welded. We wanted something that would shoot and ski well so Paul chose the South Couloir of Teewinot. It’s the center line that snakes it’s way up between the spires.

We parked at the pull out and were on snow the whole way.

I had heard about Spooky Face and knew it right away when I saw it sneering down at us. Great name for a horrifying looking line.

The views just kept getting better and better and my mind was whirling and swirling with all the lines and possibilities.

The arrows depict where we started and finished while Jonah got the shot from across the valley.

All smiles despite interesting breakable conditions. That’s pretty much steep skiing though. If I had a dollar for every backcountry outing where I said, “this would be great if the snow was better”, then I’d probably have enough money to go heli-skiing. The full experience is so much more than just the turns as everybody who’s ventured out knows.

Paul punching through to the top.

The major highlight was a constant view of the Hossack MacGowan line off the Grand Teton. This is perhaps the most technical, least skied and most coveted line in the lower 48. I imagine I stared and studied it to Paul’s annoyance. Great to inspect and contemplate it up close and personal.

Back to the line at hand. The upper pocket skied well and slowly funneled us to a small mandatory air over an ice bulge. Then a mixed bag of skiing that looked good from afar, but was far from good. All in all, South Teewinot was a really great line for the making of ski turns and the perfect introduction to the Tetons.