Last month a longtime friend (more than 20 years and maybe 10 ski trips) Sam and I did a guided backcountry skiing tour in Grand Teton National Park. It was expensive (about $400 per person with rental gear) but totally worth it. The scenery, snow, and guiding were pretty much as good as it gets.
We used Jackson Hole Mountain Guides and were assigned Cody Pitz, a bad ass mountain guide who leads expeditions to Denali and the South Pole when he's not in Jackson.
We met up with him the night before to discuss the plan and get set up with rental gear. I'm glad we didn't wait until the morning of, because the only boots they had which fit me had a broken buckle, which Cody took home that night to fix.
After an early night and early wake up (thanks to jet lag), we were eager to get started and headed to Taggart trailhead a bit ahead of schedule. This again turned out to be the right move since we entered the national park just before the ranger got to the gate (pro tip: they seem to get there at 7 am), which saved us the $35 entrance fee.
While we waited for Cody, we managed to attach our skins correctly (this was both of our first times touring) and were able to head out as soon as he arrived.
The scenery was spectacular right off the bat.
I had cross country skied once before and it was a similar motion, and Sam is just a good athlete, so we made fast progress. The only hard part was the turns, especially if they were steep. After falling a few times, I learned that the trick is to first climb above the turn and to take as large steps as possible as you climb, so that your weight stays forward. If your center of gravity falls too far back, your skis will lose grip and you will start sliding backwards.
The temperature was warm but the sky was overcast most of the time, nicely preserving the three feet of fresh snow that had fallen in the days prior.
After 3,200 ft of climbing, we decided to call it and transitioned to downhill mode. We then descended a ridgeline with tight trees that spilled out into several wide-open fields strewn with massive boulders. The snow was deep, soft and untouched. At one point, when it start to get a bit sun-affected, Cody had us traverse hard left for maybe 100 yards until it was soft again. One of the many benefits of having a guide.
The last pitch was a steep, shaded gully with some of the deepest snow of the day, which then flattened into a long runout onto a frozen lake.
We high-fived each other and basked in the afterglow of a perfect descent. As the other two got impatient with me taking photos and went on ahead, I found myself alone in the falling snow, surrounded by mountains in one of the America's most beautiful national parks. An eagle circled overhead.
Even the long traverse back to the car was fun with Sam falling hard multiple times on his splitboard skis.
We celebrated a perfect day with a beer just outside the park.
Check out the Strava recording.