Mount Saint John, East Face
- Mike Morelli
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
Date: April 8, 2026
Location: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
Team: Charlie Pirc, Evan Flach
Field Notes: One of my favorite Teton spring ski descents with 4,000 feet of fall line skiing to the valley floor. East facing so it gets first light - start early.
A twenty-four-hour flight, five days in Salt Lake, and a four-hour drive later, I was finally back in the Tetons.
Packing, unpacking, selling a car, buying a new one, and all the mental load that comes with moving from the bottom of the world had finally caught up with me.
To be honest, I wasn’t feeling especially motivated for this trip. I could feel the effects of relocation, and my body needed deep rest. But spring ski season was going to be short with the low snow year, and I had been incredibly stoked to reconnect with these two legends for a long time.
Alarms went off early, and I met Charlie and Evan at 4 a.m. in Victor — the first time I’d seen them in over five years. Whatever exhaustion I’d been carrying immediately disappeared. The stoke came rushing back the moment I saw them.
We loaded up Evan’s car, did a quick gear check, and drove into the park. Soon we were pedaling through the dark on the forty-five-minute bike ride to String Lake. I mostly focused on putting my head down and spinning the pedals.
Our original plan was to ski something north-facing out of Paintbrush Canyon. But while walking around String Lake, I asked Evan and Charlie if they had ever skied Mount Saint John.
They hadn’t.
Today was shaping up to be a perfect corn day, and Saint John has always been one of my favorite ski descents in the range. They didn’t need much convincing, and just like that, the plan changed. We stashed skins and ski crampons and began the long bootpack up the face.
Right now, I honestly feel fitter than I ever have in my life. But on this trip, I felt wrecked. Call it stress from the move, lack of sleep, altitude — whatever it was, I felt completely worked. Thankfully, Evan is an absolute machine and punched steps up nearly the entire 4,000-foot face. I think Charlie and I each took maybe fifteen minutes on the bootpack before Evan reclaimed the lead and started charging upward again. It was impressive.
I can’t remember the last time my heart rate felt that high. By the time we topped out, I felt slightly dizzy.
Jesus. Was it the altitude?
We snapped a few photos, had a quick bite to eat, and transitioned for the descent. Now the stoke was fully back. I had butterflies in my stomach from pure excitement. I’d been dreaming about skiing in the park again for too long.
We dropped into a perfect 35-degree pitch of smooth corn right off the summit. Skiing pitch by pitch, we leapfrogged down the face, generally trending skier’s right.
(Great options also exist on the northeast aspect of Saint John, but we weren’t confident enough in the snow coverage to commit to them.)
At the bottom of the face, we celebrated what had already become a phenomenal day. Maybe I celebrated a little too early, because shortly afterward I hit some sticky spring snow and got launched into the bushes. Twice.
An unforgiving bike ride back to the car — complete with a headwind and spectacular views of Teewinot — capped off a brilliant day.
I’m incredibly stoked to be back in the Tetons, and even more stoked to be back in the mountains with Charlie and Evan.
Happy days...
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