Chunder in Grizzly Land
Another way to party in Wyoming, by: Michelle Smith
It was a reverse party night in Jackson Hole. Instead of going to bed at 2am after a hard night of partying, we woke up then. We were ready to get rowdy. Our hope was get after it in Grand Teton National Park, but with temperatures being at 35 degrees when we woke up, new snow, and high winds the day before, the spot we wanted to hit up was going to be potentially sketchy. We opted to check out a new place we had never been before on Togwotee Pass called Pinnacle Buttes.
Click on images to view as slide show
We figured this would be a great place to “get rad”. The only potential party foul we were worried about was a run in with a friend that was very hungry for something other than powder……the Grizz.
We got to Togwotee around 4:45 a.m., which was too early to start partying there, so we took a little nap. At 6 a.m., when there was just enough light to see where we were, we hit it up. As soon as we got started we immediately saw evidence of Old Ephraim. These were the biggest Grizz tracks we have ever seen, big foot?
After about two hours of navigating the Grizzly infested forest we neared Pinnacle Buttes. The couloirs up here looked tasty from far out and we decided to aim for the base Diagonal followed by the adjacent Bottleneck Classic. In reality, the conditions in Diagonal turned out to be pretty much 100% bullet proof chunder/bed surface, and it didn’t look like things were going to soften up for a very long time in this sun sheltered couly. However, sometimes 1000+ vertical feet of survival turns and side slipping is good for the soul right? Check out these shots/video of Jason and Jay side slipping the sh$t out of this thing.
Do you think its soft yet? from getungrounded on Vimeo.
The next couly we tried to punch out was the Bottleneck Classic. The sun hit this one pretty good, but unfortunately when we got in there and started booting up we were wallowing in knee to waste deep breakable crust and said, “eff it”. Oh well, we still got to ride the ” bottle neck” portion of the couly which was pretty cool.
After this, party time was over and it was time to trench through spring slush for the next few hours. It was slow going as we fell into holes and avoided evidence of post holing grizzlies all the way back to the car. As the saying goes, “you aren’t out till you’re out”.
After a nine hour day we were back at the car and ready to slug down a few beers. It was time to celebrate another great day of getting after it in Wyoming.
We definitely want to hit up this joint again, and try to do those lines in powder.
for more information about this area check out:
Skiing the Backcountry/Pinnacle Buttes
Category: Mission
those parking lot 9%’s were all-time. great mission, great post!!
That bear was someone I wouldn’t want to see up close and personal!!!!