NOLS WOE Tetons Ski Mountaineering Expedition: Day 19 – Touring

Another day of beautiful weather gives us the opportunity to ski tour the surrounding mountains. I lead a group to the north. Notes:

• After breakfast, we convened as a group and made our way across the meadow to the base of the mountains. There, our instructors had created a full scale avalanche multiple burial scenario.
• We quickly organized, and started the search for buried avalanche victims. Most had beacons on, but two didn’t. Searching For buried victims without a beacon is very tedious, and requires the use of an organized probe line. We line up on one side of the slide zone and do a coordinated grid search with probes.
• Afternoon, I led a group on a fun tour to the hills north of our campsite. Got some good turns in, and a great burn skinning back up.
• This evening we did course and personal evals, and then had a relaxing campire. Had a good long conversation with Roger Yim.
• Tomorrow we ski with sleds back to the lowlands, in preparation for our departure from the backcountry.