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.

————————————————————————————————–

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

—————————————————————————————–

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!

Dani heading into the history books!

Congratulations to Dani DeRuyter, who, on March 11, 2010, carved her way into the history books with the first descent of the Grand Teton by a female snowboarder! Dani’s wonderful accomplishment comes 39 years after Bill Briggs made his visionary first descent on skis and 21 years after my first snowboard descent in 1989. I got to know Dani last year when she was helping me with sales and marketing for my speaking presentations. And I knew right away, or at least once the snow flew and she was nowhere to be found (in the office at least), that Dani was a stoked and committed rider!

Grand Teton, showing descent lines. Yellow is Dani's line of descent (Ford to Chevy), Red is Brigg's original, East Ridge to Stettner, Green is the Otterbody Route and Pink is the Owen-Spalding.

I don’t think anyone has descended the Grand on a mono-ski! There are plenty of firsts to do out there…you just have to search a little farther these days, but they are surely still out there!

Really though, it is the individual enjoyment of ANY adventure that is worthy. One just needs to step slightly beyond their level of comfort to feel and to learn a thing or two about themselves. If that happens to be learning a new knitting “move,” trying meditation for the first time, swimming in a recently thawed lake or venturing to an unknown area to you, you are experiencing the same emotions that accompany one completing a first descent down a steep mountain face! We are all the same!

Great first person account of Dani’s adventure here.

And here for the photos!

One cool thing to note is that Dani made her snowboard descent on a splitboard (snowboard that “split’s” apart to become skis for going up and fastened together to shred on descent), a tool that is the future of backcountry snowboarding, especially when coupled with Spark R and D bindings!

Spark R&D – Splitboard Transitions from Will Ritter on Vimeo.

Demo Video of how a Splitboard and bindings work!

I am recommitting to riding hard snowboard boots this spring and am looking to make/find the ideal binding. If anyone has it dialed or has ideas, please contact me through comments below or better yet, directly at stephen (at) stephenkoch (dot) com.

I look forward to seeing you out on a tour in the Park sometime soon.

Stephen

Check it out here!

Taking the bus from Jackson Hole to Grand Targhee Resort.

My wife dropped us off so we could take the Targhee Express ($88.00 for ride AND adult lift ticket…$44.00 for ride alone) shuttle from Snow King on a recent Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. The ride through town, picking up passengers along the way, took 40 minutes before finally heading West on Highway 22 to Stiltson Ranch for the final stop before going over Teton Pass and eventually arriving at Targhee. If coming from town and you can get dropped off or have a car, I suggest parking on Scott Lane and getting on at The Lodge at Jackson Hole, 80 Scott Lane, at 7:40 a.m. to save yourself the time wandering through town.

Once we were on the road, so to speak, the ride was comfortable and mellow. I enjoyed hanging with Axl, reading the paper together and drinking my coffee (Axl happily popping the bubble that formed after each sip), all the while knowing that I was doing something beneficial for the environment by not driving and saving the pounding on my vehicle.

At Targhee we got our tickets, kids under 5 ski for free with the purchase of an adult ticket ($69.00…$44.00 when purchased with Targhee Shuttle…kids 5 and under ski for free).

I was unable to connect with Sam so Axl and i took the Dreamcatcher lift to the top of Fred’s Mountain, elevation 9,862 feet. Once on top we headed north on the Headwall Traverse to Chief Joseph Bowl. This was a bit steeper than Axl was enjoying, so I skied with him in between my legs and distracted him by doing “jumps” (lifting him high up into the air after hitting a small bump), after he asked to ski  ”together.” (sure sign he is not comfortable with the steepness of the slope)

We hooked up with a couple fun guys from NYC who my wife and I met at Koshu, where we popped in for fantastic drinks made by Chris and food by Chef Josh Spisak, after checking out Kaidi Dunstan’s latest amazing show at the Taylo Piggot Gallery (formerly the Muse Gallery).  It was a real treat to spend several days among Kaidi’s paintings while framing them with Rocky at Full Circle Frameworks.

We eventually made our way to the Beginner Area off of the Shoshone Lift. Let me tell you, this area is stellar for skiing with kids. There are eyeballs of different colors strapped to trees throughout the upper woods to start, which lead into the raven/bird trail and eventually worked our way back to the bottom of the lift, which felt like it was situated slightly uphill, which made it difficult for Axl to ski himself to the chair. I chose to push him to keep things moving along. The lift is a comfortable quad (four person) with a safety bar that I happily lowered over us on every run.

Alley Oop Alley had us giddy with the joy of moving swiftly over the smooth rollers. What a fantastic and fun run that it would be nice to have more of at other resorts. Kid friendly!

I had to be back in town earlier than the bus, which departs Targhee at 4:15 or so and arrives town around 5:30, would have arrived. So we got a ride from our new friends from NYC so I could make it to my presentation to a group from the World Presidents Organization at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes for Axl to fall asleep after a wonderful outing to Grand Targhee!

- Dave Kenealy, President, Chicago Mountaineering Club.

Stephen Koch gave an outstanding presentation to the entire student body of the Jackson Hole Community School in February of 2010. Using a combination of incredible photos and entertaining storytelling, Stephen held the students spellbound as he described his early days as a snowboarder, his first descent accomplishments, and his harrowing experience in an avalanche on Mt. Owen in the Tetons. While he provided excellent information regarding snow safety and avalanche awareness, what made Stephen’s presentation so meaningful was its motivational aspect. Asking students, “What’s your avalanche?”, he asked students to reflect on the obstacles or difficulties in their own lives, and encouraged them to meet those challenges head on. Guest speakers at our school sometimes encounter restless students and the occasional side conversation; during Stephen’s talk, you could have heard a pin drop. The students were fully engaged and clearly absorbed his message of maintaining strength and courage in the face of life’s obstacles. I would highly recommend Stephen as a speaker for young people.

- Amy Fulwyler, Dean of Faculty, Jackson Hole Community School

We searched extensively for a speaker that would actively engage our clients and provide a unique story, well beyond the traditional business motivational speakers. Stephen delivered on all accounts given his non-traditional life experiences. Stephen added immense value to our offsite client marketing event because of his candid interaction with our clients regarding his adventures. We found that Stephen added a refreshing spin on his approach to facing challenges, which is not often communicated in an interesting fashion by traditional business speakers. We would not hesitate to include Stephen in future events.

- Michael Jordan, American Capital

At Pepsi-QTG Canada we asked Stephen to come in and get our
employees ready to ‘climb’ our mountain of being the top Consumer
Packaged Goods company in Canada. Stephen did an incredible job
sharing his experiences and translating that into what it takes to
ready yourself for any challenge. Our employees just loved hearing
Stephen talk.

–Pepsi-QTG Canada

In addition to being artistically communicated, Stephen’s accounts of his alpine adventures were told from the heart. Each tale included insight on important life-lessons, and naturally encouraged further dialogue from all who were present. Breath-taking photos only served to further enhance the imagery that was inspired by Stephen’s accounts. Although he described a variety of circumstances and missions, the central idea of this presentation clearly revolved around the importance of remaining resilient and goal-oriented on all levels of one’s life.

- Kate Ritter ‘08, Coordinator of Recreation, Office of Student Life
Bennington College

I have known Stephen Koch for several years. He represented JHMR as a sponsored athlete for over 10 years. More recently I have gotten to know him through summer climbs and winter backcountry ski ascents that he has guided me on throughout the Tetons, including this past summer an overnight climb of the South Ridge of Nez Perce. Stephen possesses great communication skills and is an excellent teacher and guide. Stephen has earned respect and admiration throughout the skiing, snow boarding, guiding and climbing industries. He has outstanding intuition, knowing what people are capable of and just how far to push them. He is very encouraging and a wonderful asset to have during any type of adventure or emergency. He possesses a quick wit, tells good stories and knows how to tear up a dance floor!

I look forward to skiing with Stephen Koch this winter.

- Connie Kemmerer, Owner, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

Stephen Koch has given a vey special presentation at the Explorer’s Festival of Lodsz (Poland) in November 2009, very different from all the others, only concentrating on a specific topic of theirs.

Stephen mixed up every aspect of his life into it, showing that all is important in an explorer’s mind to succeed : his son, his love of snowborading and climbing, his desire of challenging others achievements and also his dancing aptitudes! All of those were used to build a complete show rather than a presentation to help share with the audience his personal experiences, the good ones and the bad ones. What he added was a very sensitive touch, a sense of love of mankind coupled with his love of adventure and explorations through his body and soul strength.

He very unsually showed himself injured and suffering instead of promoting only success and achievements. This gave to the students listening to this touching, tall and blond man the flavour of the terrible difficulty that you may need to overcome when you give yourself a target like his. Risk is always forgotten when there is a success and still, Stephen likes to show that you not only need to be clever, brave and skilled, you also need to be lucky to succeed. Life is a permanent challenge…

Stephen has high spirits and a powerful body, together with the skills and the sensibility to achieve grand projects. We certainly will hear about him again soon.

- Christine LOŸS, Journalist, Writer, Communicator

I enjoyed your presentation at the JH Conservation Alliance today so very much. You deliver your compelling stories with engaging drama and vivid details and an authentic voice that is both true to who you are and evocative in the truth of your unique experiences. Thank you so much for sharing your stories!

- Theresa Griswold, Writer

Not only is Stephen an amazing mountaineer, he challenges
traditional thought and provides a new paradigm of accomplishing
the impossible.

–Jack Tackle, World Class Mountaineer

Stephen Koch’s presentation was clear, concise, insightful,
and peppered with good humor and surprising humility for
one so accomplished. His intelligent decision making and amazing
ability to focus on an objective come through loud and clear. His
respect for the natural world and the diversity of people living in it is
refreshing. Stunning photographs from Everest color and clarify his
story and leave the viewer wanting more. Be prepared for question and
answer sessions that go on and on!

–Suzanne Hanlon, UO Outdoor Program, University of Oregon

I was so happy you gave the opening talk as it was a great beginning of our conference….I was busy but you drew me right in and I was entranced with your stories, setting such unfathomable goals and then working through very difficult trials to achieve them…Great talk and great audience reception!

- Cindi Griggs, Manager, Teton Hand and Upper Extremity Conference

On behalf of the American Alpine Club I want to thank you for coming and doing a slideshow/open talk at the Climber’s Ranch. Despite the technical difficulties, your talk was a huge success! As you sat in the arm chair you brought everyone in with you. Through your epic journeys to your experience with misery and pain. You are truly an inspiration to the climbing community and the AAC is honored to have you as a member.

- Dana Richardson, American Alpine Club

Enjoy!