Backcountry Ski Idaho – Page 5 – Sun Valley Trekking

Galena Peak!

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Apr 112014

finished with the crux and 3000′ of wide open skiing ahead

Another awesome spring day skiing with the Sirens of Snow on Galena Peak!

Early morning start across Senate Meadows

Skinning the sunny ridge

Switching from skis to boots as the terrain gets steeper

ascending the summit pyramid

the final summit ridge

breather

on top of the world!

almost there

stoked on the summit

what a day!

the summit shots

the Boulder Range in all its glory

The 1st ski pitch is a beauty

The beginning of the crux, midway down the south bowl

A little rope work makes for smooth skiing

skiing with the rope

Bond girls

woohoo

sweet features

and on down

stoked!

Sirens of Snow at the Coyote Yurts

Coyote Yurts, Huts and Yurts Comments Off

Apr 082014

Cover Girls.

Just back from an awesome 2 day trip to the Coyote yurts with the Sirens of Snow. Perfect corn, settled powder and lots of FUN!

Making the initial climb toward the Coyote yurts

Corn:30 on the souths

wide open bowls!

Beaver Creek Fire makes a dramatic backdrop

chat-track

Powder on the north burns!

woohoo!

Nothing like powder under an April Sun!

Joanie turning the burn

“hey, hey we are the monkeys….”

Arriving at the Coyote Yurts after a 4000′ day of skiing

Ah, frozen margaritas hit the spot!

Nothing but the finest wine served!

Pato and Alisa enjoying the Apres

Trudy and the view

Now what is Pato doing?

nothing like the sauna

those aren’t her real boobs!

sharing good food and good times around the table

sunrise at Coyote

The morning light is beautiful

Surface hoar and the Pios at the point

nice boobs!

Heading for another day of fun!

and away we go

stoked

hard to beat the views around Coyote Yurts

Morning powder

Yehaw!

Bond Girls cranking corn

perfect peel-away corn

no fun had here

The Team

Final run back to the valley

sure was sweet!

Blue Bird Powder yesterday with the Professional Leisure Team!

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Apr 042014

Great day with the Professional Leisure Team today. April powder and sun is hard to beat!

Fields of untracked Powder!

Doug having FUN!

Hard to beat the view

April Pow!

White Clouds to the horizon

Guides “Day Off”

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Apr 022014

SVT guides/interns and friends taking a “day off”

Was it April Fools, Niels’ Birthday, or the fact that it was snowing? Regardless, at our morning guide meeting yesterday, we decided to call a “powder day” and go skiing as a team. Nothing short of BIG FUN and pure stoke!

Kyle loving the tow

beautiful snow day

sharing jokes

a stoked birthday boy, Niels turns 24!

Birthday boys get 1st tracks!

Toby

Pato

Alisa

Kyle

Trudy

Brian going deep

having crazy fun

fat flakes falling

Happy Birthday Niels!D

Chainsaws and Peaks in the Pios

Huts and Yurts, Pioneer Yurts, SVT Scene Comments Off

Mar 262014

nice view on the descent on Hyndman

We are just back from a 3 day mission into the Pioneer Yurt with goal of supplying the yurt with cords of firewood and other supplies for the next season. We transitioned from snowmobiles to chainsaws to skis and alpine axes, cutting lots of wood and climbing and skiing some classics in the process. Conditions are spring like on the big peaks and skied great.

Skier and snowboarder unite, its a happy world

sure, lets go ski that!

up, up and…

still smiling

Niels discovers that a Pick-omatic works when one forgets the alpine ax

summit of the Pios

Niels working out the jump turn

hard to beat this setting

carve

playful skiing/boarding through the basins on the way back to the yurt

ahh, relaxing on the fresh rounds cut for next season

après 1

après 2

après/après, burning the slash piles after the woodcut

heading to the Dorsal Fin

Trudy working the pick-omatic for an ascent/descent of the Dorsal Fin

jerky girl

stoked

working the machines in the low country

Burnin’ Fun at the new Coyote Yurts!

Coyote Yurts, Huts and Yurts, Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Mar 142014

The team on day 1 approach to Coyote

Wow, what a great 3 days of spring skiing at the new Coyote Yurts! Bob and Kate (from our local backcountry ski shop: the Elephant’s Perch) joined our Canadian friends, Bernard and Sheri, for an action packed 3 days exploring the new burn skiing around Coyote with Joe. Splitter blue sky days made for an amazing backdrop of peaks, powder, corn and shadow lined burn skiing. We barely scratched the surface of the new north facing burned timber skiing possible and we skied a lot!

Oh yeah, the new Yurts are awesome too!

The 1st exploratory burn turns on the approach

yep, Bob thinks it skis pretty good!

almost to the yurt on day 1

nothing like good corn snow to make you smile

ahhh, the big south slopes of Little Round Top on the approach to Coyote are sweet

and a bit of corn on the souths

evening glow lighting up the ski tracks, a great view at the end of a fun day

Day 2 heading out from the yurt

shadow skin

there’s a lot of new burn skiing out there

Sheri enjoying the burnin’ powder

wow

yes

coming home after a long day of FUN skiing

Day 3

the view from Coyote Yurts is pretty sweet

what goes up…

…must come down

1200′ north facing burn lines out the door of the Yurt

yep, Bob likes it

just open enough

yeoman’s duty, Niels and Alisa carrying BIG packs on the way out

cranking corn turns on the exit from Coyote

pretty much sums it up!

From Famine to Feast, Ullr has come!

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Feb 232014

Wow. What a past 3 weeks it has been! Our mountains have received snow for 22 of the past 26 days. The snow totals are impressive, with the Sawtooth having received approximately 7′ over this period and the other mountains in our area receiving over 4-5′!

The relatively dry early winter left us craving deep powder, but also left us knowing that when/if it came we would be facing a difficult avalanche problem. This is currently our situation: We have very tricky and dangerous avalanche conditions in the backcountry which has the potential to linger for a long time. The plethora of new snow has fallen on a highly variable and extremely weak early season snow pack. This is a relatively unique stability scenario that should be treated with respect and caution. We are seeing many avalanches on most aspects and elevations and starting on relatively low slope angles. We are also seeing large avalanches triggered remotely from afar and running long distances. Skiers should be acutely aware of keeping slope angles less than 30 degrees and to stay away from run out zones (both large and small). This is a great time to hire a professional guide who is acutely aware of the current stability issues and well trained and experienced with navigating out of avalanche terrain. We are finding excellent ski conditions on safe terrain (see pics below)!

The skiing has been phenomenal. We have been too busy skiing the deep powder over the past few weeks to keep up on the blog posts, so we are posting a series of photos from the various mountain ranges, huts and tours we have been guiding over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

YES!

Powder Flight on the pass

Skinning the Cross

yehaw!

Skiing the gentle powder

SVT Guide Joe St.Onge Kung POW

SVT guide, Chris Marshall, getting face-shots on the pass!

ahh, the beauty!

Skinning in the Pios

Powder on the Peanut above the Pioneer Yurt

Skinning above the Pioneer Yurt

Sirens of Snow traversing Galena Summit

A buried Bench Hut is a beautiful sight!

Deep powder above Bench Hut

Easy sliding in the deep powder

A cozy Bench Hut after a day of deep powder skiing

FUN!

Loving the low angle Powder!

Powder is clinically proven to make you smile!

Daily Powder Tours Comments Off

Feb 022014

With the recent storm dropping 10” of light density powder and little wind, the skiing was amazing the past few days. The cold morning temperatures left SVT guide, JP, and Bernard with empty bowls and pristine ridge-lines to lay down some beautiful tracks.

Powder Day in Central Idaho!

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Jan 312014

We live in a beautiful world!

Wednesday’s storm brought 10-20″ of fresh powder to the mountains of Central Idaho. With storms few and far between this season, the fresh snow brought big grins to all (skiers and farmers alike). Stability varies with the new storm and sensitive wind slabs can be found in exposed areas. Check the local advisory for the details: sawtoothavalanche.com and enjoy!

A pleasure to break trail in fresh snow

Fresh snow taking some heat on the solars

Heli-Guide day off, Pat carving the alpine

Fresh+ powder + big peaks + a little sunshine= smiles

BBC Mountain Training in the Pioneers

Expeditions, Huts and Yurts, Pioneer Yurts Comments Off

Jan 202014

Joe St.Onge, Patrick Graham and interns: Niels Meyer and Alisa Mcgowan have just returned from 7 days in the Pioneer Mountains on a winter mountaineering training with a production crew from the BBC. An action packed week focused on learning skills related to avalanche safety, forecasting and rescue as well as backcountry skiing and mountaineering skills. the Pioneer Yurt served as base camp and the team also put in a high camp at 10,500 for a alpine ascent of Hyndman Peak. Conditions included a generally low snowpack and wind affected snow with hazards related to widespread wind slabs. The less then optimal ski conditions were balanced by the phenomenal setting and wonderful crew from the BBC. We look forward to seeing the ambitious and sure to be amazing footage to be produced by this intrepid film crew over the next couple of years!