MOUNTAIN KHAKIS - Built For The Mountain Life Blog

How Do You MK? Brian Larson

I ended 2010 on a high note by watching my alma mater, West Point, defeating SMU in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl here in Dallas on December 30th! It was the first time in 14 years Army has been bowl eligible, and their first bowl victory in 25 years. Even though it was a home game for SMU, rumor has it Army had more fans in attendance. I wore my Alpine Utility Pants, both for their comfort and ruggedness to stand up to the intense cheering necessary for victory, and as the “gold” for my school colors (black and gold). Here’s a picture of me in front of the scoreboard.

MK Ambassador, AJ Linnell, Recounts His Recent Trip to the Grand Tetons

My wife and I don’t celebrate Christmas, so with high pressure sitting over the Tetons it seemed like the perfect day to explore the alpine with my buddy John Fitzgerald. The thermometer in his car registered -5 fahrenheit when we got out to start skinning at 5:30am, with starry skies and a just-past-full moon overhead. With moonlight sparkling off of a new layer of surface hoar around us, headlamps were unnecessary as we cruised across the flats to the skintrack up 25 Short (so named because the summit is 9975’).

Sunrise from the top of 25 Short was stunning, deep orange spread across the eastern sky and the high peaks reflecting the fiery glow. As usual, Jackson was trapped beneath an inversion fog, creating an odd effect as town and the surrounding neighborhoods became glowing balls under the silver blanket. Buck Mountain stood proud as we skinned the last few feet to our first high point, but our goal for the day was still out of view on the shaded north face.

I’ve been looking at the Newcomb Couloir for a few years now, a 2000’ couloir with an average slope of 55 degrees and a significant pinch partway down. Though it doesn’t extend to Buck’s summit, it still offers up a long pitch of steep turns in a stunning setting. Given its sheltered location on the north side of Buck, and the enormous snowfall we’ve received so far this season (over 200” and it’s still December,) I was hopeful that it would be filled-in enough for a pre-January descent. As it turned out, things were still pretty thin but more of that later.

We worked along the ridgeline of 25 Short to the top of the Turkey Chute, our descent into the South Fork of Avalanche Canyon, and discovered that somebody had skied it the day before, triggering a shallow slab that pretty much cleaned out any weakness in the couloir. So, with no assessment necessary we made fun turns down the chalky bed surface to the canyon below.



Skinning up the South Fork of Avalanche Canyon, we were greeted with shallow powder and unbelievable views of the heavily rimed peaks above. Every time I ski into Grand Teton National Park I am flabbergasted by how huge and steep these mountains are, and how small I am in these surroundings. Looking up at the Newcomb and Bubble Fun Couloirs on Buck, it was immediately apparent that we wouldn’t be skiing them on that day--too thin by a long shot. So, we decided to tour up to the head of the canyon and see what we found.

As we entered the basin below Veiled Peak, we watched a family of 10 big horn sheep cruising across the slopes above us, picking their way up to the base of Veiled. Super cool. We chose to give them some room and skinned away from them, contouring around to the ridgeline at the crest of the canyon and some fun lines that we had seen from below. Working our way up the ridge, climbing between huge rime formations on the rocks, we landed ourselves at the top of some of the steepest lines I’ve ever considered riding.

Not super long (~800’?), but rolling to about 60 degrees, the lines we chose had perfect, firm powder in them and a beautiful runout to thousands of feet of riding down the canyon and back to the truck. With the sun shining and still air, we had a ball carving fast turns, outrunning the sluff and maching out onto the fan below.

On our way down the canyon, racing eachother in and out of rock gardens, we decided that the best plan would be to climb back up to the top of 25 Short and finish up down the frontside powder runs. So, (despite heavily questioning our decision once we were breaking a bootpack back up the Turkey Chute,) we eventually reached the top of 25 Short for a second time and took a much-needed lunch break in the sun. We watched a group of 5 skiers slowly working their way through the rocks on the ridge as we munched--looked like they were a bit over their heads--and then opened up 3000’ of huge turns on a perfect bed of surface hoar over shallow, fast powder. Unbelievable finish to a really fun day of exploring.

MK Ambassador, Adam Jensen, Discusses His Winter Adventures in Montana

Winter has hit Montana hard this year, but in a very good way. More snow than we know what to do with. Not conducive to riding bikes, but great for other forms of recreating. A crew of cyclists and I hit up a weekend at Big Sky, proclaiming it Man Weekend. Mostly eating, hot tubing, oh yeah, and a whole lot of amazing back country skiing up at Beehive, north of Big Sky. Endless un-tracked powder for as far as you could hike, free refills at night, and clear sky's with breathtaking views. Even with 9 guys skiing, we never had to cross a track twice.

Now back to business, riding inside, swimming in the pool, running on slick, snowy roads, but still getting out for a good dose of tele and nordic skiing. We have a weekly Nordic race called Wild Turkey Worlds on Wednesday nights, where a crew heads up to ski each other into the ground. I just started skate skiing this year, and am somehow leading the series. I've won the last 2 week, so it shows that technique does not matter that much. There's a big 50K nordic race the end of January here that everyone is getting ready for, so it should be a good time. Looking forward to this year, have a few new races on the schedule. But for now, just work and training.

MK Ambassador, Eddie Gianelloni, Describes His Trip to the Izu Peninsula

Our trip to the Izu Peninsula was a blast. We drove down the beautiful east coast to our hotel on Wednesday to our temporary home, the Star Hotel. The hotel was OK but we had private onsen access that was killer. An onsen overlooking the Pacific Ocean is very cool.

The next day we went up to Jogasaki to check out the coast there and to see what all of this seaside climbing is all about. Well I have to say that some of there areas looked great and others were very underwhelming. We hiked the trail above the cliff and located several great lines but all most all seemed very short. After a nice snack we drove up to Futo to check out Jackson boulder. This is not a destination boulder by any means. It also is not very beautiful, with three of it's sides covered in spray paint. It does tote a few 7a and a 7a+ problems. Their are a few easy problems on it too but nothing impressive. If you are there check it out, but do not make a special trip just for Jackson boulder.

On Friday we headed over to the west side of the peninsula for some sight seeing. Of course I was looking for some boulders or areas for some route. We actually found a few potentially nice spots. One of the areas is on the beach and has three large boulders. The main boulder is actually pretty cool. It is about 10 feet tall and on one side it has a couple of tiered sloper shelves that start in the middle and work their way up to the top. The start of this problem is on nice crimps. This would be the main problem on the boulder, probably V6/7. I could only play on half of the problem since part of the boulder was wet. This is the only thing with this boulder. It is rather close to the surf. But still climbable in the right tide. On the other sides of the boulder there are a couple of cool problems most v2 or 3. But on the seaward side there is a very tough problem on VERY small holds. The other two boulders are the same height and offer easy problems up to V4. Fun place, but not a destination area. We found a great lookout that gave us a fantastic view of Fuji and the Pacific Ocean at sunset.

On Saturday we headed to Joyama. I have to say that this is by far the best area that I visited on the
peninsula. May great routes and long routes too. Up to 9 pitches it seems. In the sun all day, so great for winter climbing. When we were there it was about 8C in the shade and 12C in the sun. Great climbing weather!!!! With the little man in tow we hike up and climbed a bit but had to head out early. Gavin was ready way before daddy was. And so it goes.

All in all it was a killer trip. We found a few other spots with really nice rock and no sign og climbing due to the vegetation in and on the walls. I think this area has much to offer with more to come it seems.

MK Ambassador, Nick Furlong, Describes Living the Mountain Life as a Ski Instructor at Showdown Montana

Well, let’s be honest. I am a paid ski bum. If you are not familiar with the life of a ski instructor, it goes something like this:

Wake up, eat, sleep on the shuttle to work, ski, eat, ski, drink, sleep on the shuttle home, eat, sleep and repeat.

If my day seems redundant, it’s not. Mother nature is having some serious mood swings and you never know what the day is going to hold. In a single day I might teach a private lesson with an experienced skier and a class of 20 kids under the age of 6. I’ve taught newbie skiers from Montana and New York and newbies to snow from Arizona, Texas, and even Australia and Brazil.

It may seem like this job is all fun and games. Well, you’re right, it is. But being a ski instructor is immensely rewarding. Everyone who comes to Showdown Montana is here to have fun and take a break from real life. I get to offer that experience and ensure they lose themselves and forget about their life’s worries in all the natural snow we have.

I couldn’t enjoy this life more. Doing a job that can get stressful (but let’s be honest) so that others may be stress free and experience the mountain life with me.

Take a visit to my “office” sometime at www.showdownmontana.com