I just got off the phone with Exum Guide & friend Zahan Billimoria. Zahan was the guide on this February 2013 trip to Apocalypse Couloir on Prospector Peak in the Grand Teton National Park with athletes Griffin Post & Max Hammer.
Zahan told us that he pitched the idea of doing a couple of big tours in the Grand Teton N.P. this winter with a couple TGR athletes. TGR was super enthusiatic about the project and signed on to two big day trips. One trip was to the Apocalypse Couloir on Prospector Peak and the other was to the East Face of the Middle Teton.
“The TGR guys were psyched about the idea and decided to send a camera man and a couple athletes out into the park with me.” – Zahan
The key to pulling off a trip a trip like this going light. That’s exactly what a film crew and big mountain athletes can’t do. This made the trip that much more impressive.
“The guys did great considering how long these tours were and the gear they were on. Carrying all the camera gear was another challenge that they pulled off well.” – Zahan
This line is a tricky one with a rappel, steep ski to rappel over an icefall. The boys got lucky on this trip as the ice fall was covered in decent snow and they didn’t have to execute the second rappel.
“Yeah, it’s usually a rappel to ski to rappel over water ice, but the ice was filled in with snow. We were stoked that we got to ski the whole way down.” – Zahan
The conditions in chute were good with some fresh and blown in snow.
“It was super soft, nothing was moving, and these guys just shredded.” – Zahan
The real question is “Was it fun?” This is not a good question to ask Zahan because he lives for this stuff. Z is the kinda guy who used to hike up 5,000 vertical feet and rip down it before getting to his old desk job at 8am. So, it’s nice that Max Hammer gives us this:
“Probably the top 3 coolest things I’ve ever done on skis.” – Max Hammer
Ok, that makes it official: skiing the Apocalypse Couloir in good conditions would clearly be epic.
Thanks to Zahan Billimoria for the quick interview.
Gnarly line for sure.
Earlier this winter:
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=9607
Cool write-up on a first descent earlier this winter on an adjacent line to Apocalypse, before Spackman was killed in a slide in Apocalypse:
http://outerlocal.com/skiing/the-rapture-outpost
Ultra rad, & extreme danger.
add that to the bucket list!
That’s a long walk. Pros