Thomas Turiano

Before Hans Saari died in a ski mountaineering accident on May 7, 2001 in the Alps, he mentioned to me that he and Alex Lowe had skied a very steep and exciting couloir on Peak 10,031 (1988 Mount Blackmore quadrangle) in the northern Gallatin Range. This rugged volcanic peak sits between the forks o...

Received this on 7/1/05 from Ed Muller: Hi Tom, You most likely don't remember me, but I just wanted to drop a line and say congrats on the nice feature article about you in that Backcountry ski mag this winter. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing you get some kudo's as a most deserving top notch guide and ...

Over the past week (June 20-24, 2005), Forrest McCarthy and I climbed Younts Peak from Turpin Meadow, and then floated in Alpacka Rafts from as high up as we could in the Yellowstone River. On June 20, we left Turpin Meadow at around 10:30am and hiked up Soda Fork of Buffalo River to Crater Lake, hi...

Received this report from Bobby Downs of a descent of the north face of Black Mountain in the Western Beartooths: I wanted to send you a shout and ask you a question about Black Mountain in the Absaroka Range (Western Beartooth). In Select Peaks you mentioned that Saari and Lowe climbed the line ski...

Nick, I spoke to Darrell Miller. He is the one who named Dome Peak. Here's what he has to say: Yo Tom, during my short tenure in the GV, I have named the peaks what I think they look like to me. The one I call Dome Peak is west of 10649, east of Cache Peak. It's pretty insignificant really, a little...

For those interested:

even in the dead of winter, you can drive to the end of the road because there is some sort of state or county employee residence up there. You drive a couple hundred yards past the house and park along side the road.

t

Nick, I am not sure what the Gros Glacier Couloir is. But I would guess that it is on the north side of the peak, not the south. There are several short couloirs that spike up to the ridgecrest west of the summit. I have heard reference to a Dome Peak and Dome Couloir in the vicinity of the Ski Cabi...

Hi Brenon,

Normally, the Enclosure Couloir starts icing up at the very bottom and very top around mid-July and then is completely ice by mid-August.

With low snowpack like this year, could be on the sooner side.

t

Forrest says: Willow Creek is a great float. Great Alpaca Rafting. I would do it again. Probably not from Clause. If you went in the road to Adams Creek you would still hit 90% of the good floating. It is a 5 mile walk in along the road. The one for sure class 3 drop I believe was right below Adams ...

Joe Hartney and Trevor Bane skied the east face of Mount Baird into Hells Hole on May 1, 2005. They mountain biked from the highway to the draw across from Dry Canyon in Big Elk Creek. That draw brought them into a basin below the east face of Elkhorn Peak. They crossed a small ridge to the south sa...

Today, May 5, 2005, my friend Forrest McCarthy made an incredible one-day ski-raftaneering traverse of Clause Peak. With a 6:30am start from Cliff Creek, he summitted Clause Peak at 11:30am. He said the snow was rotten because of a lack of freeze and he was a bit nervous. He skied the northwest bowl...

Joe Hartney sent me photos of his mid-April trip to Gros Peak with Wade McCoy, Jeff Burke, et al. They said the main southwest couloir of Gros is already melted out and cliffs are exposed, but they climbed and skied a nice couloir that curves off summit to the skiers' right of the main southwest cou...

Received a few reports of great conditions on the Middle Teton Glacier during weekend of 4/23/05. Here are some photos from Joe Hartney: http://www.thomasturiano.com/images/doc.jeff.aplenglow.jpg http://www.thomasturiano.com/images/jeff.ski.belay1.jpg http://www.thomasturiano.com/images/doc.ski2.jpg...

Received this report from Jeramie Prine on 4/25/05: Another Landerite and I skied (rode)the Diagonal Couloir on Saturday and skied from the top of Pinnacle Buttes. We climbed up the couloir and the snow was icey/crusty with frozen melt balls. Very interesting. The Bottle Neck Classic looked a lot be...

Received this report from Torsten Prahl about conditions on Whitetail Peak as of 4/20/05: It wasn't too bad. It was variable thoughout. The entrance was super steep. maybe 60 degrees. Then after about 5 feet it went to about 55 for about 100 - 150 feet. It was about 6 ft wide through there. It then ...

Hi, My friend Forrest McCarthy, who works backtracking wolverines for the Wildlife Conservation Society, just told me that he thinks the best way is to park at Beehive Basin trailhead and then walk up the road (which I think is considered private property and closed to public access) to the old Bear...

Hi everyone, I have tried for years to get a good photo of Pinnacle Peak in the Gros Ventre Range. The one I published in Select Peaks is marginal. I have always been skunked by bad weather either during aerial photo shoots or after climbing nearby peaks....until today. Today, April 14, 2005, David ...

Thanks Ben, I've always wondered about that North Fork approach. People seem to use it regularly. The fact that the mileage was longer and the trees seemed thicker always made me think that Beehive would be faster. Still, I always look up there when driving up to Big Sky wondering about it, suspecti...

Tom I spoke with the people at the Hot Springs County Sheriff's Office about Grass Creek Road and the area where it goes through the private property owned by John Leroux. The road is public and open. They just advised to stay on the road while crossing that property. His address is listed in the Ha...

From Aaron Rose: Before I go out on a limb and say the entire Grass Creek Road is public access, which I would bet a paycheck it is. But not having been in that immediate area for a few years, I will make a couple of phone calls to confirm this. One to the manager of the LU Ranch, which is not the p...

I received the following messages from Aaron Rose of Cody, WY: Greetings, Tom, My name is Aaron Rose. I live in Cody and work for the Park County Sheriff's Office. Contacting you has been something I have been meaning to do for quite some time, since I first received your book as a birthday present ...

December 19, 2004 Dear Lee Silliman; Thank you very much for your kind letter and compliments on “Select Peaks.” To answer your first question, I actually have thought about exhibiting my photographs. I have had a few opportunities to have them displayed as semi-permanent wall art in various hotels ...

I received this letter dated 12/6/04 from Lee Silliman: A month ago I noticed in a newspaper a review of your book "Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone." Being an avid explorer of Yellowstone, I ordered an interlibrary loan copy, which arrived recently. You are to be commended for producin...

We really had a great time ! Thanks for such a fun trip. Julie kept saying, why do we ever want to ski at the resort again?

-Mimi Slaughter, Jackson, WY

This from a great client-Aini Nollendorfs: Hey Tom, Hope all is well! Had a great trip. Loved the part where we discover you can ski powder up hill. It was an honor and privilege to ski with you and to share that mountain experience with someone as knowledgeable as yourself. Thanks, Aini Nollendorfs

from Bob Jaedicke, Bozeman, MT Well, I got a rave report on the skiing and your abilities and personality from my daughter this morning and I am sure Dave will confirm that. Carolyn is outdoorish and is a skier, but it is a little unusual for her to know every last detail of the trip and what kind o...

There are at least nine unnamed 12,000-foot peaks in the high Southeast Absaroka that encircle the headwaters of Venus Creek. J. Patton of Riverton (et. al.) has suggested that these peaks be named for the planets, since there are about 9 major peaks, and because R.B. Robertson started the trend by ...

Page 379 of Select Peaks describes the winter approach to Stewart Peak in Corral Canyon. The approach route description is accurate except for the fact that the parking area described is located in Section 25 (T36N,R119W), most of which is private land. Land owners have erected a 'no parking' sign i...

Hi Thomas. The approach route, as I looked at it some years back, is based primarily on the two narratives. The starting point is, of course, the latitude determination which puts them at Boulder Lake. There were (notwithstanding the statement in the Bonney examination) no further determinations of ...

Thomas; > > I've always been 99.9% certain of this, but good to convert those spending > time thinking they climbed Fremont Peak. You might have converted at least > one diehard WW fan....Jim Wolf, who wrote a similar dissertation in 1999 > supporting WW. I know Lorraine Bonney quite well (had pleas...

Writer and mathematician John Grebenkemper has just completed a thorough study of which peak John C. Fremont climbed. His article will be published in the American Alpine Journal, but is available for preview and comment at: http://home.pacbell.net/johngreb/fremont1842.htm . Comments about the artic...

Paul Horton alerted me that on the GNIS website, the source of the name "Antoinette Peak" is listed as follows: "The French name, Antoinette, was arbitraily chosen to commemorate the French trappers and hunters who worked in the area in the 1800's." The GNIS query site is a good ...

This letter by Jim Wolf was directed to the editor of Annals of Wyoming , but it was never published. I wish to thank Annals of Wyoming for publishing my observations on the historical geography of the Continental Divide in Wyoming – both in the Autumn 1999 issue (“General Sheridan’s Pass, 1807-1883...

My friend and fellow historian Paul Horton recently turned me on to a website by Bob Graham of Sacramento, CA that is devoted to the journeys of the Pathfinder John C. Fremont. There is a whole gaggle of pages devoted to the Fremont Peak first ascent controversy. The effort Graham put into resolving...

This article appeared in the 11104 Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Climbers swept to their deaths By JOAN HAINES, Chronicle Staff Writer Two mountain climbers died Saturday when an avalanche swept them down a chute and off a ledge on Sphinx Mountain in Madison County, a law enforcement officer said. "...

University of Wyoming student Davin Bagdonas has been very active climbing in the southern Absaroka since his high school days. In late Mayearly June of 1996, he solo-climbed two routes on Pinnacle Butte. He climbed red first and highly recommends it. Depending on the time of year, it features dry t...

Hi, I have had the recent opportunity to assist historian Marlene Merrill in identifying Captain William Raynolds' route between the Wind River and Jackson Hole. I looked at this briefly during research for "Select Peaks," but did not consider it important enough from a mountaineering pers...

Hi, I received this email from Ben Franklin of Daniel, WY on 101204: I climbed Triple Peak on Sunday. Still a one-armed bandit, I was looking for the easy route. Anyway I found a trail which goes from Sheep Creek up to the saddle between Peak 10,290 and Triple peak's summit block, which consists of ...

This review was distributed widely to newspapers throughout Montana during the first week of October 2004. THIS IS MONTANA A BOOK WORTH OWNING by Rick & Susie Graetz Whether you are a mountain climber, a wilderness traveler or just enjoy reading about the mountains of the Northern Rockies, SELEC...

Hi, My friend Scott McGee informed me that the Cub Creek fire of 2003 has made the approach to Silvertip more difficult and dirty than in the recent past. However, I still believe it is one of the best ways into Silvertip. Scott says that when you reach the forks of Cub Creek, start up the dividing ...

From Zachary Park, Gardiner, MT Thomas: I was getting to the summit of Abaither via the Southeast Ridge. I was going solo, like I do perhaps far too often. I had a blast getting up through the waterfall amphitheatre and making my way along the narrow ridge, trying to stay on sheep trials. As you wro...

In "Select Peaks," I touched on Native American penetration into the mountains. I personally believe that Native Americans climbed many, if not most, of the "Select Peaks" long before white man ever set foot in Greater Yellowstone. They not only had the drive to climb for the spi...

Hi Everyone, Joe Josephson informed me today that during the summer of 2002 he noticed that the plaque commemorating Fred Inabnit's early explorations of the Beartooths had been removed from its home at Snow Lake. Having grown up at East Rosebud Lake, Joe visited the plaque often and expressed deep ...

Jim, I think you're (Felicia and Cloe) right. That looks like the quickest way into Pyramid. Though, I remember getting onto the narrow ridge near treeline where we expected to hit that trail. On the 1987 Pyramid quad, we reached the third word "Pack" along that trail from Lambert Creek (s...

Hello Tom, I have also stumbled around in the upper Mill Creek area trying to get to the Pyramid, one time. I have also jogged around on that East Dam cr. trail. Although I haven't been all the way to the Pyarmid on that trail, it does seem like the most efficient trail to the peak. We tried to hike...

This wonderful review by George McCormick appeared on pages 38-40 of the August 2004 edition of Beartooth Times . Email Melissa and David Rohm <beartoothpub@earthlink.net> to subscribe. Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone Thomas Turiano takes you high above the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem In the p...

Hi, I recently visited with the Whitham family of Idaho Falls. I learned that James C. Whitham, who was one of the first supervisors of the Beartooth National Forest in the early 1900s, directed a topographical survey of the Beartooths, taking up where James P. Kimball left off after his incomplete ...

Hi, During May 29-June 1, Scott McGee and I approached on foot and ski in Wiggins Fork and Burwell Creek, climbed Peak 12,635, and skied and hiked down Bonne Creek to the Greybull River, with the intention of floating out the Greybull River to our shuttled car at Jack Creek Trailhead. Unfortunately,...

Hi Everyone, I had climbed Stewart Peak in the Salt River Range twice prior to publishing Select Peaks, but only in the winter, and only by Corral Canyon from the west. I had intended to explore the Murphy/Squaw Divide approach prior to publication, but didn't get a chance. Nevertheless, this fall, ...

Hi Everyone, I must say figuring out a pleasant way to climb The Pyramid in one day is tricky. I attempted it a few years ago by way of a network of trails marked on the maps on the ridgeline east of Anderson Creek. If I can remember correctly, we started up Anderson Creek for about one mile, then g...

Hi Everyone, Here are some early ascents and ski descents that have surfaced since the publication of Select Peaks: 1. In April 1973, Davey Agnew, Wes Fox, and Scot Sedden skied Mount Sheridan from the summit. Davey skied right down the gut of the northeast face, while Fox and Sedden skied the north...

The ascent stats listed below for Mount Blackmore were accidentally omitted from page 144 of Select Peaks: Blackmore Creek parking elevation: 6,720 feet Elevation gain: 3,434 feet Distance: 5 miles Overall grade by southeast ridge: I Class 1 Estimated ascent time: 1.5 to 4 hours Maps: Mount Blackmor...

This article by Todd Wilkinson appeared in The Billings Outpost on 2/5/04:

http://www.billingsnews.com/story?story ... &issue=192

This article/review by Todd Wilkinson appeared in the 1/28/04 issue of the Jackson Hole News&Guide . Turiano Pens a True Classic for the Ages By Todd Wilkinson Younts Peak, named after Yellowstone Park's first gamekeeper, is one of those summits that rises over the middle of nowhere between here...

A review by Chris Barge appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera on January 25, 2004. An appended version of that review is available on-line at:

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/get_outa ... 34,00.html

This review by John O'Connell appeared in the December 19, 2003 issue of the Idaho State Journal (Pocatello, ID):

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2003 ... oors06.txt

This review by Brett French appeared in the December 25, 2003 issue of The Billings Gazette:

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.ph ... points.inc

This review by Michael Pearlman appeared in the 12/17/03 issue of the Jackson Hole News&Guide . In the Introduction to his recently completed book, when Tom Turiano writes "Greater Yellowstone's powerful energy is available for all who are willing to receive it," he isn't merely specul...

I just received my copy of Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone and am completely blown away. 512 pages of eye candy for the climber and ski mountaineer! This book is as guide books should be--incorporating history, geology, and technical data for ascentionists and descentionists. If you tend to be i...

This nice review by Gary Falleson appeared in the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, NY (my place of birth) on December 14, 2003. Thomas Turiano started out writing a simple guidebook to the mountains in his Jackson, Wyo., back yard. But his love for the history of mountaineering and his passion...

Hi Everyone,

Ron Tschida wrote a nice review of the book in The Bozeman Daily Chronicle on 12/15/03.

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articl ... bzbigs.txt

Enjoy.

Thomas Turiano

I received this in an email from Lee Whittlesey on January 16, 2004: Thomas--- We found the copy of the book you sent in one of our mail stacks, and many thanks for autographing it to the Yellowstone Library and staff. I'll add it to the library as soon as I've finished looking it over. It is QUITE ...

This review of Select Peaks by Jeff Burke appeared in the 12/5/03 issue of Planet Jackson Hole : Mountaineer and guide Tom Turiano has recently completed his second book, Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone, the first and only comprehensive guide to mountaineering in the region. With Yellowstone as ...

Hi Everyone, The approach to Gallatin Peak that I describe on page 121, and show on the map on page 100, is incorrect. At the time of my initial research, we could drive to a trailhead for Bear Basin on the ridge between Beehive and Bear basins. The road that accesses this trailhead is now gated, an...

Hi Everyone, Here are some comments I have received about Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone. I am really honored...Thank you. If you would like to add a comment, please reply to this topic, or enter a new topic. Hi Thomas, I want to thank you for writing and researching such an amazing guide and o...

I received the following letter from Marlene Merrill, author of Yellowstone and the Great West , in December of 2003: Oberlin December 18, 2003 Dear Tom: Your book is absolutely magnificent! It arrived yesterday and Dan and I spent most of the day looking through it and reading a number of sections ...

Hi, I recently have been in contact with Mark and Donna Whitham from Idaho Falls. Mark is the grandson of James Campbell Whitham, who was one of the three members of the 1923 Forest Service expedition that made the first ascent of Granite Peak in the Beartooths. My correspondence with the Whithams h...

Hi, Check out the interview that I did on December 9, 2003 with Bob Beck from Wyoming Public Radio. (I sound a bit jumbled and nervous, but I think I got my points across.) Go to: [url]http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.eduwprWyotoday.htm[url] and click on the December 9th show. If your audio player can't open i...

Recieved this letter in December 2003 from Rich Shiffrin: As an occasional (one-two weeks/year) Jackson backcountry skier usually during a conference held each January), I'm hesitant to post anything on a site read by locals who ski more per month than I ski in a lifetime, and have forgotten more ab...

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