Since doing Mt. Moran, Katie's had a bit of summit fever and was really wanting to bag another Teton peak. The Middle Teton was considered, but we decided on Teewinot since there is literally no approach to this fun scramble. The climbers trail up Teewinot starts about 100 feet north of the bathrooms in the Lupine Meadows trailhead, and ascends directly up the east face of the mountain. We watched the weather till about 10am, then decided to go for it.
Above the treeline, a seasonal snowfield is encountered and, depending on the time of year, an ice axe and/or crampons may be necessary. We brought along axes but could have easily gotten by without them. After the snowfield, it's basically a scramble up the path of least resistance while staying right of the main chimney on the east face. There ARE a few exposed 4th class moves with high consequence, so bringing along a harness and a thin alpine rope isn't a bad idea. I've had a few friends have trouble finding the true summit of the mountain as there a number of summit pinnacles (Teewinot is a Shoshone word meaning "many pinnacles"). We had no trouble at all finding the true summit, due in part to the awesome new guide book Teton Rock Climbs by local climber Aaron Gams.
Once on top, we were welcomed by breathtaking views of Mt. Owen and the North Face of the Grand. Since I've got the North Face of the Grand on my checklist, it was good to get a up-close view of it. Needless to say, it is pretty intimidating. One thing I noticed was how much steeper the First Ledge looked from up high.
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| The First Ledge is the high snowfield center of the face above the black water streaks. |
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| A cool panorama that Katie took of me on the summit. The tiny summit pinnacle and massive exposure are pretty exciting. |
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| Katie looking rad in her new helmet. |
The decent follows the ascent route back down the east face. We pulled out the rope at the exposed 4th class section for a bit of added safety. A couple more hours of easy downhill hiking brought us right back to the car and we headed to the Q for a buffalo burger, some chicken fried chicken and a Lagunita's Pale Ale. Another great day in Tetons in the books.
I'd previously agreed to take a good friend and a friend of his from New Orleans up the Grand on Friday, so I used Thursday to rest up for the adventure. William and Eric hiked up to the Lower Saddle to camp Thursday night, while I planned to leave the trailhead at midnight and meet them at the lower saddle around 3:30am. I left the parking lot just after midnight as planned and was at the meadows in 1hr 15 min, hiking most of it by the light of the massive full moon. When I got to the saddle, the temp had dropped significantly and the wind was howling. William and Eric's Kmart tent apparently wasn't doing the job as I found them bivied on the ground huddled behind some rocks. I don't think they got very much sleep that night. This proved to be just the beginning of an interesting trip up the Grand.
We let the a few of the guided parties get a little ahead of us, then started making our way to the Upper Saddle. The wind didn't show any signs up letting up as we squeezed through the Eye of the Needle and continued scrambling. At the Upper Saddle, we roped up and led the traverse across the famous Belly Crawl. This is where things got weird. Upon building an anchor below the chimney and setting up the belay, I heard the thunder of rockfall echoing towards me from the Enclosure with different people yelling back and forth. I knew William and Eric were out of harms way, but the first thing that came to mind was that someone had somehow slipped at the Upper Saddle and fallen down the Black Ice Couloir. I was sure something terrible had just happened.
Almost ready to break down the anchor and bail altogether, I heard William yell that Eric was ready to come over. I belayed Eric over to the anchor, then started bring William along.Then another wave of rockfall was heard. For some reason, people at the rappel stations above the saddle kept showering the upper saddle with rocks. A guide yelled up to them to, and no more rockfall was heard. Soon, Exum guides and their clients politely passed us at the double chimney.
The rest of the the climbing to the top went as planned, although the wind and the number of people on the route made it a bit frustrating. After a short chill session on the summit, we started making our way back down to the rappels. I think Eric wanted to kiss the ground when he finally touched down on the upper saddle. The rest of the trip was standard. Steep hike down to the lower saddle, negotiating the fixed rope down to the moraine, and the seemingly never-ending hike back to the car.
I was really impressed with how well Eric performed. William had been up before, so I knew he would be fine, but I was concerned about the change in elevation for Eric. Coming from below-sea-level New Orleans to climbing The Grand in 2 days is no easy feat, and he did it with style in New Balance running shoes (which were completely shredded by the end of the trip) Congrats Eric!
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| Eric Sella (left) and William almost back to the lower saddle. |
It's Tuesday, which means it's my Friday and almost time for another adventure. With the next three days off, Bill and I are headed back into the Wind River Range to the famous Cirque of the Towers. Our objectives: the Northeast Face of Pingora Peak and the East Ridge of Wolf's Head; both of which are included in Roper's Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. Hopefully I'll be checking back in a few days with a couple more peaks under my belt. Until then, chill out to the smooth grooves of Steely Dan as you imagine yourself cruising the open road with the windows down:
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