Blog change…

Our blog is now on our main site, so please check here for updates (we will not be managing this blog anymore):

http://sawtoothguides.com/blog/

Thanks,

Sawtooth Mountain Guides

 

More winter scenery

A recap of some personal touring earlier in March.  Always fun to be getting out in the Sawtooth Range…

 

-Clark

Ski Mountaineering Stoke

Since March has turned the corner, and we’ve got some springtime weather in the forecast for later this week, its time to start thinking about spring skiing plans.  White alpine faces, snow choked couloirs, high bowls filled with powder….SMG has several ski mountaineering programs, including chute skiing on the weekends in March and the Ski Mountaineering Camp (4/26-29) in April.

Here’s a couple photos from a period of good stability back in February, when I got out w/ Tobias and Smith rider Spencer Cordavano…fun stuff!

-Clark

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!