Last Thursday, myself, Katie and Bill loaded up the canoe and headed to Grand Teton National Park to attempt the classic CMC route on Mount Moran. At a relatively easy grade (5.5), the route ascends the east/southeast face above Falling Ice glacier to the summit.
We started off by canoeing String Lake, then portaging the canoe a few hundred yards to Leigh lake, where we paddled towards the drainage of the Falling Ice glacier.
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| Canoeing String Lake. Moran and Falling Ice glacier straight ahead. |
Upon reaching the shore, we stashed the canoe and began the hike through boulders, scree and beautiful wildflowers, to the CMC campsites. I had read that the CMC campsites were awesome, but they were better than I expected. It's definitely one of the best spots I've camped in the Tetons. From the campsites you get an incredible view of the north facing aspects of the high peaks. The north face of the Grand looks impossibly steep from this aspect; almost overhanging.
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| Hiking up the drainage to the CMC campsites. |
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| Good views from camp. |
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The Grand catches some late afternoon rays.
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Friday morning we awoke at 4am for the ascent. A small rain shower delayed our start until about 5:30am. We scrambled up the loose drainage along the West Horn towards Drizzlepuss, the first technical aspect of the climb. A short downclimb and a rappel put us at the base of the climbing. We roped up and began the easy 5.5 climbing up the east face.
After negotiating the "technical" climbing, we packed the ropes up for some easy exposed scrambling to the summit.
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| Katie does her best Alex Honnold impression. |
The summit of Mount Moran is very interesting. Covered in sandstone, it is truly unique among Teton Peaks.
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| Bill and I cross the sandstone summit towards the descent route. |
After some easy downclimbing, frustrating double-roped rappelling, and more downclimbing we had to regain the top of Drizzlepuss for the final descent. Arriving back at the camp we crushed some Snicker bars and began the hike back to the canoe. What a relief it was to finally get in the canoe, give the legs a rest and enjoy the mellow paddle back to the truck. It was and incredible experience paddling across the lake at sundown. Not only did we enjoy a gorgeous sunset, we got to experience the tranquil wilderness of the Tetons. Three loons got off the water right in front us, a few geese puttered around the shore to our right, a curious black bear poked around a lakeside campsite and two elk grazed in a meadow. It was one of the most refreshing and peaceful experiences I have ever had in the Tetons.
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Moran sunset reflects on Leigh Lake.
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Once the canoe was strapped down, we snagged a few Ranger IPAs from a friends truck and headed back to town. Thai Me Up's curry bowl of the day and a few Melvin IPAs added the perfect finishing touch to an already perfect adventure.
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