Stephen Koch

When it is cold and raw, like it is now in Jackson Hole, I reach for my wool. The new Merino wool is not uncomfortable and scratchy like its predecessor. This is not the wool sweater your mother used to throw on you. The new wool is luxuriously comfortable, warm and best of all for the active set, doesn’t smell worse than if you rolled around in the dogs mess, like most synthetic long underwear, after sweating in it.

The thing I like about I/O Bio is the styling of the pieces. They are made to function for high intensity activities like running, biking, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, but they also look good worn on their own. So you can be just off a backcountry skiing or snowboarding run on Teton Pass, peel off your soft shell jacket and head straight into work with nary a nostril flared nor eyebrow raised.

Last winer Darrel Miller and I partnered for a climb and descent of he Teton Classic West Hourglass Couloir. The WHC rises above Garnet Canyon at a lovely steep angle on a north aspect for around 2,000 plus feet.

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Winter will be here before we know it…don’t get caught without the essentials for a safe, fun and successful backcountry outing. Check it out… http://bit.ly/abcWqj Recommend on Facebook Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post

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Steve Romeo, skier and blogger of Tetonat.com, posed  a question about skis vs. snowboard – which is a better mountain descent tool here.   There are many excellent comments, so check out the link above for those! Following are my responses from that discussion. Randosteve:  I think it might be a little easier for snowboarders [...]

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I did not snowboard the north face of the Aiguille du Midi while I lived in Chamonix in 1990, although I wanted to. I did make some turns along the north side of the ridge traversing to the glacier on my way to ride the Gervasutti Couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul. The “Gervasutti,” as [...]

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While reading a trip report on TetonAT.com about a recent ski descent of the Grand Teton I experienced butterflies in my stomach reading about the slough avalanches and felt their vulnerability while viewing one of the rappelling photos in the middle of the Chevy. Some of the comments about the trip report were about ropeless [...]

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I have never done the Sliver, a true Teton Classic Ski or Snowboard Descent off of the South side of Nez Perce. Looking forward to it someday…maybe even with Axl in the not too distant future! While this video was being shot, I was on Albright, a little to the Southeast of the Sliver. I [...]

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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 [...]

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I thought it was Sherman Poppin and many incorrectly believe it was Jake Burton (due to some wicked good marketing done by Burton Snowboards), who invented the snowboard. No one may be completely sure who was first to stand up sideways and ride downhill on a sled over snow, but in the 1920′s Gunnar and [...]

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I shot this short video on April 14, 2009 on Teton Pass – Jackson Hole, WY. Peter Selkowitz is on skis and I am shredding on the snowboard (obviously since I shot it). Fun to be ripping powder (albeit a bit heavy, but not shabby for mid-April!). Recommend on Facebook Tweet about it Subscribe to [...]

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