Report from February 7, 2025

Raining at the house this morning, and wet snow on the stairs and car in Wilson, WY.

I had a feeling it was still gonna wild up there.

We hustled out into the mountains.

Our first run was pure gold up high with deep snow, insane winds, and copious faceshots.

Teton, Fox, Nate, and I met in disbelief at the bottom.

Well, at least us 3 Californians were in disbelief.

It was violently deep up top, then dust on crunch down low.

On our second run we decided to venture in a chute-filled zone hoping it would ski similar to run 1.

It did not.

We dug some pits and dig some snow tests and this zone was clearly unstable and cross loaded.

Our safest route was to ski cut a chute we know very well and ski the avalanche bed surface.

I ski cut my chute and a pretty big (size 2) avalanche ripped out.

If the chutes didn’t avalanche, we were gonna have to hike out or find another alternative.

Owen ski cut another chute, it avalanched, then he skied it with Nate.

The bed surface was icy and bad.

I crossed my tips hard twice and almost high-sided both times.

We dared not leave the bed surface.

The lower part of the chute held avalanche debris, and we were able to squeak out to the skiers right and harvest to true pow turns before things got dust-on-crusty towards the bottom.

Heavy stuff and exhilarating.

We went back up for one more run and just skied mellow powder and pillows in the storm.

We considered trying one more, but we all felt like we’d gotten our fill.

To be clear, ski cutting a slope is not something anyone should do unless you are trained and experienced.

A myriad factors go into performing a safe ski cut.

Thanks, Wyoming!

Photos