Huts and Yurts – Page 2 – Sun Valley Trekking

The Sirens of Snow in the Pioneers

Daily Powder Tours, Huts and Yurts, Pioneer Yurts Comments Off

Feb 282016

Climbing into the alpine above the Pioneer yurt is always inspiring

SVT guide, Joe St.Onge and apprentice Chris Cullaz, led a group of local ladies into the Pioneer Yurt this week. Perfect powder conditions, big peaks and the sublime beauty of the Pioneers worked its magic. What a place we call home!

Approaching the Pioneer Yurt on day 1 with beautiful weather

Climbing the Peanut above the yurt with amazing backdrop

We call this zone “Little Alaska”

Perfect powder above the yurt

Skiers and snowboarders playing happily together

#puremountainstoke

The final turns back to the yurt with the setting sun

good to the last drop

schussing into cocktails, appetizers and a nice sauna after plentiful powder

a little light reading after a sauna

sometimes things can get a bit…… at the yurt

Hyndman Peak, the tallest of the Pioneers commands the view above the yurt

The gals looking back toward Sun Valley and noticing how small Baldy looks

The final steps toward the col du Hyndman

Carving turns beneath the big peaks

Powder, friends and a beautiful setting

It’s getting hot…

The final turns end a prefect 2 days in the Pioneers

The Next Generation of Backcountry Skiers at Tornak Hut

Tornak Hut 2 Responses »

Feb 202016

The Rendi family, Paul, Mara, Andersen (8), and Karsten (12) came east from Washington for a backcountry adventure at Tornak Hut with guide Chris Marshall and intern Chris Cullaz. Andersen and Karsten slayed it, touring for the first time and ripping turns around Moonlight Basin and off the Mighty Tornak Peak. Ullr must have been pleased as 6″ of Idaho powder fell overnight on the 2nd night! Good times were had by all, and between the powder turns, playing dice in the warm hut, digging tunnels in the snow, and the Mighty Tornak Peak twice, there were plenty of smiles to go around.

Family stoke!

“These are the moments we live for as guides; watching the stoke blossom in a younger generation, for something that is such a big part of who i am, was incredibly special to me. I was constantly inspired watching these boys try something hard for the first time, push through the challenges, and and let the smiles on their face show their stoke!” – guide Chris Marshall

Leaving the hut for a powder day!

Chris gets a break as Andersen takes to trail breaking up front.

Pure powder stoke

Karsten finding some soft snow in the north bowl of Tornak

Carving turns in fresh pow

Paul farming away

To the cumbre!

Climbing the exposed West couloir of Tornak Peak

Andersen ripping pow down Easley Face with an overnight pack

So nice to see winter return to Central Idaho!

Mara laying down some nice cuts

Obligatory pole whack to clear the cornice off Tornak Peak

Karsten leading the charge on Group Therapy

And he’s off!

Afternoon adult session: touring out of the basin after scoring a 1000′ line in the best snow of the trip off the Mighty Tornak Peak.

Knee deep!

Karsten in Moonlight Bowl

Andersen arcing in Moonlight Bowl

On the way up to the Mighty Tornak Peak

Karsten charging

Plenty of freshies to go around

Group Therapy living up to its name

Family Fun!

Karsten shows perfect form

Andersen throwing down some spray

Karsten taking a moment to savior the experience

Awesome spooned tracks coming down Easley Face to end the trip

Sun and Fun at the Coyote Yurts

Coyote Yurts, Huts and Yurts Comments Off

Feb 122016

It’s hard not to smile when carving settled powder on the north burns

SVT Guides, Chris Marshall and Joe St.Onge, are just back from a quick 2 day trip into the Coyote Yurts with a fun group of local skiers. Sunny skies, warm temps, settled powder and some of the first corn turns of the season were enjoyed by all. What a place to call home!

What a day to climb a high ridge on the way to Coyote

Carving the first corn turns of the season

Lunch break on the way to the yurts

Arriving at the Coyote yurts after a great day of skiing

Nothing like good friends, good meat and great wine at a yurt high on secluded ridge

Soft evening light at the Coyote yurts

From hot to cold: the sauna dash

From cold to hot, the dash gets faster!

Alpin glow mantra

The team!

Burn beauty

Dropping into the burn

Climbing above the yurts on the second morning to ski the burn

It can be a world of black and white contrast when skiing the burns

and final tow back home…

Yurtika 2015

Coyote Yurts, Daily Powder Tours, Huts and Yurts 3 Responses »

Jan 022016

oh yeah!

The tradition continues! From near and far, a group of hearty skiers gathered for the 5th annual Yurtika. The destination for this year was the Coyote Yurts, and like the past couple years, deep powder was on the menu. Fun times and awesome skiing – doesn’t get much better!

Cold smoke dropping in front of Coyote Yurts

more from the front door of Coyote Yurts

Hil, carving down the south bowls heading home

ahh, big arcs in the powder

The man and the legend, Mike

Ben, liking the new Coombacks

Geoff, arcing the old Sidestash

Crispy, splitting the aspens

Cold morning start from the yurts

Skiing off the Burn Unit

tree ski

Good morning from the Coyote Yurts!

Climbing back to the yurts after a morning lap

Climbing back to summit of Little Round Top

The view from the yurts

pre-dawn view of the Coyote Yurts, coffee is ready and powder is waiting.

Setting moon and sunrise

The team, preparing to drop one last line down to the yurts before sunset

Arriving at the yurts right before dark after 5000′ of pure powder

A warm yurt, good friends, yummy food and plenty of powder skiing make for a perfect evening in the backcountry

Hil, setting moon and silky powder skiing out the door from the yurts

Winter is here!

Boulder Yurts, Daily Powder Tours, SVT Scene, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Nov 082015

ULLR!!!

At the start of every winter season, we celebrate the coming of winter with a BIG fire. Unlike people who love spending their time inside their rooms in the warmth of their furnaces operating constantly with an abundant amount of propane (which can be sourced from kellypropane.com), we prefer to honor the change of the season and the coming days of arcing down mountains on skis by a bonfire. We honor the Norse God Ullr, known as a great skier who would leave trails of stars behind his skis and drink to his health with hopes he will smile upon us. This year we had the annual Ullr fire up at the Boulder Yurts, where we had a giant pile of slash from recent woodcuts. Friends, family and guides came to celebrate the new snow and the joy of the coming ski season. Considering this fire was going to one of the biggest we’ve had so far, and we knew small children and families would be attending, we made sure to get as much information on fire safety and the different extinguishers we’d be able to use to douse the flames. Fire safety is still imperative in the snow!

And an early season it has become. On November 1st, we were riding bikes in the spitting snow and by the 4th, we were floating down fields of powder on skis. The recent storm dropped snow to the valley bottoms but favored the upper elevations in the Smoky and Boulder Mountains with over 20″. This storm snow has settled significantly this week, hopefully creating a good base for our next storm predicted to drop 5-10″ in the next 48hrs.

Hopefully this portends the start of an epic ski season where we can all celebrate with Ullr!

Friends, families, sleds, fire and FUN

November 1st and the start of the storm, perhaps the last mountain ride of the year…

3 days later on November 4th

Ahh, back on skis. Francie breaks trail with a smile.

Fun in the snow with sleds and snow-skates at the Boulder Yurts

The Ullr Fire burning bright

Francie, dropping in to a powder field, November 4th, 2015

Joe, enjoying some early season powder

We LOVE snow!

Joe, stoked to be back on skis

Sucking the marrow of Autumn while we prepare for Winter

Huts and Yurts, Mountain Biking, SVT Scene Comments Off

Oct 232015

Autumn beauty riding out from Coyote Yurts

Autumn is transition time. It’s a time of long shadows, cold nights and anticipation of the winter to come. It is the time when we at SVT are prepping the 6 backcountry ski huts and prepping our legs and lungs for the ski season ahead. While we cut wood at three huts using trucks, much of the work we are doing at the huts requires access via human power. For us, that typically means riding our bikes. We are blessed with an awesome network of trails in our local mountains that allow us to spin our bikes, often with awkward loads, from hut to hut. The bikes have an added benefit of prepping our bodies for the ski touring season while providing the feeling of “flow” that is so vital to our souls.

SVT owner and guide, Joe St.Onge and partners, are just back from a big day (26 miles and over 7,000′ of riding) yesterday while checking in at Coyote, Tornak and Boulder Yurts. The trails were frozen solid and covered in frost in the morning and melted to “corn dirt” by mid-day. What follows are a collection of pictures from yesterday as well as from the past month of hut projects in the mountains.

Here’s to sucking the marrow from a beautiful autumn in anticipation of an awesome ski season!

Dave, riding up to Coyote Yurts

Endless mountains and trails in the Smokey Mountains near the Coyote and Tornak Huts

What an office we have!

Brian, dirt carving on the scenic way out of Coyote Yurts

The newly relocated Boulder outhouse: with a view of Boulder Peak

Boulder yurts looking ready for the first skiers

The Pioneers above the Pio Yurt in all their glory

Friends help insulate the Pioneer yurt for the coming season

Coyote Yurts, ready for the snow to fly

SVT guides, Joe and Toby, buck up the sauna wood at Boulder Yurts

SVT guide, Niels, braves a awkward load in style on the way to Fishhook Yurts

Retired SVT guide/intern, Brian, finds some air coming into the Coyote Yurts

The crew, biking through Tornak Huts on the way to Coyote Yurts to button up the huts for the snow to fly

SVT guides, JP and Toby, proud of the tight stack at Boulder Yurts

SVT guide/owner, Joe St.Onge, bucking up a big tree at Boulder Yurts

A Yurt Wedding!

Coyote - Summer, Guides Day Off, SVT Scene Comments Off

Jul 202015

The Newly Weds!

Ah, what a celebration! SVT guide, Jonathan Preuss (JP) married his lovely bride, Michelle, on the Coyote Yurts point at 8700’deep in the Smokey Mountains of Central Idaho. Good friends gathered to embrace the passing hail storms and drink in the beauty and power of the mountains and of LOVE!

if you made it this far…

the team

wildflower yurts

flower girls

building the bower

and the ceremony begins…

yahoo!

Mr. and Mrs Preuss

and the sun came out!!

practice run

The Lei, giving her blessing

what a feast!

whats a camp fire without a marshmellow

and the Pios lit up….

magnificent light on the point

whats a camp fire without a marshmellow

morning coffee

and the ride back to the village…past Fox Peak

retired SVT Intern, Mark, carving down Fox Peak

cruising

and through the woods

over the edge

around the bend

and through the flowers

across from the Boulders

Toby, flying

and back to the valley

Family Fun in the Sawtooth

Fishhook Yurts, Guides Day Off, SVT Scene Comments Off

May 242015

What a beautiful place to hike!

It’s late May in the mountains, ski season is over and the hint of summer is in the air. This is the time of year when we check in at all the ski huts to store them for the summer season. It’s a beautiful and quiet time in the mountains, with life springing forth. It’s a great time for SVT owners/guides, Joe and Francie St.Onge, to get out with their young children for fun adventures while taking care of this unique system of backcountry huts. Sometimes those “chores” require firing up the wood fired hot tub to check it’s function…

The girls starting out on the 2 mile hike into the Fishhook Yurt

Neve, cruising

Neve, boulder break

Riding in style

Creek-side trail break

Meadow trail break (strategic and fun stops are key while hiking with young kids!)

Boulder break #2

Crossing the Fishhook Creek can be interesting

The girls, stoked after finding a Sandhill Crane in the meadow

Neve, testing the waters…

mmm.

Ahhh, the Fishhook Hot Tub sure is sweet!

Nothing like a hot tub on coll and rainy evening!

Nothing like a hot tub on cold and rainy evening!

Dinner time!

Smores!!

Silly time!

All packed up and ready to head back to the village

The Team

Francie, stepping carefully…

Chainsaws, Powder, Peaks and Cave Skiing at the Annual Sawtooth Woodcut

Bench Hut, Fishhook Yurts, Huts and Yurts, Sawtooth Monolith, SVT Scene Comments Off

Apr 152015

Oh Yeah!

It’s been a tradition for over 30 years now, where every April, a few hearty souls embark on an adventure deep in the Sawtooth. Huge loads are packed up to huts that include great food, cold beer, chainsaws and gas. Over 8 cords of wood are cut (4+ at each Bench and Fishhook huts). One by one, we drop the abundant beetle killed pine trees and haul in the logs on shoulders and in sleds while on skis. The piles of logs can be intimidating, but every year we get it all in, bucked up and stacked in preparation for the following season. When the cut is done, the focus turns to skiing. We build the huts, cut the wood and haul the loads because we are skiers, inspired by the magic of the mountains that we live and work in. The Sawtooth smiled upon us this year with perfect conditions for both the cut and the skiing. Some cool new lines were explored, like the “skilunking” adventure in the “Bat Cave”, as well as some true classics in perfect conditions. Enjoy the pics!

Alisa schralping the powder ribs toward the 4th Lake

crossing the 4th Bench Lake

Heading toward the Bat Cave on Mt Heyburn

JP, psyched

Getting ready for some skilunking

JP climbing toward the light to see whats above

Niels finds the passage

JP on the upper couloir, leading toward the Bat Cave

Steep traverse above the cave

Dropping into the cave with a little added security

JP exiting the cave onto the 1000′ powder slope below

Toby, ripping through the cave

take a deep breath and let ’em rip!

Alisa inspired to spread her bat wings

Burning slash after cutting and hauling 5 cords of wood, on skis.

Dinner time at the Fishhook Hut, rustic comfort deep in the Sawtooth

Bluebird. Fresh snow and splitter weather

Approaching the top of Silver Saddle

Toby with the final turns into the Monolith

Toby, stoked after skiing perfect powder on Silver saddle bowl

James, entering the Monolith Valley

Sawtooth Beauty: The Monolith stands proud above this hanging valley, where aesthetic ski lines abound

making the ascent toward Braxon Peak

The Wily Coyote Col

The final steps toward Braxon Peak

James

The heart of the Sawtooth

Making our way from Braxon Peak toward the Birdcage

Aysha, dropping the sneak route into the Birdcage

Bridcage looking pretty sweet.

Joe drops in

Neils, stoked

Toby, stoked

Skiing the final slopes below the Monolith

Alisa mid powder carve

Oh Yeah!

The team working back toward the Silver saddle and the Bench Hut

and more powder brings us back to the 5th Bench Lake and closer to the Bench Hut

ahhh…

quite nice

JP, having fun

Sweet, and its not over!

Chris, slashing some more powder on the way back to the hut

Niels and the afternoon back light

Why is Toby smiling so much?

What we were really doing up at the Sawtooth Huts

Pioneer Yurt Ski Mountaineering

Pioneer Yurts 2 Responses »

Apr 022015

Stoked to be getting high

It’s ski mountaineering season here in the high peaks of Idaho! SVT guide, Joe St.Onge, and a group of intrepid Montanans are just back from 4 days of peak skiing based out of the Pioneer Yurt. While the snow has been rapidly melting this spring, we are still finding good to excellent ski conditions in the alpine, and the Pioneer Yurt is a great place to visit if you want to go alpine! The approach to the Pioneer Yurt is largely snow free at this point (don’t even think about snowmobile access!), but we can drive to the summer trailhead. Once at the Yurt, conditions are a bit bony for another 800′, but there is reliable coverage and good ski conditions in the alpine basins above. It may not last long, so get it while you can! Enjoy the pics!