Rock Climbing – Ice Climbing – Ski Mountaineering
The past week Bobbi Clemmer and I have been climbing ice in Cody, Wyoming. Our first three days, we climbed four classics in the Boulder Basin/Lower & Upper Bench area - Bozo's Revenge (WI3+), Sendero Illuminoso (WI4), Animal Rights Activist (WI4+) and Hunter Creek Pillar (WI5).
On January 13th, 2026, I completed the first descent of The Blue Line, possibly the last unskied couloir in the Apocalypse area of Prospector's Mountain. The route features a 700 foot hanging couloir with 50 degree skiing above massive exposure, culminating in a 650 foot horizontal traverse across an unlikely ledge system to merge with the Son of the Apocalypse Couloir, a 3,300 foot descent in full.
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.
I've skied the Boyscout Couloir two... or three... or four times over the years - I forget - because every time has been in marginal snow that should've been excellent. Today was my first time nailing this quirky 2,200 foot line in soft conditions, and today the snow was downright heroic.
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.
Seams Heady is a renowned 5.11b "PG" trad seam in the glacial polished granite wonderland of Teton Canyon. In 2024 I completed a ground-up redpoint with no previous inspection or beta. I learned three enlightening lessons through the process.
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.
The Snazette is an especially incredible two pitch 5.10c variation to one of the Teton's already great routes, The Snaz (5.10a, IV).
On April 29th, 2025, I skied a rare line on the South Face of the Dike Pinnacle. I'd been dreaming of connecting the dots on this improbable face for many years.
Ten Thousand Too Far 