Avalanche/Cascade Canyon TR (pics)

[SherpaStyle]

My roommate and I had been planning to do an overnight ski tour for a couple weeks now. We were going to leave Thursday morning and stay out that night, but rain hindered our efforts. Another friend had wanted to do a trip into Teton NP, so we went to the Visitor’s Center Thursday morning to look at maps and figure out where we wanted to go. We decided on a loop up Avalanche Canyon (at the south end of the Tetons) around the backside of the range and back out Cascade Canyon (on the north side of the Tetons). We would end up 4 miles north of the nearest open road, so we would need transportation back to the truck. We decided to ride our bikes out Thursday afternoon and stash them at Jenny Lake.

Friday morning we woke up at 4:30 and were disappointed to find that it was pouring rain in town. Rain in town means snow in the mountains, so we continued as planned. We got to the trailhead at 5:45 and sure enough it was dumping. We were a little apprehensive about route finding with the poor visibility, but figured the canyon we were going up was pretty straightforward and the storm would probably clear out by mid-day. The skinning was interesting to say the least. You might even say EXTREME! We came across everything from dense forest to thick downfall from old fires to crazy boulder fields that we had to work our way through. It was some of the most technical skinning I’ve ever experienced. I even ended up with a few battle wounds from it. We came across a short downhill straighline in a boulder field and somehow I managed to snag a ski on a rock and went over the handle bars. I got a bloody nose and a cut under my eye from that one… We reached Lake Taminah ( 9100ft) around 1200 and decided we weren’t comfortable going any further with the poor visibility and 1 inch/hour snowfall. We started to hear avalanches further up the valley, so we weighed our options. We could turn back and save the trip for better weather, continue on despite conditions (not really an option), or wait it out for a couple hours and see if it might clear up. We opted to build a snow cave and sit it out.

Me,Chris and Seth in the snow cave:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21973.jpg

A couple hours passed and the storm didn’t lift. We were all cold and wet, so chose to start heading back down. Seth mentioned a line he’d been wanting to ski on the south side of the canyon. We decided we would come back the following day, ski the line (Turkey Chute), stay at the snow cave that night, and continue on with our tour as planned on Sunday. The ski out was better than expected due to the 6” of fresh that had fallen.

Seth skiing Avalanche Canyon:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21976.jpg

As we descended the clouds lifted enough for us to see the line we were going to ski the next day. It looked a bit intimidating from the bottom of the canyon. Due to the current wind direction we knew it would probably get heavily wind loaded, so we decided we’d have to bring a rope and ski cut the top roped in.

Turkey Chute (orange star ):
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21969.jpg

Once we reached lower elevation, travel got more difficult as our bases iced over and became sticky. We made the best of it by having pseudo-skinning contests up minor pitches. We found ourselves among a maze of small Lodgepole Pine regen which we had to fight our way through. In some spots the trees were so tight you could barely fit both skis between two trees and you had to push the trees apart in order to squeeze through. We made it back to the truck around 6:00 soaked, tired, and excited for the next day’s excursion.

Saturday we got started at 6:30 AM. The good news was someone had beat us up 25-Short and broken trail. The bad news was it was the skin track from hell. The new snow had lost a lot of moisture and was now super light snow on top of a firm surface layer. My skins had issues with that. The pitch was steep, so I ended up side-stepping, boot packing, and making twice as many switchback as Seth and Chris. I was getting frustrated with the process, but was determined to make it to the top. We came to a clearing where the skin track went straight up a 28 degree pitch for about 200m. Fortunately, the sun had started to warm the snow and my skins became more effective. After 3900’ of vertical we reached the top around 1030. We took a break in the sun and admired the views. The next person to wander up the track was a patroller friend of mine, so we chatted with him for a bit before heading for our line.

The view into Avalanche Canyon from the top of 25 Short (orange dot is our snow cave site):
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21980.jpg

We walked around the side of the chute and scoped it out. It didn’t look like it was too wind loaded, but it was a 40’ down climb into it. My stomach was churning as I headed down. I hate down climbing with nothing below you but 1800’ of vertical on a 40 degree pitch.

Seth and Chris standing at the top of the chute:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21970.jpg

Once we got into the chute we established that we could safely ski cut the top without using the rope. Seth went first making three hard ski cuts across the top. Nothing slid. The chute wasn’t as wind loaded as expected, so we deemed the slope “safe”. Seth’s turns were smooth despite the 40+ pound pack and variable conditions (wind buffed powder on one side and wind scored hard pack on the opposite). I was up next. I started making a few less than exceptional turns as it was the steepest thing I had skied with a full pack and I still had butterflies in my stomach. My turns improved as I regained my confidence. We regrouped ½ way down the chute at the dogleg and proceeded from there. When we reached the bottom we were all smiles as we had just skied one of the most challenging runs of the season for all of us.

Seth in the lower third of Turkey Chute:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21974.jpg

We took a short break, put our skins on, and started back up towards camp. This meant more side-stepping and frustrating skinning for me. I was actually relieved when it came time for a 100m bootpack up a steep section. We reached camp around 2:30 and decided it was naptime. We kicked it in the sun for awhile looking up at our tracks. Restlessness set in so we dug out the snow cave a bit more before it was time for an afternoon corn run. We left our packs and headed for a nice weightless skin up a mellow slope behind our campsite. We reached the top just as the sun moved behind a cloud, turning the snow from soft, spring corn to an interesting breakable crust. We climbed up on some rocks and enjoyed the view for awhile before we made our 800ft decent of hop turns. It was a fun run even though conditions weren’t what we’d hoped for. We milled around until sunset when we crawled into our cave and drifted off into a deep slumber.

Seth was raring to go at 730 Sunday morning and decided to take a run of the north side of the canyon while Chris and I got motivated and packed up camp. The skin to Snowdrift Lake was frustrating for all of us as the slope was steep and the snow wind scored, rendering skins useless. Half way up Seth and I decided to bootpack. As Seth took off his skis, one slipped out of his grasp and went careening back down to Lake Taminah. Chris and I pushed on to Snowdrift Lake where we waited for Seth to retrieve his ski. We dragged ourselves up the last steep pitch to the ridge and took a break for lunch.

Chris and Seth on top of AK Basin
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21979.jpg

We wanted to hike further and ski another chute before skiing out Cascade Canyon, but knew we had our work cut out for us with another 9 miles to ski out and a 4 mile bike ride. We were content with the soft, wind buffed turns and the incredible views as we skied down through Alaska Basin into Cascade. The 8 miles out Cascade were flat, but none of us cared because we were too awestruck by the endless peaks towering above us to think about skiing.

Chris skiing out Cascade Canyon:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21978.jpg

http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21972.jpg

When we reached the bottom of the canyon we found ourselves next to Hidden Falls where we were forced to billy goat down through rocks and bush-bash through willows, which is always exciting! It brought me back to memories of last season’s adventures.

We reached the bikes around 6:00pm utterly exhausted and dreading the 4 mile bike ride in ski boots (we forgot to stash shoes with the bikes).

Seth riding back:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21975.jpg

We overestimated the challenge of riding in ski boots as it proved to be an easy coast back to the truck.

The final stretch with the Grand in the background:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21977.jpg

It was a successful trip, one of the best of my life, and reaffirmed my desire to come back next season.

The topo (black lines are skinning/bootpacking, pink are skiing):
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21971.jpg

[Mountainman]

Fucking Sweet!!

[homerjay]

Hard Core.

[Barnballs]

Fabulous T/R.

[FreakofSnow]

nice work, let those spring assault TR's keep rolling!

[Odin]

SWEETNESS!

[bigAK]

awesome. totally fucking awesome.

[skier666]

Tight...

[AntiSoCalSkier]

Originally posted by SherpaStyle
Seth riding back:
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21975.jpg

KIR Files?

[phUnk]

SherpaStylee

[Mountain Junkie]

In my best Chris Farley impression:

That...


...was...


...awesome!


However, I might add that the proper etiquette for such trips is to start a thread days in advance spraying about this awesome project only to derail the trip (either consciously or subconsciously) by getting such a late start that failure is the only option. Just so you know.

[Kellie]

great TR! That place looks amazing - way to get after it!

[Rippinsick]

SupaFly

[Telenater]

Marvelous!

[hev]

wow.

[CantDog]

Hot Damn sherpa, nice trip, and awesome report. Keep it up!

[Z]

Originally posted by SherpaStyle
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21980.jpg

I love this Pic....Awesome TR keep em comin

[ak_powder_monkey]

Originally posted by SherpaStyle


Chris and Seth on top of AK Basin
http://biglines.com/photos/blpic21979.jpg

Sick photo with the snowflakes and stuff
That totally looks like Hatchers Pass, it appears to be Aptly named

Ok this makes me even more stoked for this summer when I will do some bike into snow, skiing trips, midnight sun turns corn and beverages of a refreshing nature should make for some ffun weekends, that and fishing every day, racing bikes, having money and driving my new truck up from seattle, stoke freaking on

Although it could dump at aly again, I wouldn't be opposed to that

[Schmear]

Quality!

[gimpy]

noyyyyyyce.

[Spamhelmet]

Superb!

[Xover]

Best TR I've seen on this site ever, including those from TGR themselves!!! SICK!!!

[xboat]

that was one kick ass TR sherpa. keep 'em coming...

[SherpaStyle]

Originally posted by AntiSoCalSkier
KIR Files?

Not a bad idea...I might have to send that one in.

However, I might add that the proper etiquette for such trips is to start a thread days in advance spraying about this awesome project only to derail the trip (either consciously or subconsciously) by getting such a late start that failure is the only option. Just so you know.

Yeh, I was tempted to start a thread when we were planning the trip, but kept telling myself it would jinx it. I'm glad I held off. Would've sucked to have had to say it didnt work out cause my lazy ass couldnt get out of bed...

[iskibc]

Kickyourmomintheface badass liz!