Emma Lake Chutes, 6-7-04

Okay, it’s been a week and a half now, beyond time to summarize this trip Billow and I made:

It was a rare day with zero chance of storms in the forecast, which was a very welcomed change. Also, it became unusually warm rather quickly. Ice in the parking lot gave way to 70 degree temperatures faster than forecasted – which would have more of an effect on our day than just getting extra thirsty.

On our hike to Lake Emma we were treated to this view of the chutes spilling down from above it:
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...790/bgelc1.jpg

That doesn't show the whole scope of it, but it gives a good enough feel for the place I think. I counted 24 chutes above the lake, 18 of which were still covered beautifully. We decided to boot up one of those diagonal slivers in the center of the picture and go for a nicely corniced and much steeper shot nearby.

As it turned out, we picked too narrow of an ascent line. Those rocks on either side worked like an oven and the snow was cooking fast. Halfway up we bagged the idea as each kick-in got sloppier than the previous. So we made a plan B. The corniced couloir seemed like a bad idea at this point too as it also is pretty narrow.

So we skied down our sliver
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0/bgelcmd2.jpg
which was goopy skiing but still really fun. Snow hissed endlessly down around us. From there we traversed toward the wide, far right shot in the pic#1.

Again we chose to ascend a different line than our intended ski as our descent would be steeper than the path of least resistance up. Mistake#2 in hindsight.

As it turned out, there was more resistance than we'd foreseen. Getting to the ridgeline was no problem, but getting past a high rocky point seperating us from our run was a task. Going around the front was not optional - very shallow snow turned to soup above a big cliff. Climbing over it was no good either – it was a big pile of big loose rocks teetering with delicate balance. So around the back we would go.

What a PITA! It was do-able, but a little sketchy. Walking across big loose rocks which occasionally tumble from beneath our feet. Skis banging against rocks throwing off our balance. Winter(my dog) was a little mountain goat impressionist, seemingly taunting us with her ease of passage. It was far more work than we'd bargained for. Here's a view looking back after we made it around:
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0790/bgds1.jpg

You can look at our footprints to see where we came from. In retrospect it would have been much less time consuming and less work to just boot up our intended run. Coulda shoulda woulda.

So the snow was a little softer than ideal for our run by this time of day, but it was still super smooth and really nice. Very rewarding after what it took to get there. Here's Billow making turns:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0/bgdsced1.jpg
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0/bgdsced4.jpg

And me:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0/bgdscmd1.jpg
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0/bgdscmd2.jpg

Looking back:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0790/bgds3.jpg

But from there we weren't done yet. The pitch rolled over again to one last steep shot all the way down to Lake Emma, with a fun little entry:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...0/bgelcmd3.jpg

Having finished out that line, we shuffled our way around the lake. Over the next little roll we cruised down to where continuous snow ran out - not far above the parking area. To where a 12er of Busch waited for us buried in snow. Head for the mountains indeed.