BY KAREN BOSSICK
Lucy Sackbauer and Nicole Jorgenson have long loved the view of the Pioneer Mountains from the top of Bald Mountain and other parts of the Wood River Valley.
When they came across “Sun Valley Ski Guide” published by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1938, the gears in their heads started turning.
“It had a chapter on the Pioneer Mountains and it gave descriptions on how to ski them and told about why Pioneer Cabin was built,” said Sackbauer. “That inspired us to ski them.”
Sackbauer and Jorgenson plotted and planned for four years. And in April 2023 they spent five days skiing five peaks using directions and descriptions in the book. They took Ketchum photographer Ray Gadd along the first four days and Adam Wirth the fifth day.
And they will share highlights from their trip accompanied by photographs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the Limelight Hotel. The open gallery night will feature appetizers. And money from the sales of photos will go to the Sawtooth Avalanche Center.
Sackbauer is an emergency room nurse at St. Luke’s Wood River, and Jorgenson is due to graduate from nursing school in May. Jorgenson also is on the Sun Valley Ski Parol and a volunteer EMT for the Ketchum Fire Department.
Both are avid outdoor enthusiasts.
The two began their adventure by snowmobiling into the Pioneer Yurt near 12,009-foot Hyndman Peak. They skied Cobb Peak and the Comma Couloir—a steep narrow gully on Cobb Mountain. Then they skied the North Couloir on Cobb.
They spent the first night in a tent since they couldn’t use the yurt that night. Then they moved to Pioneer Yurt and skied Duncan Peak in a snowstorm.
“It’s a beautiful big white face, but it ended up being the most difficult part of our entire journey. It’s a straightforward mountain, but we got bad vertigo because we couldn’t see anything. All we could do to feel our way down was to plant our poles. Fortunately, it was nice soft snow,” said Sackbauer.
The two returned to the yurt as it snowed a couple more inches overnight. They awoke to a gorgeous bluebird day.
“We couldn’t have asked for better conditions. We pulled on our heavy backpacks and went to Handwerk Peak.”
They skied the twin summited mountain that stands 10,860 feet, then climbed to Pioneer Cabin. They were the first ones who had been there since New Year’s Eve.
We didn’t expect Pioneer Cabin to be such a cozy place to stay. The fire in the stove worked beautiful, the beds were comfortable, and there were no mice visitors,” Sackbauer said.
They woke up the next morning and skied the 11,600-foot Salzburger Spitzl, another big white face, using the guide that had inspired the trip. Then they skied another couloir in that basin.
“That was our last summit. It was one of the harder ones and by then we were pretty tired. But the mountain kept drawing us in and the snow conditions were so perfect. Photographer Adam Wirth joined us that day and he had fresh legs so he could help put in a skin rack and boot pack up,” Sackbauer said.
They ran across just one other pair of ski tracks on their entire journey. There were few mishaps.
“We did realize we didn’t have enough fuel at the beginning so I snowmobiled back to the car, drove to Nicole’s house in Triumph and grabbed some more. One of the cool things about these mountains was how close they are to town, how quick it was that we were back in civilization,” Sackbauer said.
The two plied themselves with chocolate bars, Scandinavian gummies, Smuckers Uncrustables and dehydrated meals for breakfast and dinner.
“We took way too much food-we had so much left over. But we were worried about going hungry,” said Sackbauer. “But we did a great job of keeping each other motivated, making sure we were eating enough snacks.”
The two would have liked to have skied Devil’s Bedstead, as well, but they were not sure how to get there. But not all’s lost as that could provide the makings of another adventure.
"We're also talking about linking together the Bolder Peaks-Kent, Ryan and Glassford!" said Sackbauer.