Skiing on the frozen bottom of North Fork Teton River

Through the 2007 burn with high Teton Peaks as the backdrop

On the bottom beneath Mount Wright

This has been a weird backcountry ski season so far.
That partially explains why I'm so late in filing my first ski of the near year.
We also spent the Christmas holidays in California and couldn't ski.
The snow just refuses to set up and it has been bitterly cold since Dec. 6, not to mention a lack of snow in October and November.
There are only 13 inches on top of Showdown in the Little Belts, a veritable snow-basket, and more than 30 inches in the Front, but with a questionable base and a wind-glazed and hardened surface.
We skied Saturday doing a combination off-and on-trail hike on North Fork Teton just below Mount Wright beginning at the Teton Pass Ski Area with a turnaround at the Bob Marshall Wilderness boundary where the East Fork Teton comes in.  We skied down through an old burn to the creek, along the creek, right on the frozen river and then back on the old logging road betwen the West Fork and ski area.
We covered about 9 miles with an elevation gain and loss near 1,100 feet.  The scenery is beyond gorgeous here despite logging and the 2007 burn, with high peaks lining both sides of North Fork.
The best part of the ski was getting on the frozen North Fork, which had a skiable layer of snow on top of some thick ice, although it opened up into a flow in spots that we could ski around.
Despite 8 degree weather at the beginning of the trip it was glorious with blue skies and bright sunshine, warming into the teens.

On the logging road back to the ski area while losing daylight