Showing posts with label idaho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idaho. Show all posts

Monday, July 27, 2015

A Bouldering Trifecta


This spring, David took two weeks off from work to boulder in Bishop, California. Christine flew down to meet him during her spring break from school. David's two weeks turned into four due to a lack of available work back at home. Chasing cooler temps, David traveled from Bishop to Joe's Valley, Utah to Castle Rocks State Park, Idaho. Christine was lucky enough to follow to Joe's for five days, and even snuck in a weekend trip to Idaho to meet up with David and friends at the end of their trip. Once again, this trip was made a lot more fun by the company of great friends.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Yeah Winter!

I love Winter and spending time in the mountains!  Whether it is early morning laps at the resort or backcountry touring with friends.  It is great to be outside. 

Enjoy these images from Jon Mancuso  http://www.jonmancuso.com/ shot in the early part of the season and be sure to follow all my ski adventures this season at https://www.instagram.com/mountainniceness

All the best-
Danny Walton-
Mammut Athlete Team

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Snow in the Alpine!


Time to break out the puffy coat winter is in full effect.  The epic indian summer and its golden trees have dropped their leaves and the alpine is coated with snow.  This past fall has been one of the most beautiful in recent memory.  As December settles in Mother Nature is off to a good start and hopefully will bless us with a deep winter.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Idaho - A Short Report

Heather Lords climbing Jigawatt 5.11+ at the Portal in Pass Creek Canyon, Idaho
 It was a long, hot, and dry summer here in Idaho. Massive wildfires raged on during portions of August with little to no rain most of the month. Temperatures remained above average for July and August. Meanwhile, we did our best to chase the shade and climb. As September arrived, Heather and I concluded our new routing efforts at various local crags.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Hot Lava at the Home Crags

Spring came early this year to Eastern Idaho with abundant sunshine and many days of good weather. I've been very active bolting new routes near my home at a few of our local cragging destinations. Miles of volcanic basalt rock in every direction makes new routing easy if you want to go through the hideous efforts to clean dirt, bust off choss, and make every effort to insure a safe an enjoyable route!

I've added just over twenty new routes at a handful of regional sectors in the last month and a half ranging from 5.9 to 5.13, including a couple of projects. What we lack in world class stone we make up for in fitness, enjoyment and uniqueness! Here are a handful of images showing Mammut gear in action on my favorite routes thus far. Really enjoying the new Climax 9.6 rope and my Togir harness!

Stephen Elmer mid-crux on EDS 5.13a at South Park. F.A. Matt Tengiao. One of the best, if not the best route at South Park.

Working on my project, In Between Days at South Park. The basalt at South Park is very unique and challenging to climb. The steep angle and open-handed jugs, desperate slopers, and pinches are a blast!

Heather Lords crimping her way through Drive-by Trucker 5.12c at South Park. A long and sustained route with big moves and techy sequences.

Heather Lords on Drive-by Trucker. Got lock-off strength??

The Temptation project at South Park. Pinchers of power!

Stephen Elmer working on Hustle and Flow 5.13a at the Pointless Crag. This is a short route with a very perplexing crux!

Heather Lords fighting her way up Black Betty 5.12a at the Pointless Crag. A steep swell of black bulging basalt. Cryptic and POWERFUL!



~ Dean Lords


Sunday, February 19, 2012

A Little Adventure in Idaho

It's been a pretty dry winter here in Idaho but we are having some success exploring new terrain in the remote Lemhi Mountains in eastern central Idaho. Here's a short edit of our ski descent down the southeast face of an unnamed 10,424' summit.



Dean Lords

Monday, February 7, 2011

Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains

After an early breakfast and a good nights rest at the Sawtooth Hotel we got into our cars and made the short drive to the Redfish Lake trail head. We put on our skins and loaded up three make shift sleds to pull the bulk of our winter sleeping gear into the Bench Hut.

This 6 mile skin that gained 1600" of vert was fun and rather easy as the stoke grew around every hill and bend in the trail.

We made a quick stop at the Bench Hut to learn Sun Valley Trekkings ways while the guide was still with us. We all had a quick snack and repacked for a mid day ski tour.

We made our way up from the hut and this was one of the first peaks to show itself.
The Grand Mogul and its Boy Scout Couloir!!!
This was on the tick list.
It was getting late in the day so we did a fun but mellow ski down to the Redfish Lake.
We set a skinner back up to the hut, started the wood stoves and got dinner and the wood fired Sauna going.

The next morning we of course already had Couloirs that we knew about and had set as goals. This is Hayburn's north facing shot. It also has a south facing shot that goes from the same saddle. Yes, we Hayburned X2 up this one to ski the south side all the way down to Redfish Lake. Traversed the lake to the skinner we set the day before back to the hut just before dark.

Here's a pic I took looking down the north facing side of Heyburn.

The next day the light was much better and we had our sights set on the Boy Scout Couloir. We all skinned up from the hut to a low peak of Heyburn Mountain that had 2000' slide paths that skied to the lake. After crossing the lake we began the skin to the base of the Grand Mogul.

We had done some research on the Boy Scout and knew there was some kind of chalk stone that kept the weak from its summit. We had looked from all the angles we could and never got a glimpse of it until booting up and into the Crux.

In this pic you can see the massive rock that would test our skills.

If you look close you can see Redfish lake just behind my skis.
A few hundred feet more to go until the chalk stone.

Twin brothers (wombmates) Bret and Stefan Beattie had this sketchy pitch under control. I wanted in but Stefan, a long time rock and ice climber, really wanted this one and he got it.

Once the wombmates made it up the crux, our group of nine had turned into four. The rest skied the powder in the lower Couloir. Brennan and I made our way up the crux. The three of them worked on an anchor for the way down while I set the booter to the top.

This pic shows Stefan half way down the upper Snow field of the Boy Scout.

There were some bolted anchors that we found under the snow aways above the chalk stone. The rope we had was a bit to short and we had to down climb the last ten feet. This took some time and it was getting dark quickly.

After we all got off the rock, back into our skis, and the rope packed back away it was really getting dark. The ski down the rest of Boy Scout to the Lake, the traverse across the lake, and the hike up our old skinner back to the Bench Hut was all done with headlamps.

The next morning we packed our gear and got ready for the move to the Fishhook Yurt.

We were very pleased to ski a Couloir called the Gun Barrel with our over sized packs, to which we strapped the sleds. Also very pleased to get to the yurt and get wood stoves and dinner going.

The small red arrow points to our last Couloir. The Sickle Couloir on Hortsmann Peak. The next on the list, and our objective for the last day in the Sawtooth Mountains.

This is a picture I took on hike up to the Sickle.

Another long steep booter to the top.

After a great week of skiing in the Sawtooths we were in a rush to get back to Salt Lake. So we made quick work of the Sickle's steep narrow top and shredded back down to the Fishhook Yurt. There, we cleaned up and packed our bags for the long, mostly flat, trek out to the road.

Oh yeah, here are the wombmates getting ready to ski down just after me.

Brennan taking a moment to look around at the beauty as we wait for the wombmates.

The setting sun as we skate out Redfish Lake road to Highway 75.

The full crew back in Stanley Idaho having a quick bite and a few beers before we part ways.

A parting shot from the Sawtooth Hotel. A sitting nook that leans you against the warm chimney.

Much thanks to Sun Valley Trekking, Sawtooth Hotel, Ember Photography, Mammut, Rossignol, and my friends and family.


Ski ya later. Dylan Crossman


http://www.dylancrossman.com/ http://www.skierboyz.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Mt. Niceness-"Winter Two Thousand Heaven" Vol. 1 Sun Valley

Greetings and Happy Winter!

Ullr is smiling on us and blessed us with some great early season snow! Here is some from footy from Sun Valley. I am rocking my Mammut ski uni from 3 years ago....the Nirvana Jacket...still bomber gear!

It feel great to back on my skis and see all my winter friends. Winter is a really special time of year. Get out and celebrate the snow!



Enjoy,
Danny Walton

Friday, April 16, 2010

April or February? More pow skiing in the Sawtooths!



Skiing the shadows of Mt Heyburn


























































Living the dream at the Bench Lakes Hut!






















Fresh K2 Coomback
















Fishhook Yurt
























It is always a treat to ski each spring with my friends/guides from Sun Valley Trekking. What makes it so special is being with people that share my passion for skiing, powder and time in the mountains. Like our Pioneer Yurt trip last week we were blessed with another 2 feet of fresh in the Sawtooths. Things were not stable up high which forced us to lower angle pow skiing. Great turns and face shots all day long!
Gonna be a great spring! Enjoy the mountain niceness!


Cheers,
Danny Walton











Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Mountain niceness training tips


Waking up this morning I was greeted with the crisp crisp mountain air. My hands and feet were freezing as I rode my cruiser bike to coffee shop. The sunrises are looking a bit different....and yes the days are getting shorter. It is true I am crazed by the glorious snow and winter! I do enjoy our beautiful Idaho summers filled with amazing mt biking, climbing and hiking but they are all preparation.....for the epic winter ahead of us!

Here is a training tip for you to add to the mix. Enjoy and have a laugh.....and some fun!
http://production.plumtv.com/video_player/sun_valley/11572_sv_tip_exer_bosuball2.flv

Cheers,
Danny Irie Walton

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Hayburn Couloir Video-Sawtooth Mts,Idaho



Hayburn Couloir-Sawtooths


Greetings,

Wow.... it time to switch gears from tele-ski mode to climbing and biking adventures! But, first I'd like share a video from Hayburn Couloir in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho with the K2 team. The route was accessed from the Bench Lakes Hut which is one of Sun Valley Trekking www.svtrek.com/ 5 huts or yurts! I was blessed to spend half the month at these huts in beautiful Idaho! More Mountain Niceness to come...............Enjoy!


Danny Irie Walton





touring across the 5th Lake
Gabe Rogel, Heather Paul, Mike Hattrup, Andrew McLean, Luke Miller


Andrew McLean getting ready to drop in Hayburn.

Love the Nirvana Series.....bomber gear!
Home Sweet Home.....Sawtooths,Idaho.