I got an offer from a buddy I could not refuse. His family has a cabin about an hour south of Jackson that was available to him. Did I want to meet him there and do some skiing? Heck yeah!
The "go to" spot in the Tetons is Teton Pass, so that's where we went. We arrived at 9am to an empty parking lot. Not a good sign.
Undaunted we toured out the ridge south of the pass. We were impressed and a bit encouraged by the number of ski tracks and skin tracks.
Moody day with very light snow showers and a low cloud deck.
Skinning on old tracks went well. Off track we punched through a breakable crust that made for slow going and was not a good omen for getting decent turns.
The crust was widespread, but slightly weaker in the trees. We found a little glade where we hoped the skiing would be tolerable. It was not.
My guide friend who works up here described skiing in the entire area as "heinous." Great.
Next day we decided to go for a short tour closer to the cabin. Having spied some nice glades near the road near Fall Creek we had a go there.
At the trailhead there was a huge Elk herd. Quite a sight.
We poked around, getting a feel for the lay of the land and the snow quality on different aspects. Eventually arriving at a small knob above open glades with nice views of the Snake River valley.
We were more than a little pleased to find a supportable crust with several inches of new snow in the glades which provided fun skiing. Good enough to warrant two runs.
A vast improvement over "heinous" the previous day. Encouraging too to know the skiing in this area might just be the ticket.
My guide buddy Jed sent me helpful map with routes for the area around Ferry, Deadhorse, and Red Peak near our cabin, so we elected to check it out the following day.
A bit further up the valley closed into several small, steep drainages.
After a little fussing around in debris filled gullies we emerged into more open terrain. Still a little lingering avy debris here. Snowflakes floated in the air day long.
The new snow depth increased as we rose. Rick ascends near the top.
Looking south to stunning Ferry Peak.
Rick happy and ready to drop.
Cold and windy. We did not linger.
Fine skiing was had.
Big GS turns then figure 8s. Solid fun.
Snow quality varied depending on aspect lower down but good turns could still be found.
Memorable!
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