Stephen Koch

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 than skiers [...]

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For those of you interested in writing a grant proposal, Andrew McLean, Backcountry skiing guru and author of the Backcountry Ski Blog StraightChuter.com wrote a good piece on the basics of an expedition proposal. The expedition proposal helps clarify the purpose of the proposed trip for the participants as well as may land you some [...]

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This post is from an email conversation I had with (I believe) Lou Dawson, blog master of www.wildsnow.com and a visionary ski descent master to boot, several years ago. I try to define the nuances of mountain descents. I would love to know your comments…
Stephen Koch rides some firm ’snow’ on Puncak Jaya, New Guinea, [...]

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Stephen Koch
This was first published in Alpinist Magazine in June, 2004.
On January 17 at 4:45 a.m. Mark Newcomb and I began the Grand Traverse, a route that comprises ten peaks (in order: Teewinot, Owen, Grand Teton, Middle Teton, South Teton, Ice Cream Cone, Spalding, Gilkey’s Tower, Cloudveil Dome and Nez Perce) in Grand Teton National [...]

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Mark Newcomb and I skied and snowboarded much of the Black Ice Couloir on the Grand Teton in the middle 1990’s. We used a rope to belay the first 200′ because it felt like the right thing to do. I think Mark would have preferred to not have used the rope but acquiesced because I [...]

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