The future of Telemark skiing is looking pretty good! Enjoy this stylee edit from Jeremy Lato featuring the Mountain Niceness tele posse! It is always a blast skiing Ellie Singer age 9 and her brother Kapp 13. These kids don’t want coco they want to tele-shred!

Many people are unaware that Deseret Peak is only a stones throw from Salt Lake. Its about a hour drive from my house which is about the same time as it takes me to get to Little cottonwood. Located just west of the Oquirrh mountains, this peak Stands just over 11,000 feet and holds three amazing couloirs. The twins and the north couloir. All three are not small and will will give you a bang for your buck. I asked my friends Caroline Gleich and Forrest Shearer to join me and could not have had a better touring party.  As of now the road to get into the canyon is still under snow and is 4 miles just to the trail head to start your hike in. I brought my sled to cut that time down, but was not stoked on that due to the road being melted out in many spots. Although the skis on my sled did not like it, our party did and we were able to start our hike in with fresh legs. The start of the trail head is wilderness so the sled had to stay and we were off on foot. From the trail head it is 3000 feet to the top of the couloirs. With record breaking heat this day we chose to stay safe and head to the twin couloirs which are north facing and stayed pretty cool the entire day. But throughout our whole hike we could hear big wet slides ripping off the east face and could see debris fanning out onto the aprons of the north couloir. Timing is everything on days like today and our timing was perfect. The north chutes had warmed up perfect to give us some good corn/pow on the way down. The trail out and down lower was a bit of a slog and the snow had become a bit slushy by this time but it was a total success. Special thanks to Caroline for taking all the pictures.

Caroline and Forrest checking out the twin couloirs.
Caroline crushed it by putting in the skinner the entire way. This pic can give you a scale of how big the couloirs are.
The snow got pretty firm at the top so booting was the only option.
Topping out at just over 10,000 feet.
Best part about getting to the top is making your pack lighter. Cliff bars and sandwiches.
Caroline and Forrest checking out the line.

The west couloir of the twins is pretty big, felt more like skiing a bowl, but the snow was pretty good and stable.

Steven Lloyd Photography

I have looked at many photos and videos over the years of Terminal Cancer. It has been on my list for some time and last week I was able to check it off my list. It is quite the couloir with perfect walls that run almost the entire 2000 vertical feet. I headed out to the Ruby's with my friends Dylan Crossman and his girlfriend Mckenna Peterson. We started a little late in the afternoon, but the couloir being a north facing chute we felt good about still getting after it. From the road the couloir looks very steep, but once in it and hiking it felt rather mellow. The Couloir is just wide enough to make rather good turns all the way down and we were lucky to find good chalky pow the entire couloir.

A look at the couloir from the road. Looks pretty intimidating at first.
A little river crossing to get to the skinning.
Dylan and Mckenna about half way up the couloir. It wasn't very steep, but it kept going and going and going. Much longer than it looked.

Sunshine and lunch on the top. Good views of the area.
Dylan making about a thousand tele turns down this couloir.
It was truly an amazing place to visit. One of the most beautiful couloirs I have ever had the pleasure of skiing.

Steve Lloyd Photography

This had been a very busy winter for me at Irwin Catskiing outside of Crested Butte, CO. After a slow start to the ski season, we have hit our stride with lots of snow and epic powder skiing since the end of January. 

The "Movie Cabin" Our base of operations at Irwin

With almost 100" of snowfall in the past six weeks, almost everyday has been deep. Twice in February we woke up to a surprise 17" of 4-6% density snowfall. Epic. Our guide staff Stoney jackets have proven to be more than versatile in everything from cold bluebird days to full on dumpage.

Slaying the deep

Catchin' guide air

 At Irwin, all guides wear RIDE R.A.S. packs while working. We do control our terrain much like a ski area, however we use a lighter touch to keep the ski quality high. This means all guests are outfitted with Element beacons as well.

Soooo goood

Follow the leader!

As March warms up the skiing turns to corn and mountaineering descents. For the first time in six years I will be in Crested Butte for the spring skiing season. While I'll miss Chamonix next month, I'm pretty stoked to turn it up in the backyard for a change!
Steve Banks

Because there was so much snow in the Salt Lake Valley it was hard to pass up the urban opportunities.