Rock Climbing – Ice Climbing – Ski Mountaineering
On January 15th, 2026, I skied a potential first descent on the North Face of Housetop Mountain, the most alluring and rarest skied north face in the west Tetons. It's difficult to know exactly what has and hasn't been skied on the heavily gate-kept west slope, but longtime area record keepers and ski mountaineers believe the line to be previously unskied.
The "Banana Couloir" is really not a couloir, but rather, a 3,300 foot slide path of epic proportions. The entire descent is pure "fall line", sustaining an average slope angle just above 30 degrees with no pitches steeper than 38 degrees, making for a incredible moderate objective catered to fast and fluid skiing.
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 Thursday June 19th, 2025, I climbed Irene's Arete with new-to-the-Tetons desert coworker Kenzi Stemp, including a two pitch direct start which has surely been climbed before, but is undocumented and often skipped. Higher, we explored a few harder variations with pleasant rewards. This article will focus solely on the variations we climbed, and others I've climbed over the years, which add tremendous value to this already great route.
I recently had an article published by The High Route, focusing on TetonAT.com founder and local legend, Steve Romeo, my personal journey to ski mountaineering, and how Steve and I's world intertwined.
On September 8th, 2024, Bobbi Clemmer and I climbed the classic Southeast "Buckingham" Ridge on the 12,809 foot Middle Teton via an overnight camp in the South Fork of Garnet Canyon. It was Bobbi's first time swinging leads on an alpine climb, at pretty darn high elevation no less.
On August 10th, 2024, Bobbi Clemmer, myself and my visiting-from-Florida sister Lauren climbed the classic Cube Point, a 9,800 foot tower on the East Ridge of Symmetry Spire, via an overnight camp in the lovely Hanging Canyon. The East Ridge of Cube is a popular Teton classic, offering five pitches of rock up to 5.5 in difficulty, covering some truly unique and stimulating terrain.
I've been battling a partial rotator cuff tear this summer, so I've been dipping my toes into the dark arts of rope-less climbing as a way to score significant mileage on easy terrain. The Chouinard Ridge provides a 1,600' vertical adventure on clean-as-a-whistle Middle Teton granite.
On Friday May 31st I skied the North and South Faces of Mount Bannon in a pleasant eight hour yo-yo tour from Darby Canyon. The 1,000 foot North Face is a loose West Teton "classic" with some steeper than expected pitches and a free-ride feel.
On May 16th I spontaneously skied the relatively unknown Southwest Couloir on Mount Woodring after bailing from a different objective. What I found was top quality moderate ski mountaineering adventure on par with the Banana Couloir, Static Peak and Rockchuck Peak. Here's a quick trip report.
Ten Thousand Too Far 