“In the end, to ski is to travel fast and free – free over untouched snow country. To be bound to one slope, even one mountain, by a lift may be convenient but it robs us of the greatest pleasure that skiing can give, that is to travel through the wide wintery country; to follow the lure of peaks which tempt on the horizon and to be alone for a few days or even hours in clear, mysterious surroundings" - Hans Gmoser
Gros Ventre is French for Big Belly, a name French Canadian trappers used for a band of Arapahoe Indians and later for a mountain range in Wyoming. In 1984 the Wyoming Wilderness Act honored the rugged awesomeness of the Gros Ventre Range by protecting 287,000 acres as Wilderness and ensuring it remained forever wild.
On March 25 Derek Collins and I skied 33 miles from Jackson up Cache Creek and down Granite Creek to Hoback Canyon, traversing the core of the Gros Ventre Range and Wilderness. Equipped with lightweight Nordic backcountry equipment we took advantage of spring conditions and covered the thirty-three miles and 4,200 vertical feet in nine hours.
Forrest, you are killing it lately.
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