Being a Veteran of many Woodcuts, I'll let Joe tell the story on this one.
"It’s a tradition, a physical ordeal and a right of passage. We call it the “woodcut” but it is much more than just a wood-cut. Every spring, we take advantage of the solid snow pack to fell trees and skid/carry them over the snow to the huts in preparation for the following winter. Like a squirrel, collecting nuts for the winter ahead, we cache the life giving fuel for the Bench and Fishhook Huts, deep in the Sawtooth. While there is a very practical purpose to what we are doing (prepping firewood for ski huts) at heart we are skiers and the woodcut typically occurs when the ski conditions are prime. So we work especially hard felling, bucking, hauling and stacking to finish the job, so we can get to the skiing. This year we accomplished all the objectives, putting up over 6 cord of wood at each hut and skiing many big, steep and authentic lines."
Check out the rest of the post here: Sawtooth Spring Woodcut
Ill let photos tell the rest of my story below:
 |
| Chris on the ascent of Orbit Couloir above Bench hut |
 |
| On the top of Orbit |
 |
| Working our way up into the bat cave! |
 |
| Niels, Marshall and Kiefer working their way up the iconic Hayburn couloir |
Despite the warming temps, Chris and I decided to stay and extra day in Fish Hook with hopes of getting one more day of skiing in. Our friend and mentor, Kel Rossiter, was in the area and after giving him some details on our hut location, he decided to take the 4 mile walk into the valley. Although the skiing was anything but stellar, It was still awesome being with Kel in the mountains and catching up over good food in the hut.
 |
| Kel and Chris on the climb up another un-named Sawtooth couloir |
 |
| A little mixed climbing, 'ay? |
 |
| Kel working his way up some bulletproof! |
