My second ski descent, first published on 10K2Far, of a unique, seldom skied, 2,500 foot fall-line adventure on the rugged north face of Treasure Mountain, involving a little rope work, with new partner Hayden Evans.
Treasure Mountain and the entire southern wall of Teton Canyon is home to some of the burliest sub-alpine ski mountaineering around, a labyrinth of terraced limestone cliffs, steep trees and even steeper avalanche paths. Few routes fall without a little rope work and an aptitude for air time. Despite an unassuming appearance and low elevation, many of the descents rival low country Grand Teton National Park classics. One thing’s for sure, if you can brave the approach you’re almost certain to have the place to yourself. Over the years I have skied nearly every line on Treasure, including the Eddington Chutes, Bowling Alley, Lost Boys, Boy Scout Couloir, Forbidden Face, Happy Place and the Teton classic Treasure Bowl one peak to the East – someday I’ll get to back-filling the website. Today I returned to Lost Boys, perhaps the most technical faire on Treasure, my first since a 2018 descent with John Walker
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We approached via the main nordic trail, Treasure Mountain Scout Camp, Boy Scout Cirque and Couloir, benefitting from a surprising boot-pack to the top of the couloir before cutting our own skin track up the top half of Lost Boys to the summit. This was the first time I’ve used this approach, and was pleasantly surprised by the efficiency, landing us on the summit within three hours of leaving the car. Perhaps the only hiccup to this ascent strategy is an extremely exposed traverse out of the couloir that would be unreasonable in anything but the best snow conditions. The couloir is capped by a large cliff, and typically entered top down from skier’s left. On this particular day retracing the classic entrance was impossible due to disconcerting wallowing above large cliffs. We ended up exiting climber’s left on skins, with a short thirty foot traverse across an unsupported 45 degree snow ribbon that felt a little sketchy. If carrying a rope, there is a large pine available to belay this traverse if needed. Otherwise, the remaining climb was blissful, a 25-35 degree avalanche path with expansive views, young pines and medium density right-side-up powder to the north ridge summit.
The upper 1,700 feet of the line was totally ripper open tree skiing, perhaps the best of the season. This was my first time skiing with new partner Hayden Evans, and to say I was impressed was an understatement. Armed with Marker Kingpins, four buckle boots and 23 year old resort legs he dispatched a few impressive cliff hucks while I jibbed around on the many smaller pillows to be found in this well-featured zone. After passing the entry of the Boy Scout Couloir and following the slide path due north the terrain steepens dramatically. Two single rope rappels interspersed with technical, exposed, pillow bouldering and vegetated hop turns saw us to the valley floor. Depending on snow conditions I could see Lost Boys requiring a third rappel between our pair, but we sacrificed our bases instead. I could also see the line requiring no rappels – TGR style – and in fact further photo review revealed our first rappel could probably have been avoided on skier’s right. To air the exit cliff would be totally buck wild, though I almost thought Hayden would lock out his toes and enter orbit.
The first descent fable of Lost Boys tells of a man and his dog that misnavigated en’ route to the Boy Scout Couloir (quite easy to do), finding themselves perched atop the triple cliff band at dusk, sans cord and headlamp. Without enough daylight to reascend, the skier chucked his dog over the exit cliff and proceeded to air the beast in AT gear, about 40 feet, double ejecting in heroic style on the steep apron, sans injury. The validity of this tale is debatable, but certainly fits the name. All in all, Treasure Mountain is an unforgiving jungle of surprisingly excellent ski lines, a raw vertical playground well suited to those with a tolerance for type two fun and an affinity for rope assisted skiing. Rarely is anchor hardware or even slings warranted due to the lack of exposed rock and availability of natural tree rappels at cliff’s edge, especially so on Lost Boys. A rope, harness and positive attitude is all that’s required for this worthy line, a line which I’ve never seen tracks in before besides my two trips over the course of six years. A deep snowpack is needed to chock the dozens of cliff bands of various sizes, unlikely before a snowpack depth of at least 80-90 inches.
Personally, the body is healthy and I am looking forward to more adventures with Hayden. Ski season has officially begun.
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DISCLAIMER
Ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing and all other forms of mountain recreation are inherently dangerous. Should you decide to attempt anything you read about in this article, you are doing so at your own risk! This article is written to the best possible level of accuracy and detail, but I am only human – information could be presented wrong. Furthermore, conditions in the mountains are subject to change at any time. Ten Thousand Too Far and Brandon Wanthal are not liable for any actions or repercussions acted upon or suffered from the result of this article’s reading.
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