Tetons: Mt.St John; Holly(?) Canyon splitboarding

Memorial day weekend snuck up on me this year and as of Friday, I still dint know what I was going to do. My friends Lucas and Bailey were going to spend the weekend in the Tetons and their first objective was to ski Mt.St John. Backcountry skiing sounded like a ton of fun so after work I made the long haul down to Antelope Flats for a quick sleep. We didnt get up very early, 5am, which is a late start for skiing in the Tetons. Luckily for us, Holly Canyon must have the shortest approach of any ski route that I am aware of in the Tetons. We hiked up to Laurel Lake(?) in no time where I put my boots on and began skinning. Lucas and Bailey both had snowboards, neither of which were splitboards. Shortly after skinning, a super thick white out fog overtook us and I had to stop next to a boulder so I wouldnt lose my mind and go in to complete vertigo (the dark rock gave my eyes some depth and something not white to look at. After a few minutes the fog began to lift so we chased it up and off the mountain. We didnt reach the East summit, but we could have. We got to a point maybe an hour from the summit where the snow began to go to deep mashed potatoes which is not much fun to ski down. We could either get a summit, or a ski descent, but not both. We opted for the ski descent. We were able to safely trigger small wet slides the entire way down. We got to ski about 1600' from our high point to Laurel Lake. We were deemed 'crazy' by all the tourists down at the trailhead.

Foggy morn before the sun came up.

Here comes the sun

The Cathedral Group

Mt.St John has the serrated ridge top with many summits. We skied on the backside that can not be seen.

The hanging valley/canyon was our line.

Walking up in to the soup.

Our high point. The top is not far off.

Forget the name or the label, this beer is delicious!

Village Rock development: The Diamond 2 routes

Manfred and I went out to the Village on a mission to establish new routes on a big wafer I call the Diamond. Two incredible routes were born. The route climber's left is a 9 bolt ~25m sport route that might go at 5.9-5.10 called Hometown Heroes. The other route, Cheese Grader, has 5 bolts to bomber cracks where three cams (.75, 1, 2) will get you to the top ~25m 5.8-5.9.

Ropeline is approximately Hometown Heros.

The Diamond. Both routes are far climber's right side.

Allenspur Climbing

Sam, Terra, Manfred and I spent a very warm day clipping bolts out at Allenspur south of Livingston in Paradise valley. Its one of my favorite sport climbing areas around Bozeman; the rock is generally bomber and the views are spectacular. We climbed 5 routes on the Main Crag: Look Ma No Hands 5.8, Blood and Bolts 5.8, Pull it Over or Over the Top 5.10c, the route to the left of the 5.10c, and the route to the left of Blood and Bolts. Some of the routes are new and Mountain Project is so screwed up its hard to tell if they have been added or not. Climbed past a honey beehive that broke in half exposing all the honeycombs, so cool! Never seen anything like it.

Hotdog

Honeycomb half

Terra finished this route this time after getting shut down at the crux last time. Nice work!

Smith River Bachelor Party

You put 11 guys together for 5 days and four nights of floating, fishing and general shenanigans and you are guaranteed a trip of a lifetime. My buddy Ben R is tying the knot! Launch day provided us with a short lived blizzard but a whole day of rain. Needless to say camping night one got a little muddy. Within a minute of pushing off from the launch, I caught the first fish of the trip! I wasnt really even fishing yet, I was still paying out line and I dont think my floating line was even beyond the last eye of my fly rod! Boom! We had decent weather the rest of the trip and caught fish everyday but the last. I have never done this float before but now I know why everybody puts in for the permits year after year. Pretty special way for a bunch of old friends and new friends to spend a few days.

Fish numero uno

Caaaaampin in the mud

Somehow, nobody got hooked in the lip.

The miles and miles of cliffs make this float somewhat committing. There are very few places to get out and cell service nowhere.

Cutbow

Browny

Sunset Cliff

It got up to 80* one day.

Theres an awesome riverside float-in cave. I caught a couple while we were loitering here.

Heaven on Earth is this guy's bar/wedding venue, par 3 golf course/horseshoe pits/Deep Creek cocktails...

Hiked up to Pictograph Cave.

Rainbow