Rock Climbing – Ice Climbing – Ski Mountaineering
The Otterbody Snowfield is a 1,700 foot fairy tale ski mountaineering descent, 7,000 feet in full, on the East Face of the Grand Teton. On March 30th, 2025, I had the pleasure of descending the route with Hayden Evans and Julian Winston.
On May 20th, 2024, I made the third descent of the "Buck Triple", linking the Bubble Fun, Newc and Northwest Couloirs for a near 8,000 foot day of tremendous steep skiing on the north face of Buck Mountain. From what I can gather this is the first time the Buck Triple has been completed solo, and the third descent in total.
Styrofoam Boots, also known as Spinxinated and formally the "Unknown Route", is an ephemeral gem that only forms "every decade or so" on the North Face of Sphinx Mountain. For us it was difficult and testing mixed climb of the highest quality - the route's first ascent of the season and perhaps of many years.
On December 31, 2025, Julian Winston and I skied the Chouinard Couloir from 12,200 feet, 300 feet below the summit. We turned around due to firm snow conditions, a usually buried rock step that would've forced downclimbing, and overhead hazard from falling rime ice.
On December 28th, 2025 I opened my ice season with Erik Boomer on the Teton classic Right and Left Ghost Pillars (WI5 & WI4). Both routes were in virgin conditions with thin top outs. A few observation notes on nearby routes are included at the bottom.
On December 18, 2025, Bobbi Clemmer and I channeled our inner Teton spirit, raging up the 2000 foot mega-classic Solar Slab as our final climb of 2025. We climbed the full route and scenic "walk-off" to Oak Creek in a civilized nine hours car to car. We also climbed a few harder variations to the standard route.
Refried Brains is a lesser known but highly acclaimed route on the left margin of the famous Black Velvet Wall. Unique for the wall, it caters to the crack enthusiast with three long pitches of sustained and steep crack climbing, and one penultimate bolted arete pitch.
Triassic Sands is a legendary crack climbing route in Red Rocks, home of few long and continuous cracks. The first four pitches follow an incredible crack system the entire way, logging some 600 feet of consistent jamming, with the second pitch's miraculous 45 meter hand crack being the standout.
Cookie Monster is a high quality 300 foot 5.7 on the East Face of Mescalito Dome that links seamlessly into the final and best two pitches of the Red Rocks easy classic Cat In The Hat (5.6, II).
On November 30th Bobbi and I dusted off the Thanksgiving rust with a quick lap on the Tahquitz moderate classic, Fingertrip.
Adventure Punks is a rarity for Red Rocks, with five straight crack pitches, little face climbing and no lead bolts. The first pitch is 30+ meters of the best flake laybacking you'll ever do, but weighs in at the eye catching grade of 5.10b R/X, thereby limiting traffic on this otherwise classic line.
On Tuesday November 10th, 2025, Bobbi Clemmer, Joy Seward and I climbed Edge Dressing via Chasing Shadows on Mescalito Dome. Woah - what a final pitch!
Montana's revered Hyalite Canyon is one of the best North American venues for learning mixed climbing and drytooling, two invaluable skills for serious winter climbers. Below are my five favorite beginner mixed routes in Hyalite, presented as a progression culminating with the "best single pitch mixed climb in the United States" - The Thrill Is Gone (M4+, WI4).
Ten Thousand Too Far 