Backcountry
Climbing and skiing the three Teton Classic lines over three days.
“This was a lovely immersion into the Tetons and experience these lines in some of the finer conditions they can be in. A huge thanks goes out to everyone on these mountains for their camaraderie – Specifically Zack Little and Will Howard.” – Michael Wirth
The three lines in this episode are the Grand Teton’s Ford-Stettner, Middle Teton’s East Face to Glacier Route, and Mount Moran’s Skillet.
The Classic Flow is a multi-part series that will dive intimately into the journey of Michael Wirth (a 24-year-old ski mountaineer) climbing and skiing 31 of the Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America in just a single season.
“I embarked on this journey due to the fear of imminent last descents among these lines. With the climate changing rapidly, our snow is disappearing in many places. As a kid from the Aspen Valley, I grew up with Chris Davenport’s, Art Burrow’s and Penn Newhard’s book, The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America, looming as a distant dream. Cody Townsend’s FIFTY project has also been a sense of motivation and inspiration to take on the challenge of skiing a variety of these lines – what an adventure? Thus, I set out in January of 2022 to ski as many lines as possible in one season to discover what was possible from the logistic, technical and endurance capacities of myself. Carly Valerious illustrated the animated intro sequence and worked with the talented editor Rainy Adkins to bring it to final animated form. I can’t thank these two enough for their work on this.” – Michael Wirth
