On this beautiful Friday morning, the snow was settled and the forecast was perfect. Many cars were already in the Taggart Lake trailhead parking lot to get early starts on the day. We were there before sunrise, and watched the mountains get lit up on our approach to them. It was beautiful and frigid, so taking pictures was irresistable and painful.
The mountains were not empty today. We saw nine other people in Garnett Canyon. It seemed like every major couloir or peak had skiers climbing them (The South Teton, us on the Middle, others on the Grand, Nez Perce, Teewinot, some friends in the Turkey Chute. Here, two folks heading up the Ellingwood Couloir on the Middle Teton.
Two folks heading up the E Hourglass on Nez Perce.
Regan with the South Teton behind, where an Exum guide and client were getting ready to head down the south face to the Amore Vida Couloir.
The southwest couloir did not have good snow for skiing. It was highly variable, from hollow sounding, to sugary snow, to wind buff, to icy steeps. In addition, there was a rocky choke that was about five feet high that we had to climb over. Thus, upon seeing the choke and in lieu of the snow conditions, we opted to leave our skis and packs in the rocks and continue up on the edges of the couloir with our crampons and axes to reach the summit not too much higher. The summit was small. There was just enough room for the three of us, and no room to fall in any direction. Every direction yielded thousands of feet immediately below, as well as unbelievable views, especially og the Grand Teton. Here, Davey is coming up the SW Couloir, almost done with the 6,200 foot climb.
McMillan Spire and Rimrock Lake/Northwest face of Prospectors
Tracks in the Ford Couloir on the Grand
Close-up on the Stettner Couloir
The Red Sentinel and Teewinot summits
Regan
Regan lower left, Davey skiing down the Cave Couloir,
a spectacular place to make huge, sweeping turns.
No comments:
Post a Comment