After their ballsy go for broke lay it all on the line before during and after the 36 hours of possible good weather ascent, as they are descending in the teeth of the storm, totally shattered physically, mentally and emotionally, they are hit by a massive avalanche. As Cory’s tears flowed with relief at being alive, fear and possible disgust at himself for risking it all while his new wife is at home alone, I was touched. This moment in COLD brought me back in time, back to 1998 to Mount Owen, where I was going for my own bit of glory, the first descent (ski or snowboard) of the North East Snowfields of Mount Owen. It was here that I was also taken by an avalanche. I am sure that I would have cried if I hadn’t to use all my energy for survival. I also would have used a cell phone if I had one. Or a SPOT satellite rescue beacon, but those things were not available to the masses in 1998. What I did experience while watching them stand from the avalanche was relief. Relief that they were alive. I also felt deep gratitude my life was not extinguished that day. And happiness at having found my spectacular wife who has bore me two beautiful sons.

Life goes on, especially after harrowing experiences. And with the super challenging experiences comes growth and renewal. My body has healed, my ambitions in the mountains have mellowed and now I am looking towards a bright future after serious struggle the past several years. In my envisioned future, I find new goals and the strength and determination to find a way to accomplish them. I owe it to myself and to my family to learn to thrive outside of the mountains. The way down below is much less obvious and wrought with (at least for me) severe challenges. But with boldness and humility I will succeed.

And Below is the trailer:

COLD – TRAILER from Forge Motion Pictures on Vimeo.

Stay warm on your next epic with a Down Jacket from Backcountry.com. I always carry one with me now when I venture into the mountains in winter.

Join us for the Adventure Film Festival World Tour Show in Jackson, Wyoming.

Climb. Ride. Slide. Fly. Fight For Your Environment. Inspire. Go Higher Than You’ve Ever Dared To Go. Journey into the imagination.

Behold the idealized beauty, carved by unbridled passion, at the first annual Adventure Film Festival World Tour Show in Jackson Hole hosted by Purple Orange Brand Communications and 307 Live.

The show starts on December 10th, 2011 at the Town Square Tavern. Doors open at 6 pm and the show starts at 7 pm. Tickets are available here online, at the Jackson Hole Playhouse, and Tavern Liquor Store. Tickets – $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

*Alcohol will be available for purchase

Purchase Tickets Online

December 10th – Evening Film Schedule:

Hour 1:
The Dark Side of the Lens – Directed by: Mickey Smith
Towers of the Ennedi – Directed by Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk / Camp 4 Collective
Hectometer – Directed by: Mathew Brown
On Thin Sea Ice – Directed by: Tor Eckhoff
Scraper Town – Directed by: Zack Canepari
COLD – Directed by: Cory Richards

Hour 2:
Chalk & Ski – Directed by: Chalk and an artist that loves skiing
Summer Snapshot – Directed by: Allie Bombach
Real Skifi- Directed by: Juho Killki
Kadoma – Directed by: Ben Stookesberry
Jimmy Chin “On Assignment” – Directed by: Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk / Camp 4 Collective
Mr Happy Man – Directed by: Matt Morris

**ATTN Parents** some films involve graphic scenes and language.

http://bit.ly/abcWqj

Photo: Stephen Koch 2010

While climbing the north face of the Grand Teton earlier this month I took photographs of this beautiful, rare and unusual looking flower which I had never seen before, called Alpine Lantern, at about 11,900 – 12,000 feet, just below the Guano Chimney. After some searching and inquiring about it, this is what Dick Scott, author of The Alpine Flora of the Rocky Mountains: Volume 1, The Middle Rockies, wrote to me about it:
It’s an uncommon plant, often overlooked, of rocky places above timberline. We have it from cirque walls, moraines, fellfields, talus, scree, and other rocky places in many, but not all, alpine ranges of western Wyoming. It has sort of a disjunct distribution pattern, skipping from one range to another in western North America. I’ve seen it and collected it, here and there, from the Wrangells in Alaska to the Uintas in Utah. If you’d like to see a distribution map for the Middle Rockies you might check the Jackson Library for a copy of my book, The Alpine Flora of the Rocky Mountains: Volume 1, The Middle Rockies (I’m still plugging away on the Southern Rockies and the Northern Rockies). – Dick Scott

So it seems like this may be the first sighting and recording of it in the Tetons. Pretty exciting!

Help support StephenKoch.com with a sweet pair of Steiner Binoculars, to view alpine flowers on your next adventure, from Backcountry.com!

Preston enjoying the cool breeze off of Hidden Falls in Grand Teton National Park. Photo © Stephen Koch

Jenny Lake on a calm morning.

Inspiration Point offers a magnificent view of Jenny Lake and Jackson Hole beyond and is 1 mile from the boat dock and about 400 feet above the lake. The hiking trail is dirt and strewn with imbedded boulders with several steps built into it. A hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point may not be for everyone, but those who venture there will be rewarded with a magnificent view of the falls and the cool, damp breeze emitted from the spray of the cascade. You can also hike right above the exciting rush of water that is Cascade Creek.

Begin your trip at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center, which has a large parking lot. Once at the Visitor Center, you can decide to follow the trail around the lake, 2 miles heading west or about 5 heading north, or take the shuttle boat to the other side.

SHUTTLE BOAT HOURS: The hours of operation for the shuttle boats, which depart about every 15 minutes are:

May 15 – 31 10am – 4pm
June 1 – July 5  8am – 6pm
July 6 – Aug 15  7am – 7pm
Aug 16 – Sept 7  8am – 6pm
Sept 8 – 30 10am – 4pm

The cost to ride the shuttle boat across Jenny Lake to Cascade Canyon trailhead is $10 round trip for adults and $5 for children.

Ken Barkey and his kids hiking to Hidden Falls for some rock climbing. Photo © Stephen Koch

When at the view point of Hidden Falls, make sure to look up at the great climbing and rappelling taking place on the rock walls above. There are several bolted climbs and rappel anchors for climbers of all abilities.

Learn to climb safely and correctly by finding a mentor, hiring a guide and buying this video.

Learning to rock climb in Grand Teton National Park.

Help support StephenKoch.com by heading to Backcountry.com for all the gear you need or covet for your next hiking or climbing adventure!

This climbing trip was one of the more intense trips I have ever done. The combination of wind, snow, ice and whiteout conditions made for a special challenge that kept me intensely interested and in the moment. It is times like these that I love climbing! Nothing keeps me in the moment better than challenging climbing,  except for possibly sex.

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Help support StephenKoch.com with a Brunton Atmospheric Data Center (tells you wind speed and more) from Backcountry.com.

Brunton Atmospheric Data Center Summit

Skiers on Grand Teton. Photo - Stephen Koch

Some of the comments about the trip report were about ropeless descents and downclimbing on the Grand Teton during ski and snowboard descents. In 1982 Rick Wyatt, on free heel gear, solo and without a rope, skied and downclimbed the Ford/Stettner route while making the first free heel / telemark gear descent. A bold outing for sure!

On one particular descent of the Grand Teton by way of the Ford/Stettner route on June 26, 1996 – specific date according to Tom Turiano, who has thankfully kept meticulous record of my, and all who are willing to share with him their, Teton descents –  Wes Bunch, Hans Johnstone, Mark Newcomb and I made up the group. After the climb, as we descended towards the abyss that is the bottom of the Ford Couloir, Mark and I partnered for the technical part of the descent. I chose to eschew the rappels through the Chevy (connects the Ford and Stettner Couloirs on the Grand Teton) and Stettner and descend by “downcliding.” “Downcliding” is a combination of downclimbing and sideslipping.

Knowing Mark, he probably could have descended the Chevy with his skis on. But instead of joining me in my morphing of styles, he waited before rappelling.

Mark Newcomb on Upper Saddle of Grand Teton. Photo - Stephen Koch

I “Downclided” by taking my back foot out of my snowboard binding (using hardboots and plate bindings) and attached a crampon, leaving the front foot with the board on to slide on snow and kick into the snow and ice as an edging tool. I used two ice axes. My idea was to make the “cleanest” descent I was comfortable with. As with most technically challenging  ascents and descents, mountain surface (snow, ice and rock) conditions have to be relatively good. In this instance, the ice was soft enough for me to occasionally get a “bite” with the edge of my snowboard. My triceps received a good workout that day!

Bottom line: stay alive, have fun and be as accurate as possible if you tell.

Oh yea, if you do decide to tell, obviously, don’t put a video of your adventure on the web if your activities involve anything illegal.

The advantages of leaving the board on are:
1. Zero chance of dropping board
2. May be faster (debatable as I was more tentative than with two crampons but there was not the changeover from snowboard to crampons and snowboard on pack and back again to deal with)

3. One step closer to a clean descent

After our descent of the Grand, Mark and I went on to ride the Middle and South Tetons. The day began for me, Hans and Wes from the Lower Saddle, where we spent the night. Mark met us at dawn from the Valley floor, which he left a mere 2 hours earlier.  ”Newc,” as I lovingly call him, is one of the most talented and beautiful skiers and climbers I have known, a true badass – and a humble one at that – who has been a fantastic partner I have been privileged to do many creative and fun (and scary as shit) climbs and descents with over the years!

Stephen Koch morphing styles by "downcliding" on the first descent of the Heim Glacier Route on Kilimanjaro. Photo - Wade McKoy

I feel my morphing of styles to try to accomplish a cleaner descent was somewhat contrived. Aren’t all descents somewhat contrived once we use means other than turning (straightlining is the exception!) on snow to get down a mountain on skis or a snowboard? Side stepping/slipping, jumping, downclimbing, downcliding, belaying, rappelling (now there is speed flying too)…they are all ways to get down a mountain when the mountain (steepness, etc.), surface conditions or our own physical or mental abilities may prevent us from making a clean descent.

Being in the mountains has been the best way to learn about myself – to momentarily strip away my fears and insecurities. I have seen what was thought impossible and made it possible. I have the mountains to thank for making me a better person. Being a proficient technical climber opened up the door for me to take descents from traditional, non-contrived to way contrived. Why not? I think it would be bitchin’ to make turns down the hanging snowfields of the north face of the Grand Teton! If you are not hurting anyone else, why not go nuts learning about yourself?

Point of View - SW Face, Denali, Alaska, 1993. Photo - Stephen Koch

Of course the ideal descent of the Grand Teton, or any mountain, is one with no downclimbing, sideslipping, belaying or rappelling. On the Grand, some jumps, or at least very creative jumpturns over extremely steep, technical terrain will need to be overcome. The steep nature of the Grand Teton does not lend itself to a “turn all the way from the summit down the mountain” (non-contrived?) descent, which is why it has not yet been done. I read that “travo,” a commenter on Teton.AT.com, skied the Grand with a belay through the steep and exposed Chevy section linking the Ford with the Stettner.  The next logical step in the evolution of descent on the Grand is to take it one step further and do what has been done sans belay or with board/s on both feet! That being said, I believe someday a bold person will meet the right conditions and it will be done. The ability of humans to push boundaries is amazing!

Whatever you can do or even think you can do, do it now. Boldness had genius, power and magic in it. Begin it! – Johanne Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Help support StephenKoch.com with gear for your next adventure from my backcountry skiing and snowboarding gear list at Backcountry.com.

The following week I received two pairs of the Ski and Board Tights, size Large and X Large. I tried both on and sent the XL’s back. They are supposed to fit snugly. When I first tried them on they were a bit confining compared to what I am used to wearing for long underwear, which is I/O Bio thin merino. But it made sense that they needed to be snug and supportive to be able to benefit from them. After my first use I was amazed to feel good throughout the day of riding at the Village and especially at the end of the day, when I normally have knee pain (post exercise), there was none! I don’t know the exact science behind them, but they were developed with the Steadman Hawkins Clinic by Mr. Gustafson, a skier who wanted to reduce his knee pain after years of hard skiing. It is my opinion that with the development of the S1 Ski Tight and Board Tight, he succeeded – with flying colors!

Me, showing off my Opedix Ski and Board Tights on top of Albright Peak, Grand Teton National Park. Click on image to increase size.

For the past several weeks I put the tights to the test…snowboarding, skiing and ice climbing…from several trips into the Tetons (on the Middle, Albright, Nez Perce) all day skinning and riding to ripping multiple Tram laps (both skiing and snowboarding) at Jackson Hole to  climbing hard ice and mixed routes in Highlight Canyon outside of Bozeman, MT, to “skiking” (skinning and hiking) Snow King, hiking and riding Glory Bowl on Teton Pass, I have put these tights to the test and they are AMAZING! They “Unload” the joint (read about it here), according to the website and research. All I know is that when I wear them I no longer experience knee pain, which I have been having for the past 5 or so years, especially in my left knee, which has had 2 ACL repairs and is missing a significant portion of the Meniscus. My knees have been through the ringer…six knee surgeries in total to repair and rerepair/replace most of the ligaments in both of my knees as well as the precious meniscus. Of all the issues from torn ligaments, it is the meniscus damage that causes the most pain. Keep that meniscus as in tact as possible. With our active lifestyles we do harm to our joints. Based on how well these tights have performed and actually eliminated my knee pain with extensive use over the past several weeks, I think that they will add years to my active lifestyle. I have a few clients who suffer from excruciating knee pain who I want to have try these. I bet that they will suffer less. Isn’t that what we all want? Less suffering? I  sure do! And to have a lot less suffering for $190 is a deal!

The pain I was experiencing after a day of riding or skiing, especially resort riding (more vertical on generally firmer snow) was getting so bad that I was no longer enjoying riding unless it was untracked powder. So that basically eliminated the Village (Jackson Hole) and other resort riding. I am happy to say that I rode and skied the Village several full days this winter in the S1 Tights and had no knee pain. This is really remarkable. I highly recommend the Opedix Ski and Board tights and look forward to trying the running tights and also the posture shirt, which will hopefully cure my “climber’s” posture (overdeveloped lats and underdeveloped pecs).

Goats caught on film mating high in the Teton Mountains!

On one trip using the tights with Darrel Miller of Storm Show Studios on Nez Perce’s West Hourglass Couloir, I took this photograph of Goats Mating in the Tetons. The one on the bottom may even be a native big horn sheep. Word has it that the mountain goats, pictured mating in this rare image taken in Lupine Meadows, may threaten the native Big Horn Sheep. Story on goats invading the park here.

On this outing I was skeptical of Darrel’s mode of uphill transport, snowshoes. They do not glide and generally sink in more than skis or a splitboard. I met up with him as he was breaking trail up Garnet Canyon. I took the route on the Morain between Taggart and Bradley Lakes and contoured into Garnet after the initial steep section above the morain’s end. I was fortunate to find a couple of sneaks down into Garnet and was happy to have my new Scarpa F1′s, with their forward lean lock throw, which allowed quick transition from uphill to down without removing my skins. Up high, as we were entering the west hourglass couloir on Nez Perce, the snow became firm and steep and I was not comfortable skinning so removed my skis (splitboard) and began postholing through the crust. I watched with envy as Mills stomped up the couloir, with much less effort than I, on his snowshoes.  I did not have a pair of splitboard crampons that fit, like these, from B and D Ski Gear, which I am soon to get. Crampons are vital for skinning in firm conditions!

Back to the Tights…There are a couple of minor annoinances: no zipper/pee hole and the waist closure is a simple shoe string type tie with elastic waistband. For $190 I would like to have a zipper to pee and a better waist closure, like an overlapping Velcro closure. At least reduce the size of the elastic where the knot is to be tied for ease of tying! I did have better results with the knot staying tight by using the surgeons knot, shown here on this fun shoe lace tying site.

Bottom line: if you want to reduce or eliminate knee pain during activities like snowboarding or skiing or want to prevent knee pain from developing in the first place, buy the Opedix S1 Ski and Board Tights.

End Knee Pain with these tights!