The Skillet

Type: Backcountry or Sidecountry

Dominating the view of Grand Teton National Park from the north, Mt. Moran is often mistaken for the Grand Teton. The Skillet comes from near top to bottom and is stunning to look at. It's hard to not want to ski it after first setting eyes on a picture, let alone in person. Exum Guides calls it "the biggest backcountry line in the US" on their website.

The top of the couloir measures in the upper 40's to low 50's, depending on how the snow came in. March of 2015, it was 47. The Skillet consistently gets less steep as you ski down it. Nearly 6000 vertical feet of skiing later, you can pop out onto Jackson Lake and enjoy a beer for the walk back to the car.

Lou Dawson gave the skillet a difficulty rating of VI D14 R3 ( loudawson.com/rating-ski-de…).

Mt. Moran is named for Thomas Moran, a famous frontier landscape artist, who was the friend and colleague of Dr. Ferdinand D. Hayden, the noteworthy surveyor of the west in the late 1800s.

The first ski descent of The Skillet was by Bill Briggs and friends in the spring of 1968.