Today was another full day at Grand Targhee Resort. In order to travel in the backcountry, it’s necessary to be very comfortable on skis – and since I’ll be using relatively new telemark skis, climbing skins, and will be pulling a gear sled, the more practice I can get before heading out into the backcountry, the better.

The morning was spent in a telemark lesson with my old friend Erica Linnell. Erica was an instructor on my very first NOLS course in Alaska, which I did the summer after I graduated high school. I spent a month with her hiking across the northern Talkeetna mountain range. Now, Erica lives in Driggs, and works for the NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute, and teaches lessons at Grand Targhee. It was great to reconnect with Erica after 13 years!

After a full day at Grand Targhee, we came back to the NOLS base for a tasty dinner. This evening in Victor, Idaho we went to check out the Backcountry Film Festival. It seemed like the whole town came out to check out the latest backcountry adventure films. Standouts of the night included “Solitaire” by Sweetgrass Productions, and “Breaking Trail” by Powderwhore.

Solitaire trailer

Breaking Trail trailer