The Tetons are a pretty sweet place for a first backcountry ski adventure. I lucked into a space in the Baldy Knoll Hut out of Driggs, ID, thanks to DV, as the only newbie on a trip with some folks I'd never met. Turns out, this'd be one of the coolest things I've ever done.
We had 3 nights in the hut and 2 full days skiing. We dug a few snow pits, did some beacon drills (Tip: turn your beacon on "transmit" or "send" mode before burying it in a drill), climbed and shuffled along many a ridge, and got in many many turns in some fresh gorgeous powder.
It was a great group, too. David came up from San Diego, me and Derek came from Boise, and Sean and Angie drove in from Butte, where they've been only since last fall. We fell easily into the rhythm of eat drink ski eat drink hang out etc.
The snow wasn't piling up, but we got about 5 inches the night before we hiked in. And the weather. If you can't have new snow every day, you want blue skies and sun and temps that stay low enough to keep all but the most sunbaked snow in very nice shape. And that's what we got.
When I decided to learn to ski at the tender age of 35, it was for the goal of skiing in the backcountry. I knew on this trip, before I ever pointed the skis downhill, that I'd made a wise decision.
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