sawtooth skiing – Page 4 – Sun Valley Trekking

Devil’s Bedstead Ski

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May 152014

The Devils Bedstead in all its majesty

May showers bring Powder to the high peaks and we were able to experience some of this magic the other day here in the Pioneer Mountains, Idaho. A surprise visit from our old avalanche forecaster, a pro skier and a local doc coincided with Joe returning from the Hawaiian Islands and the Trail creek road having just opened. Recent cold temps and new snow led to great conditions on one of the most iconic ski peaks in Idaho. Thanks to Dylan Crossman for some of the great shots here, enjoy!

Clearing “the bush” on the approach

Trying to get a view through the white-out

Great booting conditions

Climbing in the white-out

Feeling the exposure high on the face

taking it all in

Climbing on the moon on the summit pitch

Nothing like being perched high on an alpine face

Terry topping out on the summit

loving the Coombacks and the view down the ski line

Whoohoo!

Powda!

Can’t beat the conditions

Dylan Crossman showing how its done

the lower face

and back to boots for the walk out, stoked.

May Ski Days-Peaks and Babies

Daily Powder Tours, Guides Day Off 1 Response »

May 092014

SVT Guide, Joe St.Onge, remembers a May ski day on his child’s 2nd birthday:

Patrick Graham approaches the summit of Ryan Peak

It was May, locals had hung up their skis and our busy ski guiding season was coming to a close. It was time to ski for ourselves.

My wife was pregnant with our second child and do to deliver within the week. We had a check-up with our doctor and she said that it did not look imminent. I took that diagnoses as: I could go ski the next day. My wife is a skier and guide and she gets it. She encouraged me to get one last ski in before the snow melted and another baby entered our lives.

It was a last minute tour plan. I wanted to ski something “new”. Ryan Peak is the tallest in the Boulder Mountains of Central Idaho. It’s been skied, but not regularly as the approach is big. I had a concept that it could be approached from the “other side” and had found out that the dirt road that crosses a high pass had just been plowed, allowing access to the “other side”. A quick call to two of our guides and the plan was hatched for the next morning, early. Conditions were perfect spring corn: firm for the climb and silky for the decent. The approach was fast and fluid. We followed wolf tracks up the remote canyon and later heard the howls from a den echo while on the peak. We spied amazing future lines, one of which we skied later in the week when the doctor said it may be a couple more days before the baby came. It was awesome.

Internship Final Exam

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Apr 302014

Celebratory toast

For over 12 years, Sun Valley Trekking has run an internship program during the winter season. The goal of the program is to provide training and mentorship to aspiring ski guides. The “job description” is to : Ski from hut to hut throughout the winter, maintain hut supplies, gather snow and stability information, develop personal backcountry ski technique and experience, assist on guided trips as porters and tail guides and seek mentorship and skill development with the SVT Guide Team. Over the years, many interns have returned for a second year to continue this progression and many graduates of the program are working as professional ski and mountain guides today. We often finish the season with an “Intern Final Exam” designed to test the skill and experience developed over the season. There are two styles of exam open to the interns: to guide the guides or to be guided by the guides. Both styles can help push the learning envelope and provide a rewarding experience. This years team: Trudy, Toby, Niels and Alisa chose to guide SVT guides: Joe St.Onge and Chris Marshall on a particularly snowy late April tour in the alpine Smokey Mountains. Powder, white-out navigation, steep skiing and a Chinese Downhill tested the interns’ skill and grit and was followed by the end of the season Guide Games back in town. Good stuff!

April white-out

Stoked Toby, taking the lead.

Heading toward Peak

Chris giving feedback on route finding and group management

The higher you get…

Into the Alpine

Trudy, taking over the lead for the third descent of the day

April Pow!

Yehaw!

Alisa guiding a particularly challenging (and sweet) ski line

the Team

wow!

Francie opening the “Guide Games”

Making the Toast!

Fun for all ages!

Brian, showing grit.

Chris and Pato were an unbeatable pair!

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!

Daily Powder Tours Comments Off

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”

Daily Powder Tours, Guides Day Off, SVT Scene Comments Off

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

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

Guide Training – Early Season

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Dec 122013

Francie, Chris, Marc, Pato and JP: an awesome collection of ski guides!

Every winter the guides of SVT gather to run training seminars and workshops. Typically we focus on particular goals at each training, dusting off skills, sharing lessons and tricks and evaluating how to do things better and more efficiently. This years early season training was focused on winter rescue. We discussed and practiced avalanche rescue, emergency shelters and stoves, 1st aid and then ran 3 separate sled evacuations off Titus Ridge to the trailhead. Check out the photos below to get ideas for different possibilities and approaches to addressing a forced bivy or having to evacuate a partner with a broken leg.

The familiar and always beautiful ski up Titus Ridge in the morning cold

Niels hauling the SKED rescue sled

Brooks Range tarp emergency shelter as a pyramid

Francie using a Mega-Light, a deluxe emergency shelter. Note the hot brews made with a sterno and ski poles.

Ed nailing a spacious and comfy emergency shelter with an 8x10 tarp and some trees.

Ed nailing a spacious and comfy emergency shelter with an 8×10 tarp and some trees.

Chris checking out Pato’s shelter, beta-mid style.

Pato’s emergency stove. Simple: a sterno, tin can and metal water bottle will get the job done.

JP using the brooks range tarp in another configuration

Looking almost like a planned camp.

Chris showing how a Alpine Threadworks tarp/sled can work for a simple shelter.

Brooks Range all-in-one tarp/sled in a simple trough structure.

Joe, demoing this simple emergency shelter and stove.

Kyle with the 8×12 trap as a mid.

Niels, improvising with no extra gear or tarp.

Chris and Marc packaging Francie in an Alpine Threadworks sled. Simple, quick and a guide favorite on the tests.

Ed and Niels constructing the standard Brooks Range sled.

Packaged and descending in a SKED litter/sled.

Fairly tight and comfy in the SKED.

The SKED slides the best.

The SKED requires good braking on steep slopes.

Cold Powder at the Sawtooth Huts!

Bench Hut, Fishhook Yurts, Huts and Yurts Comments Off

Dec 062013

We are just back from the Sawtooth where SVT guides: Joe, Pato, Chris, Ed, Toby and new Interns: Trudy, Alisa and Niels braved the extreme cold temps (-22f) and fresh powder to prep the huts for the winter season. We found 16+” of new storm snow and close to 3′ of total snow at Bench Hut and some great (if cold) ski conditions. The pictures below should give you a good idea for what it is like out there right now. The ski trails are in and the powder awaits you! Give us a call if you want to get out and enjoy this beautiful early December.