Winter Camping on Table Mountain
With a full moon and a partly sunny weather forecast, I decided this last Thursday to do a winter camping trip up on Table Mountain, on the west side of the Teton Range. The hike in was grueling, having to put in a skin track all by myself up 4,000 vertical feet through deep heavy powder, with a heavy backpack. In fact, for most of the hike I was gaining only 1,000 vertical feet per 2 hours! Exhausted after reaching the high flat ridgeline, I set up my tent shortly after sunset and quickly fell asleep. At 2:00am I woke up again and skinned the rest of the way up Table Mountain in the bright moonlight, enjoying a moonset and sunrise from the frigid summit with a great view of the Grand Teton. After sunrise I rode back to my tent, crawled back into my sleeping bag, and slept most of the day before packing up and riding out of there.