Hut Based Avalanche Courses

The past couple weekends (1/6-8 & 1/13-15) SMG held two level 1 avalanche courses at the Williams Peak Yurt.  Participants hiked in 6 miles – to live in the mountains for 3 days while absorbing information about snowpack layering, avalanche terrain and rescue training.  Good weather, great views and even some good turns were had in both weekends.

Now our ski tracks and the layers of the snowpack are buried under several more feet of new snow!

Spacing out and scenic terrain

Blower!

Rescue techniques in the hut – then applied in the field

Good students get treats

Old avalanche debris from the holiday storm

Whizzing back to the hut as the sun fades

Making some turns

Thompson Peak on fire from the trailhead

Learning how beacons work

Boulder Ice

A day out in the Boulders – nice weather, great scenery and one of the best challenging ice climbs in Central Idaho.  The pillar is steep and sustained, and even though it’s a bit wet and thin at the moment, still a classic for sure.  Marc H. and Clark getting some laps in:

Melting has caused nice feet.

With impecable timing, as Marc snaps the photo, water from the overhanging ice drips in Clark's eye.

Hooks after lap 3...

The pillar in all its glory...well part of it anyway.

BC Skills – Skiing & Riding at the Williams Peak Yurt

Stanley and the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains

Last weekend we kicked off the Winter 2011/12 ski season with the Backcountry Skills Camp – a course covering avalanche awareness and touring skills at the hut.  Participants skied/rode for 3 days, got some avalanche rescue practice, exposure to snowpack layering, terrain management and plenty of touring.  We had a fun group, all around good vibe, and nice weather.

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-Clark

Early Season Ski/Snowboard Stoke – Magazines Feature SMG

As winter is moving in, the magazines are coming out with coverage on all the trips that happened last season.  In both Frequency Snowboard Magazine and the Sierra Club, there are feature stories on 2 separate trips to the Williams Peak Yurt.  Check ‘em out:

Last March we had a group of snowboarders athletes join Clark for 4 days of alpine shredding.  They rode numerous lines in mid-winter conditions, and the story can be read in the 9.2 Issue of Frequency Snowboard Magazine (the snowboard version of the Skiers Journal).

Basich lovin' the Sawtooths (photo: Basich collection)

Montana based journalist Aaron Teasdale and photographer Ryan Krueger joined us (Kirk, Hatch & Clark) for the Ski Mountaineering camp.  You can read his account of pushing his personal goals in some of the steep Sawtooth couloirs in the Sierra Club Magazine.

Aaron in the Chute Camp

Fun stuff to read early season…gettin us amped as another good winter begins to brew!

The Leideckers in Europe!

For the second summer in a row I have been guiding in Europe based from Chamonix, France.   This year since June 18th my family and I have been living in a small apartment one block from the Aiguille du Midi tram.   I’ve guided 14 days, my wife Gretchen has been working (she’s an architect) from our apartment, and Sascha (8) and Svea (6) are on the “adventure-a-day” program.   Among the highlights so far include climbing at Les Gaillands, the brilliant town cragging area, riding to the top of the Aiguille du Midi, hiking to scenic Lac Blanc, watching World Cup climbing in downtown Chamonix, and “parcouring” (zip lines, etc.) in Le Fayet!

In between guiding and family adventures Gretchen has continued to train for the San Francisco Marathon and I have squeezed in the North Face of the Tour Ronde and the Contamine Vaucher on the Gendarme Rouge of the Aiguille de Peigne.  Guiding highlights have included summits of the Aiguille du Tour, Dent de Geant, Tour Ronde, the Gran Paradiso in Italy and great multi-pitch rock climbing in Italy’s Val d’Aoste and also the Chamonix Valley.  I work four more days and return to Idaho and SMG just in time for the busy month of August!

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New route!

For those looking for some easy-access moderate routes, ‘Tanline’ is a new 5.8 bolted route located on the SPF 40 crag at Trail Creek.  Below, SMG Guide Drew Daly susses out the line.

SMG Guide Drew Daly on 'Tanline,' a long 5.8 at the new SPF 40 crag out Trail Creek.

East Summit of Heyburn

On July 3, SMG Guide Marc Hanselman and client James Gilespie topped out on the East Summit of Mt. Heyburn.  This year’s heavy snowpack made for a straightforward day.  Here are some shots of James crushing the route!