More October Hunting

Since I had gotten some good turns in the Cave Couloir last Thursday, I was jonesing to ski much more that before and I lured Brian Harder out to join me for another go at October hunting. To me, the most logical next place to scout for turns was the Middle Teton Glacier. Its north facing aspect and higher elevation would for sure offer more continuous skiing than the South Fork of Garnet, and with some adventure hiking, we might be able to link it up with the Cave as well.  Some pics from the day.

As we ascended into the South Fork of Garnet Canyon, it was good to get the skis on.
However, it was obvious the skiing was going to be marginal,
as the wind was ripping and had wrecked the snowpack.

About to pass Koch’s Couloir, with Pinocchio Couloir in the background.

Though I’ve heard mixed reviews about ice conditions high in the Tetons lately,
it looked as though the ice in the Otterbody Chimney’s was forming nicely.
“Best I’ve seen the OB this time of year” -Jack Tackle.

The wind gave us a facial as we booted up the Middle Teton Glacier,
and the exposed ice and seeps on the north face were cool to look at.

There looked to be plenty of snow to actually ski the Dike Couloir,
but the summer snowpack was frozen solid, keeping us on the lower glacier.

The snow ranged from bulletproof ice, to boilerplate windpack,
to breakable windslab, and it was a good early season test of the skills.

We milked the skiing down below the glacier itself
and slowly eeked our way down through thin snowcover.

We put our skis back on our backs and cross-countried
below the East Face of the Dike Pinnacle.

In no-mans land, we passed directly underneath the black dike in the Middle Teton.
For some reason, things felt a little strange at this point…we kept hiking.

Finally reaching the top of the Cave Couloir,
we headed downhill towards the Meadows.
Have a great weekend!!