The Sliver

You can see it on the left peak, that little crack up there.

On this outing; it was myself, Kyle, and Cody. Meeting at 6:30am and getting to the GTNP by 7:15am I figured we had plenty of time to ski this line and be the first to hit it on a Sunday. It started off really cold. Cold where your bindings creak with every step, and your clothes and beard frost. Once we got out of the dense forest we had instant reprieve from the cold as the sun's rays hit our cold faces. What we would not realize is that this would be actually too warm as the day wore on.

As for our route, we went up to Storm Mountain, traversed out left (booted) and skinned under the couloir.


We made the decision to dig a pit at the base of the couloir as new snow had fallen and we wanted to see how it would react with the old snow. What we got was a strong and stable pack but a clear indication that there would have to be slough management when skiing it. In my mind at the beginning of the day, I was unsure if it were ski-able but after poking around for 3 hours to get to the base and digging the pit, we made the final decision that it was good to go.


Like I said, 3 hours after just getting to the base we had another 1500 feet of boot packing. Just the couloir itself took us another 2 hours with the new snow making it difficult putting in a fresh boot pack sinking up to our waists at certain points. Half way through, with every step getting closer to the 11000 foot summit, I cursed my lack of physical training for these past 2 weeks.

Cody and Kyle making their way up.

Getting to the top I was a little surprised because what I have been told was that there is a pretty big platform up there to switch over. I would disagree, politely of course. It is not sketchy but it is only maybe 12 ft by 3 ft wide, making a platform for 3 people a little crowded. Looking down the opposite side of the Sliver, West Hourglass Couloir, was even more sketchy as it looks really boney and probably not worth it.

Switched over, Cody drops in first, then Kyle, then me. Every turn was perfect. Seriously, perfect. Every heel side turn produced huge over-the-head snow where I could not see, making it actually rather dangerous. I had to slow down at certain points so I did not run into any of the walls because at one point there is a choke that is no wider than 10 feet. Once through 3/4 of the steeper sections, you can really open it up mellowing out to about 35 degrees, perfect for surfing.

(All of my camera's froze and I did not get any shots on the down.)

We sat outside of the base of the couloir, with frozen, rock-hard gloves, and a very high stoke basking in the sun for a quick lunch break before sending it through Garnet Canyon in perfect powder.

February has really sucked here, but this makes up for it and more. Just you know, we would love to get more...if possible.

Parting Photos: