It’s kind of unfortunate, but some ski lines remain on my hit-list year after year. The Northeast Ridge of Mount Moran has been on my list for a few years now, but I’ve only made one attempt to ski it so far.
Last winter was a little thin…snowpack-wise, so I (and my main ski partner Reed Finlay) never gave it a shot. In the spring of 2006, we tried to ski it in a day from the Leigh Lake Trailhead and got stopped on the north side of a prominent gendarme about two-thirds of the way up, near the junction of the green and red lines in the photo above.
I believe Stephen Koch made the first descent of this line (red line…maybe in the late nineties?) and I’ve only heard of a few people having skied it since. One can approach (and descend from) the upper face via a couloir on the southeast side of the mountain (green line), but I think this makes the route a little easier. I don’t think anyone has skied Koch’s line again…which continued on the north side of the gendarme…all the way down to the lake. A coveted descent to say the least.
Looks nice and…dangerous. What is the max degree, is it easy to die (exposure), is it possible to ski it whole way down (no ropes necessary)?
And what about that wide couloir in the middle? Too easy or big avalanche danger?
Matus,
The max degree on the NE ridge is 50-55 and the amount of snow would determine it’s skiablity w/o ropes. The wide couloir is the Skillet and is skied often…mostly in the spring.
Falling near the top of either line would be VERY bad.
Don’t forget about the Triple Glacier route……………………..ha!
Ahhh…memories.
Memories indeed. I watched Derek’s 05/06 Teton compilation while stuck in the airport the other day – got me really fired up.
Alex and I got sucked up that green line during our first pre-dawn ascent of the skillet; that little mistake cost us some time for sure.
it’s been on my hit list too. so got any first decents left to be had? how would you find out what has been skied or what hasn’t been? good job in mexico. the pass has been hitting with pow.
travo
Plenty of first descents left to be had in the Tetons…if you have the cahones. And yes…I have some first descents on my hit-list.
Turiano and Co are great resources for Teton skiing history. And chances are…if it’s sketchy enough…it hasn’t been skied. But to me…skiing isn’t about getting in the history books for a first descent. It’s about staying alive to ski another day.
Looking forward to skiing when I get back. 😎