Saturday Sled Ski mission to location X............! Once in a blue moon the snow gods produce a sneaker storm that only a few lucky souls manage to score on. Saturday my bud Tim and I happened to be in the right place at the right time! All I can give away in terms of location is that it is near Brooks Lake!
Tim crossing Brooks Lake with nothing but deep fresh to contend with!
Normally storms deposit larger amounts on the west side of the Continental Divide. Well, this day was highly, highly unusual. The top of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort reported 1". The top of the divide had about 2" to it, but the storm that shut down interstates and highways in central Wyoming hung just enough on the divide where we went to make for some truly epic conditions.
Tim cruising across the lake, love this shot. We had it all to ourselves.
It was some of the best riding conditions of the year, and everyone in Jackson was bummed with only 1" overnight!
Hiking up the coulior was a tough slog. It was literally shoulder deep sugar snow with zero base to it which made for really tough climbing.
I finally did top out and was rewarded with the usual awesome view. My bud Brian and I found this secret spot close to 10 summers ago in July hiking around. We skied it then and vowed to come back in the winter when we had a snowmobile to get us in the 12 miles to the sweet skiing. I have gone back every winter at least once and am always amazed with it's remoteness and awesome beauty.
Even though Chels is less that pleased, it has been since the late 90's since I had the great feeling of having ice in my beard. It was acting as a great insulator on Saturday for the frigid conditions.
Self portrait on top of a nice coulior.
While everyone in Jackson was suffering through another day of "corral reef" (hard and miserable re-froze conditions), we were skiing blower, knee to waist deep fluff.
You can see Tim booting up on the right side of this shot.
Frosty and Cold.
I have always looked down into this monster, but never actually skied it. It has a mandatory air in the middle of it and is a pretty committed line even in the best of winters.
Tim, scoring the best turns in Teton County on Saturday!
Tim scored the goods to the right, I of course picked left, completely untracked goodness.
You can see our sleds parked way off in the distance at the bottom of the run.
Me, totally stoked after the best turns I have scored all winter long. It has been a really tough winter to get excited about, but Saturday lit the fire once again.
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