Congratulations to….well…not so fast. First I want to thank all those that entered the TetonAT.com Trip Report Contest. I’d also like to thank Penn Newhard and the rest of the crew at Black Diamond Equipment for donating a pair of skis to this contest. Without them…there would be no contest. It was a little crazy in the end trying to get all the last minute submissions posted, but I think those that followed along will agree that they were worth the wait. Now, on to the winner.
It was pretty challenging to pick a winner, as there were many entries with very good writing, sweet pictures and/or a cool story beyond just skiing the powder or sick terrain. Many of the entries really caught my eye for one reason or another. I was very stoked on Chason Russell’s piece on Volcan Lanin. A great adventure that really get’s me fired up to put together my own trip to South America. Then there was AJ Lindell’s piece on skiing the Messner Couloir on Denali. Something that is definitely on my skiing hit-list and his post had great pictures. Kevin Grove’s, “Last Turns With an Old Friend” caught my attention because it was very touching and helps describe the love we all have for the mountains. Stephen’s Ziff’s account of his Currie Travers was a great read and had my attention early on in the contest. And Mark Fellermann’s, “Is this Triple-A?” showed some local gnar…though technically ‘side-country’…I let it slide anyway. Some of the best writing I though came in at the end though, with Wasatch Solo and Wapta Icefield. Wasatch Solo being worthy of more attention than TetonAT.com can offer. But after a long talk with the Kitty and some friends over Café Randos, I am awarding Cameron Romero the winner of the TetonAT Trip Report Contest, for his account of skiing the East Face of Teewinot.
TetonAT Trip Report Contest Entries
Kokanee Glacier, By Lee Lau.
Coleman Glacier, Mt Baker, By Mike Traslin
Messner Couloir, Denali, By AJ Lindell
Mount Earnslaw, New Zealand, By Hamish Gowans
Central Nevada, by Steven Perce
Elephant Mountain, by John Parker and Joe Wojchiechowski
Volcan Lanin, Argentina, By Chason Russell
Rollin’ the Dice, By Doug Goodwin
Last Turns With an Old Friend, By Kevin Grove
Blackcomb to Currie Traverse, By Stephen Ziff
Table Mountain, By Evan Johnson
A Day Trip Up Whitney, By Yu Kuwabara
Girls Git’r Done, By Deborah Yarington
The End of the Holiday Season, By Mason Irish
Peak 8,700, North Face/Downtown Creek, By Andy Traslin
Is This Triple-A?, By Mark Fellermann
Teewinot, East Face, Circa 1989, By Cameron Romero
Whitney the Hard Way, By Shane Jones
Cathedral Corn, By Aaron Miller
Wasatch Solo, By Grant Mathias
Wapta Icefield, By Jerimy Arnold
Ridgeway, By Alex Kerney
I thought long and hard over this, and I based my decision on a number of factors. First…the comments. Though many of the entries got a number of comments, the one’s received in Cameron’s post were from people who I felt were following along, and had read many of the entries. Maybe if other entries had come in earlier, things would have been different. Second…the pictures. I feel pictures are very important to a trip report because I know there are many web 
surfers out there that probably don’t read a lick of most things on the web and scan text, captions and photos for quick absorption. Though Teewinot’s pictures were scanned and maybe not top quality, they definitely told and added to the story…in a big way. Third…the writing. I will admit, there may have been other trip reports that were better written, but Cameron’s entry was well written, so he didn’t loose points here. And lastly, the story, nearly all the entries had a good, if not great storyline. But
on a website called TetonAT.com, it’s tough to beat growing up in Jackson with your Dad a buddy of Bill Briggs, and our dream of skiing the Grand Teton. Throw in the 1989 classic style of carry your alpine gear in your pack…and not to mention The North Face one-piece. Thanks to Cameron for entering and congratulations on winning a free pair of skis from Black Diamond!
Looks like none of the East Coast submissions even came close to a mention…Nice.
Hey Steve,
Although I think of skiing as a form of mountaineering, I’ve always found it strange that it didn’t yield the same collection of literature that climbing does. A read through the English Alpine Journal, the American Alpine Journal or anthologies like “The Games Climbers Play” highlight that. So, it has been fantastic to see people get inspired to tell their AT stories. There were some real gems in here, and I hope that this site continues to post creative writing about the down as well as the up. Thanks for doing it.
Thanks! And thanks to everyone that entered
Good choice Steve. I read through most of the TRs and it was between that one and the Wasatch Solo TR for me.
Give a pair of skis to Fellermann.