The Otter Kind

Thought I'd give a shout out to my friend Michelle Smith, a film maker from Jackson Hole who has been steadily upping her game with these fun videos featuring my old stomping grounds. The Grand Teton is getting some love lately from TGR and will be featured on Jeremy Jones' next effort, Higher.

Michelle beats him to the punch here with this tasty nugget. She was preceeded by the Otter Body Experience, a film by David Gonzales but that awesome movie is MIA on the internet now. UPDATE: This great film is now available again here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcsQG3HZkYU 

So, sit back and check out the fun on one of the coolest lines on the biggest peak in the range along with some perspective from Teton skimo pioneer, Mark Newcomb.

The Otter Kind from getungrounded on Vimeo.

Click to read more ...

My Otter Body Experience

For Teton ski mountaineers, there exists a list of ski lines that we covet and hope to climb and descend at some point in our lives. Skiing the Grand Teton is undoubtedly at the top of this list for most of us.  This event typically involves skiing the Ford-Chevy-Stettner couloirs, which has become a classic ski line in the range and is now even guided on a regular basis.

Click to read more ...

White Grass to Cascade Canyon

I’ve been trying to make the most of my time in the sun visiting Jackson from the rainy north of Alaska. The weather has been perfect and the smoke of the summer cleared out for me. With several different partners I’ve spent the week exploring familiar and unfamiliar terrain while logging 24 hours of training time over the first 7 days. That’s about twice my best week this summer in Anchorage.

Click to read more ...

Tremors in the Force

It was time for a gut check. I needed to step back and look at the bigger picture. It's true. I was fit and ready to skimo race. I've been training all season and the upcoming Wasatch Powder Keg was going to be my final race of the year. I was facing the last week before the event and it was time to rest. The problem was that this taper was corresponding with a spell of splitter high pressure which had the high peaks drawing my thoughts and ambitions like the sirens in Homer's Odyssey.

Click to read more ...

Teton Link-up

The iconic Grand TetonSuccessful ski mountaineering outings are born from a combination of planning, conditions, the right partners and technical ability. A ski descent link-up of the Grand, Middle and South Tetons has been on my radar since I first heard of Jimmy Chin completing it a few years ago. He was not the first, however, as local legends Mark Newcomb and Stephen Koch successfully climbed and skied all three peaks several years before that. The stars aligned and we got it done last Saturday.

Click to read more ...