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A frame from a video of a ski and snowboard descent of Mount Moran shows a party using a snowmobile to cross Jackson Lake. STILL FROM YOUTUBE VIDEO

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Exum Mountain Guides fired guide Stephen Koch this week after the mountain snowboarder violated Grand Teton National Park rules by using a snowmobile to access a Mount Moran climb and descent.

The action by the prestigious guide service came as park officials cited Koch twice for a Feb. 7 excursion that was videotaped and displayed on several Web sites, including Koch’s own. The world-famous alpinist was sacked even as he offered a public apology, printed as this week’s Jackson Hole News&Guide guest editorial, saying he suffered “a lapse of my good judgment,” in making and publicizing his trip.

That came too late for Exum, whose president said the senior guide fell short of standards set for the service.

“Stephen has been fired from Exum,” Jack Turner said in a short phone interview Tuesday. “We expect our guides to comply with all our operating instructions. They are to comply with regulations. He didn’t.”

Turner said he would not discuss the decision, made by Exum’s board of directors, citing a confidentiality agreement among them.

“I am personally fond of Stephen,” Turner said. “I think he’s a superb guy. That’s not the matter before us.”

Grand Teton spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs said rangers interviewed Koch and then cited him twice. One citation alleges he towed skiers with a snowmobile, an infraction that carries a fine of about $75, she said.

That fine can be paid through the mail, Skaggs said, much like a traffic ticket. Koch admitted to being the driver, she said.

“The other one is a little more serious,” she said. It alleges Koch used a snowmobile on Jackson Lake for purposes other than ice fishing.

Regulations allow snow machines on the lake for ice fishing only, Skaggs said. They say that operators may only travel to and from fishing locations on the lake and that they must have fishing licenses and gear.

The 10-minute video of the ascent and descent of the Skillet Glacier on 12,605-foot Moran, viewable below, shows Koch and three skiers zooming across the frozen surface of the lake, two on the snow machine, the other two being towed behind.

The second citation requires a court appearance, Skaggs said. Only Koch was named on the ticket, she said, a common practice in a group violation in the park.

On his Web site, Koch listed Jim Holland, Dave Peck and Alex Stoy as his companions, saying they are from Park City, Utah. Using a snowmobile saves six miles of skiing, one way, across the lake.

If Koch is found guilty or pleads guilty, “the judge will make a determination on what fine to impose,” Skaggs said.

While the ski world was abuzz with debate about why ice fishermen should be allowed to use snowmobiles on Jackson Lake and not skiers, Koch makes no attempt in his guest editorial to slip through imagined legal loopholes. He does complain about his perception of a double standard, but apologizes head-on for breaking rules.

“In this instance, I failed to resist the temptation to snowmobile with friends over the lake to ease the approach on a one-day ascent and descent of this magnificent mountain,” he wrote. “For my selfishness, I must apologize first to the National Park Service, to my family and also to my friends, my clients and former associates at Exum Mountain Guides, my coworkers at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, my colleagues at Art Hazen Real Estate, to the Grand Teton Climbing Rangers, and to the climbing, skiing, and snowboarding communities in general.

“As a mountain guide, and a longtime member of the Jackson community, I know well that observance of the regulations governing the use of public lands is important to preserve the qualities that make Jackson Hole so extraordinary,” his Guest Shot states.

Koch said Tuesday that his editorial would be his complete statement for now. He refused to answer questions.

He said in his piece that he was not guiding the trip to Moran’s summit. Koch also said he was using the type of snowmobile – one with a four-stroke engine – that is allowed on Jackson Lake, albeit only for fishermen.

Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks have been through 10 years of battles over the appropriate use of snowmobiles in the two parks, enduring suits and countersuits, writing and rewriting regulations and taking public comment time and again. While plans in place allow a limited number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and on Jackson Lake for ice fishing, those are being challenged in court by conservationists.

Koch used his guest editorial to decry the Grand Teton plan. “Distinguishing between fishermen’s access and those skiers also complying with the ‘four-stroke best use’ regulations is unjust,” he wrote.

“Perhaps my recent transgression will result in some good by initiating a dialogue that leads to a more equitable policy that better serves all the interested groups while maintaining and protecting the park’s resources and goals,” he wrote.

Koch has been a dynamic and sometimes controversial figure in the mountains since he made the first snowboard descent of the 13,770-foot Grand Teton in 1989. He survived a frightening avalanche down the Northeast Snowfields of Mount Owen, spending a night in the open before being rescued by Teton climbing rangers.

He subsequently started the Avalanche Awareness foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to education about snow slides.

As an alpinist, his first ascents circle the globe, from Patagonia to Alaska’s Mount McKinley. He attempted to snowboard from the highest peak on each of the seven continents but has not achieved that goal.

Koch is sponsored by Cloudveil, Gu Energy Gel, Himaya, Life Link, Petzl, Rome Snowboards and Sportiva, according to the Exum Web site.

A 15-year Exum guide, he has been a motivational speaker, a real estate agent and a snowboard instructor. His critics focus mainly on his self-promotion.

The Exum guide service professes a “sensitivity to the mountain environment,” the business says on its Web site. It focuses on responsibility, on the part of clients and guides, as one of the key philosophies in developing the American guiding tradition. That tradition stretches back to Paul Petzoldt and Glenn Exum who began guiding in the Tetons in the 1920s.

This YouTube video of a ski and snowboard descent of the Skillet Glacier on Mount Moran shows a group using a snowmobile to cross Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Park regulations dictate snowmobiles are allowed on the lake only for ice fishing.