Westside A'a

Yesterday Ethan and I took a stroll out on the lava beds just a stones throw from our house. It had been many years since I had been there but I remembered that there were a ton of small caves, holes, small crevasses and just random fun that I thought a 6 year old with a healthy appetite for exploration would enjoy. I was right: Ethan loved it out there and didn't want to go home. I promised him we'd be back though.

If you go wandering out there be aware that the lava rock is of the a'a type, meaning if skin meets rock, you will mutter "ah, ah, ah oww, ah, #%@!"

(I have to figure out why the pics are so blurry in the vid, fix then re-post)

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A Message of Love

First thing I saw when I got out of my car at work this morning. Not bad.

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St. Patty's Day Massacre (Rocks)

Rick Williams sending Run for the Border with elegance and ease.

Onsight of Acapulco Cliff Diving.

Scaling Sticky Situation at Massacre. Video by Scott Stevens.


With a hint of Spring in the air our crew of outdoor hooligans ditched the skis and boards for ropes and 'biners and headed south to Massacre Rocks. Perfect climbing temperatures (55˚-60˚) persuaded us into going for broke and hitting it until we couldn't hang on anymore. We were accompanied by an unexpected winged visitor – a Grey owl. Beautiful birds, I tell you.

The day was given to redpoints, onsights, and hard attempts by all. And with unfinished business, we all plan on returning soon.

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Old Dog, New Tricks

Scott, aka Turbo, making it look easy and graceful thru the funk.

Me, making it look not-so-graceful.

Turbo going up on the Kelly Mtn Highway.

Scott Stevens and I snuck in an early Sunday "sidecountry" ski at Kelly's today. It was my second time on AT gear, (free heels going up, locked heels coming down). I've been toying with the idea of adding AT skis to my winter shenanigans. Thanks to my friend Rick, I've been able to demo his AT gear without committing to spending the moola on it yet. And I've got to say I'm hooked.

Today's off-trail conditions were horrible but it was much better skiing the nasty-crust-make-you-endo-snow with locked heels than my tele gear. I only ate it twice!

2 runs off piste, then 2 on to make the skiing actually enjoyable.

I'm not giving up my splitboard but will certainly be looking for deals on AT gear for next season. Stoked!

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Boy Scout Chute descent

Climbing the couloir.

Dean downclimbing the funk to gain access to the good stuff.

Yours truly descending into the misty chute.

Rick's view of the top of the couloir.

Rick and I climbing near the top of the chute.

Going up!



Video Summary (by Scott Stevens)


Wed. was spent with 3 of my friends who share the same passion of winter back country exploration. Our objective was what locals call Boy Scout Chute, or couloir, (fancy French name for a steep gully or chute) on Treasure Mtn in Teton Canyon that is becoming something of a classic intro into couloir ski descents.

At about 40˚+ the line isn't regarding as a bold descent, but it is just enough for this newbie ski/snowboard mountaineer to keep guard and execute good technique. If you fell and cartwheeled down, you wouldn't die (unless you really racked yourself against the sides of the couloir) but it would certainly hurt.

The approach was easily hastened by towing in on Rick's snowmachine (that was a first for me). We then skinned through the Treasure Mtn. Boy Scout camp to gain access to the lower flanks of the chute. Me, being the hopeful romantic of finding new places to rock climb, had to repeatedly close my gaping jaw as we skied past what looks like nice boulders tailored just for bouldering and 150' limestone cliffs with overhangs. SUMMER RECON!

We donned our skis (board) and started the arduous chore of boot packing straight up the couloir. The snow was actually in good shape for kicking steps and it didn't take us too long to top out. We did find that last 20' of the chute to have faceted snow buried beneath slab conditions though. We continued out past the chute and gained the ridge above in hopes of skiing some nice pow before reentry in to the top of the couloir on our descent.

Snow pits dug on the ridge revealed yellow-red avalanche conditions so we make the decision to call 8,400' our high point.

We enjoyed some awesome thick powder turns before reentry into the Boy Scout chute. We opted to dismount and downclimb through the top 20' of the couloir due to poor snow. However, once below that it was game on and one by one we jumped turned our way down the narrowness while trying to remember to breath! Couloir riding is tough! It was quite a workout trying to keep my edges in control and not lose it. I realized too that my splitboard is too long for such outings: Jump turning on a 171 with T2 tele boots is HARD! Or it's more than likely that my technique just sucks.

All went well through the coilour. Below it we were treated to some fun "pillow" skiing over boulders and then the towed back to the car.

While driving home I took time to reflect what I had learned and where it is that I decide to draw the line when it comes to back country skiing. I am not an adrenaline junkie (like some of my family think I am) but absolutely love self-powered outdoor pursuits that test myself physically and mentally. And on that note, Boy Scout chute delivered. What's next boys?

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Backside of Pebble Creek

Nice front side face. I rode a line skiers left of the big open face.

Summit shot on Mt. Bonneville.

Stitched photo of Mt. Bonneville's est aspect.

From the saddle of Upper Green looking west to Chesterfield. Mt. Bonneville summit is on the right side of the photo.

A poor man's snowboard-cam. Check out the weird screaming wind banshee noises coming off the camera.


By now, cabin fever is in full-on global-pandemic mode. I haven't had a chance to play in the snow for quite some time so this past Tuesday I played hookey from work, grabbed the splitboard and headed to Pebble Cr. and it's smorgasbord of backcountry delicacies.

The weather was ideal – clear skies, crustless snow and nary a breeze. The cool thing about Pebble Cr. and it's backcountry stash is that you can either hike the ski hill (the lift operators don't mind) or pay the fee for a one time ride up the lift. I chose the latter. It saves about 45 min. and also saves energy for that extra run on the backside! Plus, there are always skin tracks back there so skinning back up after each run only takes about 25 min. of easy climbing.

I was solo on Tues. so I kept it relatively safe by staying where there were tracks from the weekend. Beleive me though, there were some rad untracked lines nearby but the angles, slope configuration and aspects made me uncomfortable being by myself. Better to play it safe in the open trees and mildly tracked-up runs.

The angles on the backside of Mt. Bonneville are pretty mellow for the most part, averaging about 30 degrees. There are steeper lines to be had and that's what's sweet about the backcountry of Pebble Creek – you can make as easy or hardcore as you want.

After about 3 runs I was ready to bail and so climbed back up to the Upper Green saddle. Usually I just drop down the Green to head back to the parking lot but I couldn't help but notice the big open face and cool looking shots through the rock bands that make up the north boundary off piste. As I skinned north from the Upper Green saddle to the top of my west facing objective, my draw dropped as I skied past what looked even more rad than what I had being on all day. There were some steep cliff shots, convex open/tree shots and more. I had never been this far north when I've skied back there. It made me believe even more in the radness that is Pebble Cr.

Anyway, I found killer conditions on the upper face (see photo 1) and through the rocks and then crazy, Indiana-Jones-jungle-adventure riding down low. My line spit me out just at the top of the beginner's lift which means more turns until about 20' from the car. Rad.

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Dog Days of, uh…Winter

Coming in from the cold for lunch

Kota's paw

Kota dog takes time to pose with the Westside TeNgaio's

Our kids with the Reymann's kids

Matt R. skijoring across the finish line. Great soundtrack to finish by, eh?

Today we headed north to the great tundra of Ashton to check out the Annual Dog Derby Race. We've never been to it before and thought the kids might like it. How can you go wrong with so many dogs everywhere?

Out friends Matt and Mindy Reymann have been involved with the dog sled race for a few years now. They proposed and got a skijoring race to be included with the other dog races last year. Skijoring involves skiing behind a single or number of dogs and looks like quite a thrill I tell you. You're tethered to the dogs so when go, you go! I'm gonna hit them up to take me out sometime this winter for sure.

We met a dog named Kota that I swear is a bear in disguise. Being a Malamut, the dog was already destined to be large – but holy crap, this guy must have gotten the Andrea the Giant gene. The owner told us that he won the dog pulling contest last year by pulling something like 1,500 lbs!

This dog sled race has been held every year since 1917. It's really cool that the event is 100% run by volunteers. That's a lot of dog lovers and they get our kudos.

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Interlude

Bedtime ritual

Snack time ritual

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Sunday Skiing

I took Ethan up to ski at Kelly Canyon today. This was his first time up there (his 4 week ski lessons were previously at Pebble Cr.) and he crushed it.

Runs like Slithery Dee, Ernie's Exhibition, Upper Bowl and even The Face were no sweat for him. Pretty rad for a 6 year old with no poles and only his 5th time skiing. Plus, only one fall all day to boot!

As we soaked up the sun on our multiple chairlift ascents and talked about boy things (boogers, farts, etc.) I kept watching a few different parents teaching their kids how to ski (3-5 yr olds). A couple of parents were using the leash systems as they skied behind their kids while keeping the little nippers speeds in check. Not sure how I feel about the effectiveness of the leash system. None of the instructors at Pebble Cr. used those systems while teaching the kids while Ethan was in ski school. Mind you, he was one of the bigger kids in his class but there were kids as young as 3 in his ski class and they seemed to learn just as fast as he did just skiing on their own sans the leash thingy. Whatever, I guess.

For Ethan, learning at Pebble Cr. was the right choice. The instructors there were mature, patient but firm in keeping the kids on track. Plus, with Pebble being steeper, Ethan found Kelly's to be a breeze.

Skiing The Face…pretty rad, my boy.

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The Noodle, the Pizza and the Edgie Wedgie

Today I took Ethan to Pebble Creek for his first day ever on the slopes. Instead of trying to teach him ourselves, we felt he'd benefit much more from lessons than from mom or dad trying to teach him what little we know of skiing. In the end, it paid off because he had a huge smile on his face all day.

I see it every time I go to a ski hill but it still amazes me – how good kids are at picking up skiing. Seeing little toddlers today cruising the bunny hill makes me want to get Madeline on skis even more. We'll wait until next season though. She's gonna love it!

The weather was sublime, (28º, full sun, no wind), and the crowds were minimal. The upper hill is in rough shape still. They need much more snow. However, they've been making snow on the bunny hill (where Ethan's class stayed all day) and it was actually more fun staying on it and shadowing Ethan as compared to gouging my skis and board on the crap up higher.

Someone asked me why we chose Peeble compared to Kelly Canyon (which is only about 20 mi. versus Pebble at about 65 mi.). I've always preferred Pebble due to the fact that the angles are consistently steeper and longer than Kelly's . Hell, Pebble is much more narrower than Targhee but has almost the same vertical relief to it than Targhee does. Plus, the backside of Pebble Creek (Mt. Bonneville) is one of the raddest backcountry stashes that I've ever ridden. Oh yeah, and it's cheaper than Targhee.

Towards the end of the day Ethan estimated his class made about 11-12 runs but he wanted to do more with his dad. So after class let out we hit the 'ol bunny hill 2 more times and I was blown away at how good Ethan did. I found myself shouting to him at one point to slow down because he was booking and I thought he was going to smack into the Ski Patrol shack. No worries though, he stopped on a dime and looked back at his paranoid dad, shrugged his shoulders like "What? I got it." "Oh yeah," I thought, "he's hooked."

One the way home he kept asking when we where going back. In his mind, not soon enough I'm sure.

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