Skiing beyond the lifts
Ski mountaineering camp brings
technical descents to the uninitiated.
This article by Michael Pearlman was printed in the
"This wasn't in the brochure," quipped Johnson, who had never earned his turns in the backcountry before registering for the course. "My wife made me promise I wouldn't do anything crazy, and this is already well beyond what she could even imagine."
For five days each spring since 1997, Exum Mountain Guides has offered resort skiers the chance to learn ski mountaineering skills and apply them to technical ascents and descents in the Teton range. Led this year by guides McBride and Wes Bunch, two of the valley's most intrepid and skilled ski mountaineers, the camp teaches practical mountain travel skills while illuminating the vast differences between resort skiing and ski mountaineering.
"I think it opens their eyes to what ski mountaineering really is," said Bunch, who guides for Exum all winter and pioneered numerous descents in the Northern Tetons with course founder Tom Turiano in the early '90s. "Most people are flabbergasted that mountaineering is half the course and takes up 80 percent of the time. I think they learn that ski mountaineering is a distant cousin to skiing as they know it."
Last week's camp drew five men with a wide spectrum of experience in the mountains and a common desire to learn new skills and push their personal limits. Ranging in age from 33 to 52, they used a variety of equipment to climb and descend the Tetons' varied terrain. North Carolina resident Jeff Hanks and Bostonian Mike Battina used Alpine touring systems, Johnson used a traditional soft snowboard setup and snowshoes, and San Diego resident Jeff Carrol used a split snowboard. Casper resident Kevin Siebke, who lived in the valley from 1988 to 1991, was the lone telemark skier in the group.
As the camp opened June 7, the group encountered winter weather off the top of the tram, climbing and descending the Powder 8 faces and Four Shadows as they were blasted by high winds and pelted with wet snow. The skiers enjoyed better weather when they returned to Teton Village the following day, where McBride and Bunch led a series of lessons in basic knot-tying, waist belays and rappelling.
From Corbets Cabin, the skiers headed north to the Horseshoe Couloir, a 600-vertical-foot shot that tumbles northwest from the summit of Rendezvous Mountain into the South Fork of Granite Canyon. After some basic instruction in steep skiing technique, Bunch descended to just above the cliff band and set up an anchoring station. While the group took turns skiing, McBride belayed them down to Bunch, who watched the rope as the group took turns rappelling over the rock band that splits the couloir.
"That day was designed to show them that with proper prudent use of the rope they could try to ski things they normally wouldn't even consider," Bunch said. "The climbing showed them what it would take to climb up a really steep couloir with some mixed terrain in the middle of it. I think they did well, considering it was a real jump in terms of what they considered possible."
On Thursday, the group headed into Grand Teton National Park for two nights to apply newly learned skills to the high peaks surrounding Garnet Canyon. Though fatigued from trudging up the switchbacks from the Lupine Meadows trailhead to the campsite at the Platforms, each participant rallied for a late-afternoon ski of the Cave Couloir in Garnet Canyon.
Rising at 5 a.m. on Friday, the group slowly ascended the south fork of Garnet Canyon. The affects of altitude and the past three days' endeavors caught up with Battina, who opted to return to camp after reaching the saddle between the Middle and South Tetons.
"My heart was beating in erratic patterns, and I got back to camp and my hands were shaking," Bettina admitted later. "I didn't want to turn around, but I'm old enough to know my limits and listen to my body when its time to back off. I woke up Saturday and felt fine."
The rest of the group continued its ascent through wind and sporadic snowfall, attaching crampons for the final ascent of the South Teton's Northwest Couloir before reaching the exposed summit ridge leading to the 12,514-foot summit. The ascent included an exciting moment as Johnson's crampon came loose in the steepest, iciest section of the couloir, requiring Bunch to descend in order to assist him.
"I definitely was feeling the exposure on the summit ridge," said Carrol.
While Johnson and Hanks opted to descend the upper portion of the route on belay, Carrol and Siebke skied the route unroped. After crossing wind-scoured, frozen snow in the couloir, the group was rewarded with 500 vertical feet of powder skiing before the snow changed to breakable crust and, eventually, heavy spring mush.
"That's nothing like the mountains in the South!" exclaimed an exuberant Hanks, whose upbeat demeanor throughout the week proved infectious. "But that ice felt like North Carolina skiing."
The effect of successfully reaching a summit and tackling a challenging descent appeared to rejuvenate the group. On the final day, Johnson opted to spend his birthday relaxing at the campsite, while the other four climbed a ramp above the campsite to the Shadow Peak cirque, where they then ascended the Sliver, a narrow couloir that drops nearly 1,500 feet from the east peak of Nez Perce.
"There was definitely some trepidation on the way up, and I had a couple of moments on the way down where I was like, 'This is the envelope's edge for me,'" Bettina said.
For this exposed descent, Bunch and McBride tied two ropes together and used three 400-foot rappels to belay the team through the route. The descent took over an hour and a half and proved to be the highlight of the week for the entire party, despite a few falls.
McBride pointed out that even the strongest technical skiers react differently when placed in a situation where the consequences of a mistake could be serious.
"The beauty of the rope is that you can push it a little harder," he said. "You can look at someone who's technically a good skier, but you put them in exposure and they'll react completely different."
At a dinner at The Murie Center after the last night of the camp, the participants agreed that the experience had not only given them a new set of skills, but had provided insight into their own personal limits.
"I really felt the 'empowering yourself' motto that Exum talks about and I learned some- thing I can take back with me," Carrol said.
Bunch commended the skiers for their willingness to go beyond their comfort zone. "Everyone has their envelope, and whole concept of the ski camp is to push that envelope, whatever that might be," he said.
June 22, 2005 Jackson Hole News & Guide.
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Navigating the variable snow conditions and 42-degree pitch of the Horseshoe Couloir while trying to ignore the cliff below him was well beyond anything snowboarder Guy Johnson had ever experienced.After managing the descent while on belay from guide Kent McBride, Johnson rappelled over the 12-foot rock band before climbing back up the couloir with four other men who had registered for the Exum Ski Mountaineering Camp.A jump in terms of possibilities
The group followed the descent by climbing back up the route, attaching crampons and then roping up for the crux of the ascent. The skiers' biggest test of the day came when they had to navigate the cliff, a tricky climb over rock, snow and ice that they were all able to manage.Pushing the envelope
"Mike came around that last day really well," Bunch said. "It's definitely what we're looking for to have someone rally at the end. That's what the course is all about."
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Exum Mountain Guides - Explore the Vertical
Lupine Meadows - Jenny Lake
Grand Teton National Park
Box 56, Moose, Wyoming 83012
307.733.2297 (phone) 307.733.9613 (fax)
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