ski yurts – Page 3 – Sun Valley Trekking

Prepping the Huts for a BIG Winter Season

Huts and Yurts, Mountain Biking, SVT Scene 1 Response »

Oct 202014

Francie riding up to the Pioneer Yurt

It’s the time of year when we cycle through the 6 huts in 3 different mountain ranges to get each hut ready for winter. We can remember many years when we were doing these annual chores in freezing temps and blizzards, but not this year. We have been blessed with one of the prettiest autumns we can remember here in Idaho. Perfect Indian Summer has persisted for over a month now with amazing foliage, crystal clear sunshine and generally stunning days. Much of the work we do this time of year requires access on bikes or foot. The current conditions have produced perfect melt/freeze conditions on the trails and some of the best biking of the year. Enjoy the pics from the various mountain ranges and huts and start getting stoked for the upcoming season!

Autumn tunnel

Crossing the meadow to the Pio Yurt

Pioneer Yurt enjoying the Indian Summer Sun

ah, the peaks of the Pioneer Range

The Bench Hut, waiting for a deep Sawtooth winter

Lakeview on the approach to Bench Hut

Toby, giving little love to the hand-hewn table at Fishhook Yurt

The new Fishhook hut looks beautiful

ah, the Sawtooth from Fishhook Meadows!

Getting the wood in at Boulder Yurts

Tornak Hut, ready for snow.

Coyote, still an awesome destination for mountain biking

Buff single track leaving the Coyote Yurts

The final descent back to the valley from Coyote Yurts

NOW LET IT SNOW!

Autumn Climbing in the Pioneers

Guides Day Off, Pioneer Yurts, SVT Scene Comments Off

Sep 172014

A beautiful ridge walk toward Old Hyndman

We have just returned from a couple of days in the Pioneers. The goal of the trip was to get the yurt ready for the oncoming winter season and to climb a new route on Old Hyndman. For years, SVT guide Joe St.Onge, has been dreaming on climbing a route along the skyline of Old Hyndman Peak. Old Hyndman rises like the Matterhorn with steep rock walls guarding the summit. There are a couple standard routes to the summit, but we were unaware of anyone having climbed the steep NW ridge. Having spied this part of the mountain on many ski tours over the years, the time seemed right when local ER doc, Terry, called Joe with the goal of climbing Old Hyndman. A great adventure climb was had and success in exploring a new line to the summit of this iconic peak. Terry suggested calling the route “Old Goat” or “OG” to honor the bearded old goat we wandered by on the approach. Enjoy the pics and the mountains!

approaching the Pioneer Yurt

Cobb Peak and the upper Hyndman Basin

The line on Old Hyndman roughly follows the left skyline

ah, alpine views!

Peering down the big drop toward Wildhorse

Beginning the rock section with some 4th class climbing

Approaching the business

transitioning to 5th class climbing and belays

snack break mid route on spacious ledges

Mid-route looking toward the summit

solid climbing on somewhat solid rock

Terri and Joe, stoked.

Wow, the view from the summit of Old Hyndman!

Joe on the summit

Beginning the descent, the Triple Crown connects the ridgeline with Cobb in the distance

After extensive down climbing, we made 3 rappels to get back to the basin

Enjoying the view back up toward a beautiful mountain skyline

The Pioneer Yurt ready to opened for the approaching winter

Rambling back toward the village in autumn beauty

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!

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!

Daily Powder Tours, Huts and Yurts, Uncategorized Comments Off

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!

Skiing above the Boulder Yurts today

Boulder Yurts, Daily Powder Tours, Guides Day Off, Huts and Yurts Comments Off

Jan 052014

SVT guides Joe St.Onge and Chris Marshall went for a recon tour above the Boulder Yurts today to check conditions for future tours. Good ski conditions were found above 9000′ and some stability issues including: new wind slabs (30cm deep) which were producing easy failures and planar shears in isolated areas as well as triggering a fairly large loose snow/sluff avalanche in the deep facets in steep terrain. Have fun and heads up out there!

Yes!

Boulder Mountains

Skinning Light

Alpine Smokies

Skis pretty good!

Fall-line facets

Skiing among the ancient White Barks

D2 avalanche triggered in the full depth facets, ran fast.

Chasing shadows

Last powder turns of 2013!

Daily Powder Tours 1 Response »

Dec 312013

We are closing out 2013 with 53% of average snowfall, which makes finding the awesome ski tours a bit of a challenge. But we are working overtime to find the best snow and most fun tours and would love to share some of our hard work with you! Check out some pics from yesterday to see what we are up to.

Finding the goods when the goods are hard to find.

Following the Sun Dog

Alpine Sculptures

Now that’s what were looking for!

mmmm…

The climb

Soft and beautiful light

ahhhhh…

Camas Prairie inversion creates beautiful light

Mix techniques

yes.

Couloir skiing

Apron powder

Hansi doing the vadel

Happy Hansi

Coyote Yurt Winter Solstice Ski

Coyote Yurts, Huts and Yurts, Tornak Hut Comments Off

Dec 232013

SVT guides: Joe and Ed just returned from a quick trip into the East Fork of Baker Creek to check conditions around Tornak and Coyote Yurts. Despite a thin snowpack, they found soft powder conditions and endless new ski lines in the Beaver Creek fire.

Thin snow powder skiing

New Burn lines on Fox Peak

New eyes as Ed scopes all the new burn skiing in familiar terrain

Lots of beautiful new ski lines around Coyote

Dropping in to a new line

Skiing among the ghosts

Beaver Creek Fire

The Huts are Ready for a BIG WINTER

Huts and Yurts, SVT Scene Comments Off

Nov 192013

We’ve been busy traveling to the different Huts and Yurts to get everything ready for a BIG winter and for you! Below are some images from the past week at the Pioneer Yurt and Coyote Yurts.

The New Coyote yurts!

Aspens and Snow welcome to Autumn!

Moon-rise above the Pioneer Yurt

Dumping at Coyote!

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