SVT guide Joe St.Onge spent 5 days traversing the White Cloud Mountains with a group of fathers/daughters. Joe taught the group the tricks of traversing rugged mountains off trail, climbing peaks along the way in a spectacular setting. The group taught Joe what it means to be an awesome father to wonderful 13 year old girls, a goal joe had for his two little girls… Check out the pictures of a snow slide into Headwall Lake, wild fun in a wild place!
Coyote Yurt is what’s happenin’! Early this Summer, Joe and friends renovated both the large and small yurt with highlights including a new kitchen and a Goal Zero solar system which runs lights and a speaker for iPod type music players. The firepit was also rebuilt and is large enough to keep a baker’s dozen warm and cozy while roasting smores.
Nights are still available if you’d like to experience the easy summer livin’ offered at Idaho’s highest lodging venue. We can set up all sorts of amenities for you as well: catered meals, guided hikes or mountain bike rides, and bike shuttles to name a few! Give us a ring to get started.
When any skier first catches sight of the Devil’s Bedstead (11,865′) when driving over Trail Creek Pass, their car stops and jaw drops simultaneously. It is one of Idaho’s classic ski mountaineering objectives. Joe and Craig successfully climbed and skied this gem yesterday. Thin clouds kept the sun’s radiant effect at bay throughout most of the climb which made for “interesting” skinning over hard snow, into breakable crust at mid elevation, and finishing in sastrugi. Luckily the sun penetrated the haze by the time they started their descent and softened the breakable to a manageable condition. Back at the trailhead, cold banquet beers were waiting in the cooler to finish off a perfect spring ski!
The alpine continues to provide good skiing in our area. Joe, Patrick, and Kyle climbed to the highest summit in the Boulder Mountains, Ryan Peak, this past Saturday and skied it’s north face. Here are some of Joe’s photos from their ski tour. Dust off your skis and give us a call to get you up one of these amazing peaks. This week is going to be prime with freezing temps in the high country and the potential for a little snow!
It’s May in Idaho, which means long days and a choice between riding buffed out single track on your bike, climbing on a sunny crag or skiing powder and corn up high. For some there is no choice at all. They either do them all or hang back in hammock. Enjoy the choice, and remember why we live in such an awesome place! The following shots are of Joe St.Onge and Patrick Graham skiing amazing snow yesterday. Drop us a line if this looks like fun to you….
Our newest employee, Craig Wolfrom, was up in the Sawtooth Mountains these past few days with a few of our guides and interns to capture some images of the great spring skiing accessible from our Bench Hut. Here are some of the images he captured. We still have availability and the snow is fantastic. Give us a call if you are interested in a Sawtooth trip!
Craig caught a glimpse of the participants skiing our Sawtooth Monolith Expedition:
The annual Pioneer woodcut happened last week in perfect conditions. Snow for 5 days straight, little wind and an awesome team made for an amazing couple of days. Big trees were dropped, big saws were spinning, big muscles moved bigger logs, big powder lines were skied, big fires were lit and BIG FUN was had by all!
It has been said many times, “variety is the spice of life.” If you are a skier, this quote holds true for Spring Skiing in Idaho, especially this year! As evidenced by the following photos, we’ve found absolutely amazing conditions the past week ranging from powder to corn on all angles and in a wide range of terrain.
Though the snow has melted from the valley floors, the snowpack in the mountains is currently at its deepest this year and the Spring Skiing is going off!
Corn and Powder on the same day! Welcome to March. Joe St.Onge skied with the Sirens of Snow on a beautiful early March day finding the first corn of the season and some nice settled powder to boot.
Up in the Smoky Mountains just North of Ketchum, Joe St.Onge and Sara Lundy joined a group of dudes and one woman from the North skiing lots of fresh powder around the Coyote Yurt. It snowed all week covering every track! Too much fun!
