JHMR athlete Kim Havell moved to Jackson Hole two years ago and has skied what many people would call a lifetime of lines in one seasons in the Tetons. Recently, Kim skied the Otterbody Route which is on the East Face of the Grand Teton. With only a handful of descents on the Otterbody, Kim is the first female to ski the exposed and technical face. Way to go Kim!
Read Kim’s account:
Late morning on May 15th Brian Warren, Pete Gaston and I finished the last rappel onto the Teepee Glacier to wrap up a fun ski of the Otterbody route on the Grand Teton. With great climbing and skiing conditions our team had a smooth adventure.
At 4:30am we started up the standard approach of the Stettner/Chevy/Ford couloirs. We swapped leads up the route with Brian heading out first in the dark by headlamp, Pete connecting the Stettner to Chevy with the rising sun, and myself leading the 3rd ice pitch up towards the Ford at daybreak.
Once on top we waited for the sun to heat the slopes and then took our first turns down the East face. It was still firm. We waited another fifteen minutes and began our true descent towards the Otterbody. With numerous rappels involved and the slopes warming quickly, we tried to move through the technical sections as efficiently as possible.
After the East face rappel to the Otterbody snowfield we skied down the gut to the first of several rappels that would eventually take us six hundred feet lower to the Teepee Glacier.
Once safely off the Teepee our group high-fived a safe and successful foray on one of the great peaks of the Teton range.
Photos except the intro pic by Tristan Greszko. Check out his amazing work: www.tristangreszko.com
One last photo from Kim Havell on the East Face of the Grand.
To follow Kim’s adventures: Facebook,Blog, Twitter, and Instagram.
