Thomas Turiano got his start as a ski mountaineer in Fairport, New York where he learned to climb, sled, and ski on his icy 100-foot backyard hill. Afraid of rope tows, T-bars, and chairlifts, he was often seen sidestepping alone along the sides of ski runs at East Coast ski areas. Not only was he content with fewer runs, but also he learned to love climbing hard snow and relish every turn. In 1985, Tom moved to Jackson Hole at age 18 and soon fell under the wings of friend Tom Bennett and legendary ski mountaineer Bill Briggs. Turiano studied ski instruction and guiding at The Great American Ski School and worked at Snow King Mountain, and then became a ski instructor at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in 1988. Through the late ‘80s and ‘90s, Tom’s work as a ski instructor decreased as his backcountry guiding grew into a career with Exum Mountain Guides and Jackson Hole Alpine Guides. Tom published his first book, "Teton Skiing: A History and Guide," in 1995 after devoting nearly ten years to exploring that range on skis. Seeking to expand his horizons, he immediately began investigating other ranges in the Greater Yellowstone region and in 2003 published his award-winning second book, "Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone: A Mountaineering History and Guide." Also a product of that research was a 17-year project that came to fruition in 2014 with the publication of "Jackson Hole Backcountry Skier’s Guide: South." Two years later, he published "Teton Pass Backcountry Guide," which was the result of 30 years of casual explorations on Teton Pass. When conditions were suboptimal for trips to unfamiliar mountains or the time window was simply too short, Teton Pass always provided quick access with good friends to a fun adventure and euphoric ski conditions. Tom also is a professional guitarist, avid packrafter, and prolific backcountry skier, having co-founded the American Packrafting Association in 2012 and the Teton Backcountry Alliance in 2017. He has summited mountains perhaps 2,000 times, with about 500 ascents of unique mountains, most of them in the Greater Yellowstone region. Turiano enjoys technical ski mountaineering, but prefers lightweight exploratory ski tours to ‘anywhere new’ with good friends and family.
