An Introduction to the Beginning

Season three of The High Route. Let’s call it still in its infancy. We’re beyond toddling, we’ve learned to walk, we’re ready to try new things. One aspect of finding a balance in our coverage and presentation on the site and in print is learning about what it’s like to be a beginner and on the sharp end of an endeavor, such as ski mountaineering. 

At this moment and time, we will spend this season learning from someone relatively new to the sport. (We’ll get more nuanced in a bit about defining what a beginner is.) First, we’ll have an ongoing series exploring the sport from the perspective of someone new-ish to a zone and to the more nuanced aspects of things like independently choosing suitable terrain to ski on any given day, how to train, how to rebound from a scary experience, and more basic functions like how to find good and reliable partners. 

Which is to say that we are introducing you to Oliver Kendall, a 23-year-old recent computer science graduate who now resides in a rustic cabin somewhere near Kelly, Wyoming. Like many who have come before, Oliver has begun piecing together his finances as he enters young adulthood. You might see him serving tables at a local Jackson eatery. Without naming the place, it sounds sorta bougie, which might equate to better tips. You might see him taking care of two kids, the parents of whom seem calm and collected and have trusted them, here and there, in Oliver’s care. They should, after all, Oliver saved my ass a few times in August as we prepared to launch our new site.   

His downtime this winter and spring will be uptime. He plans on alpine starts and beginning a life in the mountains with an emphasis on touring and eventually becoming a ski guide. But all things start somewhere. For Oliver, his path to the backcountry began with some guided forays with his family in and around the Tetons. Before that, Kendall skied a bit in the East—his dad had ski-raced in New Hampshire as a youngster—but around six years old, he moved to South Carolina. Skiing was the context for family trips here and there. But the hook that set this all in motion, the move out West, was his first time touring in the Tetons back in 2018. 

His understanding of skiing competence, style, and form was gleaned from YouTube and social media. He assumed the best skiers came from Tahoe. (We’re not here to fact-check this, and we’ll assume it is so.) That all changed in college, where he was based in Colorado Springs. “The first time I went skiing there, it was with a big group of girls who were all ski racers,” Kendall recalled. “I don’t know how I got in with them, and I thought that I was pretty good at skiing. They waited for me at the bottom of every run. I had never seen people ski with such technical precision. I had some things to learn.”

Kendall took his first independent tour two years ago, somewhere near Colorado’s Loveland Pass. That spring, as part of a wishlist trip, he scored the Mayor of Pow Town as his guide. (BTW—is the mayoralty an elected office with benefits, or something more like a title bestowed upon the person who rallies in the dark with zero caffeine in their system, but definitely buzzing stoke, and scores the best snow? Asking for a friend.) Anyhow, on that trip, Kendall went way out of his comfort zone under the mayor’s tutelage, and skied several peaks in the high alpine. 

For the next year, Kendall said he thought about that “mind-blowing” trip daily. He realized his fitness needed work. He needed to develop skills and gain comfort to move fluidly in exposed terrain. And gain confidence to make decisions for himself in a region he was just beginning to learn about. 

All the things that come with patience, time, and curiosity.

He took a beginning avalanche class. And last winter, he posted up in the Tetons with a raw beginner’s mindset. He found partners, some reliable, some not so much. He bought a guide to Teton Pass and took it all in slowly. He developed a simple system for progressing. He skied all the aspects of Glory (a classic bootpack accessible from atop the pass) and moved onto the next slope or panel slightly further afield. And then even further afield again. 

In speaking with Kendall, one thing is clear: he still considers himself a beginner. Although he gained confidence last winter, he admits he’s still green considering his ability to independently assess a complex snowpack compounded by complex terrain. We’ll hear more from Kendall in roughly two weeks to begin our series geared toward emerging backcountry tourers and a particular ski tourer’s growth curve.