So we decided to drive to Jackson Hole, WY for my birthday this year. With 10 days to play we agreed to the 16 hr drive as opposed to a 500$ flight with extra charges for 2 snowboards each. The drive went OK....I started it off in Port Angeles at ~6 and made it over Snoqualmie Pass (which was raining cats and dogs and was hydroplane central), and well along I-90. Lily took over until around 2am, then I drove one more rest area before calling it at 3:30am. We crashed out at the rest area and slept ~6 hrs. We cruised into Missoula, MT for breakfast at a pub that was tasty, then back on the road. We arrived in Jackson around 7PM. We found Brady and Lily's house (which is in a gravel quarry) and settled in. We then cruised down to The Cadillac and caught up with Brady at work. After a couple beers we called it good and headed back to get some Z's.
Next day Brady, Lily H, and I went to the Village and I bought a ticket for the day (92$.....ouch!!!). We rode the Tram up, which hold 100 people at a time. It's kinda crazy how they load it. You basically start moshing until everyone is in!! Just when you think you can't fit one more person, 10 more push in!! I could see a powder day being a bit of a gong show!! We ended up getting a tour and still hiking for some pow. We did The Crags twice and Four Pines once. It's kinda cool that there is boot pack everywhere around the side-country off the resort.....even skiers rock the bootpack for the most part. We had beers and watched some football before heading back to the house for dinner # 2!! Brady has a LOT of Elk meat and did up some tenderloin for us...with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies....pretty dank b-day dinner!!
The next day (Mon, Jan 24th) we rallied up to Teton Pass and hiked the Glory Peak (3) times!! It's a solid 2000 ft bootpack and a really fun descent!! We did the shoulder and bowl the first lap, 3rd turn (further than we meant to go) the second lap and then first turn the last lap. There were a good number of people hiking it and most were in pretty damn good shape!! Some girl passed Brady and I, stripped down to her sports bra in 30 sec and was GONE!! Pretty impressive!!
On Tues, Jan 25th we decided to head over to Grand Teton National Park and do some touring. We set our sights on Mt. Albright which was 10,252'. It was over 2500' of elevation gain and took us ~4hrs of HARD WORK to get up it!! From the top we looked up at the actual summit of Albright and decided against it (it was wind loaded as hell, and looked like a death wish). The run we did was called Wimpy's Shoulder and I would beg to differ with the name!! It was really fun and long with some treed shoulder skiing that opened up into a couple of large faces of fresh snow!! We took some vids and pics of the lower pow face and lavished in our efforts. Afterwards we cruised to Dornan's for pizza and some tasty beers. It had an amazing view of the Tetons and we stared at our line on Albright for a couple hrs. Wahooo!!
Wed. we "slept in" until 9:30, made a phat breakfast and headed off for the Village again. Brady got me the Cadillac's transferrable pass and we headed for Cody Peak off the Tram. It was actually a pretty gnarly hike. We wove our way through different rock and cliff bands and across the ridge. The wind picked up and we were buffeted around as we made our way up to the summit. We passed a group that was scared silly. Lily dropped in first and rallied No Shadows. I hiked up a bit more and dropped into a steeper entrance. The snow was pretty good and we traversed out right after dropping Cody. We bootpacked back up the shoulder of Cody and around No Name Peak. It was quite the cirque traverse and I even had some snow peel off the cliffs overhead and tinkle down over my head. That made me pick up the pace a bit!! I was b-lining towards a larger face, but Lily convinced me to drop in early since the snow looked better. I watched her drop the line, then I started to traverse back towards her start spot. After a few seconds of traversing back, I turned it down slope and made a couple turns before realizing I was about to air off a cliff. Without thinking I straight lined it and sent it right off the cliff!!! I was surprised by the size of it, and took a pretty good sized impact, but hung on!!! I had to take a couple look backs to make sure I did what I thought!! From there we ended up doing Pinedale which was the next peak over from Four Pines. It was pretty tracked out, but I found some descent snow in the trees before doing the mandatory long ass traverse back to the resort (to Union Pass). We were close to calling it good, but decided to go for one more lap. We rode the Tram back up, then headed out to Four Pines. Another good bootpack and some last turns of the day. By the time we got out of the traverse the lift was closed and we had to hike up a groomer before gaining enough elevation to descend to the base. We hit up the Red Line bus back to Brady's house, changed, and went to the Cadillac for a beer and appetizer. We walked over to Thai Me Up and had another drink and some tasty Thai food before heading back to the crib and chilaxing for a bit. Halfway through the trip and we've already done quite a bit!! The legs go to bed worked every night and surprisingly have popped back to life the next morning!! We may end up going to a hotspring in Yellowstone as a reprieve from the bootpack and skin track, but then again, we might have to use the free passes and go tear up the mtn some more!! Stay tuned!!!
