The Enclosure, Southwest Ridge

The Enclosure, SW Ridge, August 14-15, 2015 (written Aug 29, 2015).  The Enclosure is actually the prominent western spur of the Grand Teton.  It tops out at 13,280 feet, making it the second highest prominence in the range.  It's a worthy goal.  One other reason I wanted to climb was to see the archaeological site at the summit - a small ring of stones, presumably placed there by native Americans.

Once again, I was fortunate to climb with Keith Sidle, who I had climbed with for the SW Ridge of Symmetry Spire and the Serendipity Arete of Mt. Owen.  He's one of the best around and I knew I could trust him to get us to the top, weather permitting, of course.

On Friday morning, Aug 14, we left Lupine Meadows with fairly light packs on our way to Corbet High Camp.   After a slow hike, we got to the camp at 11,160 feet a little after 4 pm.  We passed through a few showers on the way, but stayed dry. Camp was unoccupied; we'd passed by some others coming down as we made our way through the Meadows of Garnet Canyon.  Over the next hour and more, a few more guides and clients drifted in and it looked like about there would be 8 of us; only Keith and I would leave early the next morning.

We had dinner at about 6:30, and I headed off to a tent about 7:30.  The sky was clear then, the wind calm, but of course difficult to sleep.  I did sleep an hour or so, but was awake when the first thunderstorm struck about 9 pm.  Very dramatic:  hard rain, high wind, close-in lightening and ear-shattering thunder.  Soon the rain stopped, but the wind continued, and did most of the night.  I may have slept a little before there was a repeat of the storm just about midnight.  I think I finally got to sleep about 2 am.  Then woke again at 3 am; dozed a little until the alarm went off at 3:30.  Not much sleep for what was to come.

I met Keith in the big tent for breakfast; we then packed up and headed out with our headlamps at 4:00.  The sky looked mostly clear; plenty of stars and even a few shooting stars to watch.  We got to the lower saddle at about 5 am.  We took a short water and snack break.  I pretty much felt lousy; feeling the effect of too little sleep.  From the lower saddle, we went up slightly and rather than continue up toward the upper saddle, we soon turned to our left on the Valhalla Traverse, which is a series of ledges and slopes when encircles the Enclosure and eventually leads to the north side of the Enclosure/Grand Teton. It stops at the top of Valhalla Canyon, which was our launch point for the Serendipity Arete route on Mt Owen 2 years ago.

After nearly two hours of ups, downs, and traverses, we find the big cairn marking the bottom of the SW Ridge route at 7 am.  The sky is pretty light by now.  I was happy to be there:  looking up at the route I could tell it would be a great line; very steep, very dramatic.  But, unfortunately, I had to be honest with Keith and tell him I felt really crappy.  Over the last 2 hours, I felt worse than I had at the lower saddle - nauseated and low energy level.  But this is not uncommon for me: typically I feel much better by about 8 am or so.  So I said let's get going, I'll get better as the morning goes on.

At the Carin along the Vahalla Traverse marking the beginning of the SW Ridge of  The Enclosure.  The Middle Teton is in the backgroudnd behind me.

From the cairn looking up to the SW Ridge.  A few hundred feet of 3rd and 4th  class scrambling are immediately in front of us.

From the cairn, there is a few hundred feet of 3rd and 4th class scrambling up the to the beginning of the first 5th class section.  As we moved along, I was hoping the harder work would actually make me feel better.  It really didn't; but it did remind me I could feel crappy and climb at the same time.

As usual, Keith is looking very happy to soon be climbing. 

The first part of the first pitch of 5th class work. 

A peek to the north shows the sun is now up.  But on the west side of the mountain, there'll be no sun for us.

We got to the start of the fifth class work at 7:30.  It's darn cold as we start off; I had all but one layer on, and was still wearing gloves.  Keith leads up the pitch while I sit and belay.  The guide book says there's a 5.7/5.8 move on this pitch.  Hmmm, that's actually a pretty tough move before a person gets warmed up and comfortable on the rock.  Keith of course, will have no problem whatsoever.  Well, I think, when it's my turn, it'll be okay, it will just help make me feel better to get some rhythm going, which always helps.  Keith finishes the pitch, goes off belay, soon has me on belay and I'm climbing up the first steep ramp/face.  Feeling okay; climbing is easy; it's cold and I left my gloves on.  Then I work right a little way to a big flake.  Must be that 5.7/5.8.  I'm not thinking clearly at this point; I tell myself I can just force it.  So I head up, just expecting good handholds and solid footing.  Man am I surprised when I lose grip on both hands and feet at the same time and I'm falling!  What? this can't be happening.  I know I'm not feeling real great, but a FALL?  WTF? Fortunately Keith's belay catches me really quickly and I can easily get back to the move and I try again.  And I fall again!  Tried the same thing exactly, and fell again just the same way.  Now I hang suspended on the rope and talk myself out of this craziness.  Looked at the holds again, see what I did wrong, catch my breath.  Then back to the rock, execute my plan, and complete the move.  I get up a little way to a better stance and breath hard and get my breath back.  Wow, not my best moment.  But then 8 am is not known to be my best time of the day.

Time to climb again; I complete most of the pitch, and then I see Keith above me.  Problem is, there's this hand jam move between him and me.  It's only a 5.6.  In the Tetons, you can almost always avoid a jam by finding a nice little nubbin inside the crack; you don't really need to jam do you?  Just find some really small small holds and sorta turn it into a hard face climb, right?  So I start up; Keith is telling me how to do the move.  I get up there, I can see in the crack, I still have my gloves on (big mistake), and I put my left hand in the crack looking for that nubbin to use while my attempting to smear my climbing shoes on the rock and reach way up with my right hand to a nice hold above the crack.   It takes about 2 seconds for my left hand to come out of the crack due to lack of anything to hold onto.  While I can hold myself in place and don't fall again (pretty tight rope I think), I sure am feeling vulnerable again.  So.... my idea about how to climb the move wasn't so good.  But okay, catch my breath, get ready to try again.  Keith wisely says "Dan take off your gloves".  I unwisely answer back "no I don't want to".  So I get settled, and this time I make a fist with my left hand and try to jam the crack correctly.  It doesn't feel secure, I just can't go up, so I back down a little.  Well not surprisingly,  Keith is right, I need to take off my gloves.  So I do that, and map out my moves again.  Then insert my left hand in the crack again, make a fist,  and it feels okay.  Then all my weight goes on that, I get my feet smeared on some crystals, and throw my right hand up to the handhold.  Which, as Keith told me it would be, was totally secure.  Then, the idea is to extend my left hand from its fist, and slide it out.  Except I couldn't get it out.  Great, now I'm stuck to the mountain. Okay, then the thing to do is to cuss a lot and wiggle, cajole, and force the hand out.  That actually worked. A moment later I was up with Keith, and about ready to keel over from oxygen deficit and excess adrenaline.  Took a few minutes to return to normal.  Wow that was quite a pitch.  I hope that was the crux.  Ha! No chance!

Actually, by now I was no longer nauseated and felt closer to normal.  It was somewhere around 9 am and my early morning difficulties were slowly passing,  although I was a bit apprehensive and didn't have my confidence yet.  On the next pitch, a 20 ft section consisting of an inside corner with a face on the right would be the next challenge.  It was one of those faces that really was easy, but you have to place your right foot very carefully before moving up to a nice handhold above.  (Keith's chalk marks made that handhold easy to see.)  A delicate move, good balance required, but really not hard.  Guess I still wasn't up to par, because I choose the wrong crystal for my right foot, and, sure enough, it slipped and my right hand was not quite up the the chalky hold yet.  Fall number 3!!!

Well, once again, get a little slack from Keith, and get back onto the rock.  This time, I pick a better crystal for my right foot, weight it carefully, and move my right hand up to the beautiful hold and it was done!  Above that, the pitch was easier.  I explained what happen to Keith.....his response:  "yeah that's a pretty delicate move."

From this point up, the climbing  became more comfortable -  wide cracks, middle 5th class faces and ramps, and the occasional 4th or easy 5th class sections where we could make good time and I began again to feel comfortable on Teton rock.  A bit higher, and I have no idea which pitch (maybe 6 or 7), there is an interesting section about 30 feet or so up from our belay point.  It's a wide crack in an inside corner; the only way to climb it is a classic stem technique.  I looked for at it for few minutes, saw what should work, and then climbed it with one foot forward and one foot to the back and using hands on what I could find; it seemed pretty strenuous.  While it wasn't really so hard it was kinda complicated so was very satisfying to pull it off. Finally I felt like I could climb normally again!

Throughout the climb, Keith was running out full pitches with our 60 meter rope.  It was straining my voice to yell up to him, but we communicated safely and well and made good time over the last few pitches to gain the summit ridge at 10:45.  It was nice to get a drink, eat a little, and change from climbing shoes to approach shoes.  Plus it was sunny for the first time!  The weather was perfect; clear skies, windy, but not excessively so.

On the summit ridge, it's sunny but still a little windy.  Keith  packs away most of the rope.

After easily traversing the 3rd and 4th class climbing along the ridge, we arrived at the summit at 11:30.  Total time from the cairn was about 4 hrs 15 min.  No speed record, but I felt pretty good about the climb,  the wimpy start I had seemed like a long time ago.

On the summit.  The immense west face of the Grand Teton is in the background.  The entire Owens-Spalding route  is on that face.   There's no good way to judge distance, the height of the face behind us is about 500 - 600 feet, and we are well over 1/2 mile from the middle of the face.

The next thing to do was to see the Native American site.  Known as the Visonquest site, it was smaller than I expected.  It's somewhat disturbed, but many rocks are the way they were placed hundreds of years ago.  It's easy to see the attraction humans have for this site....the view is one of the most dramatic I can imagine.

The VisonQuest site.  Apparently the stones are not from the immediate area of the summit, and no one has found their source.  The northwest face of the Grand Teton is on the right, the summit of Mt. Owen on the upper left, and Jenny and Jackson Lakes in the far background.

From here, it was down to the upper saddle, then descend a short distance to a good lunch spot, make our way down to the lower saddle, and then of course all the way out to Lupine Meadows.  Arrived there at 6:15 pm.  Totally beat, but feeling very glad to complete another Teton climb!

Mt Woodring, Southern Slopes

Mt Woodring, July 9, 2015 (written August 29, 2015).  Mt Woodring is not often talked about, but it is a respectably sized peak at 11,585 ft, and makes up much of the division between Paintbrush Canyon and Leigh Canyons.  There's a small bit of class 3 climbing near the summit, but is mostly class 2 after one leaves the Paintbrush canyon trail. Ortenburger and Jackson's guidebook refers to this route as the Southwest Slopes, but it looks  pretty much to be strictly southern to me.

Spring and early summer this year was pretty wet and rainy, and I set off from the String Lake trailhead at 6 in the morning under a light mist and occasional light rain.  While I was concerned about the weather worsening, I knew from the forecast that there might be a brief clearing before rain was forecast for the afternoon.  So with a little luck, I might sneak this in.

It's about a 3 hour hike to Holly Lake at 9,416 ft, From there, I left the trail and start climbing a large alluvial fan up to the broad gully making up the southern slopes of the peak over boulders and scree.  Clouds hovering over the summit keep me from seeing the summit, but it's easy to see how the route goes.

Mt Woodring and Holly Lake.  The climb is up the prominent alluvial fan in the middle right, then pass the snowfield in the middle of the pictureon it's right.  Then, today at least, up into the summit's cloud bank.

As I climbed, I stayed in the broad gully and well to the right of a large buttress attached to the SW ridge.  Within the gully, there is a small pinnacle which sits in the middle, forcing one to decide to go right or left to attain the summit ridge.  In spite of the fact that the summit still lurked in the clouds, it looked better to the left of the pinnacle, so I continued that way.  It was typical Tetons:  plan carefully and choose the path of least resistance.

In the upper part of the broad gully, about 3/4 of the way up the south slopes route.  I choose to go left around this small pinnacle, and that worked out fine.  Going right may have been good too.

At about 11 am, the clouds finally descended and enveloped me.  No rain however.  I started dropping way-points in my GPS program on my iPhone so I wouldn't get lost on the way down.  At bit later, I got to the summit ridge, and had to do a bit of careful route finding and I also built a few small cairns at key points in case the weather worsened.  Still no rain, and no thunder and lightening.

I reached the first, and lower, southwestern summit at 11:40.  I wasn't exactly sure where the higher northeastern summit was, as visibility was only about 30 feet.   After a minute, the other summit briefly cleared; it looked like a very long way away.  However, knowing it was hard to judge distances in these conditions, I checked the GPS and decided it couldn't be far.  I had to be thinking about getting down off this peak before the weather deteriorated!  It took only about 10 min to get to the higher northeastern summit. There I found the USGS survey marker.  Someone had left a shiny new quarter next to it....I wonder why?

The benchmark on the summit.  Note the shiny new quarter someone left. 

Grabbed a quick lunch in the fog of the summit.  The view to the north was exciting:  a dramatic vertical drop entirely wrapped in fog.  Don't slip here.

Soon I was backtracking, finding my cairns, and knocking them down as I went.  As I descend, the clouds cleared away, and I enjoyed a dramatic view of the central part of the range that included Teewinot, Owen, the Grand, and the Enclosure.  Lucky me.

The clouds briefly clearly, a dramatic view of the main part of the Tetons.

As I continued down, the clouds returned.  Still no rain.  Made it down to Holly Lake at 2:15 pm, had a snack, and started down the trail. Two minutes later, what I thought was a non-threatening sky suddenly became quite threatening and one minute later, the rain started; it accelerated quickly and forced me under a tree to get rain gear out.  Before I completed that, the thunder and lightening started, the rain came on mercilessly, and I was feeling very thankful to be down off of the summit.

Continued a long hike out; raining much of the time along with occasional intense thundershowers that drove me under trees for short periods.  The rain finally let up, and I was back at the trail head about 6 pm.

South Teton, Northwest Couloir

South Teton, June 16 - 17, 2015.  (written on Aug 12, 2015) The southernmost of the "Teton" peaks is the South Teton.  This peak is fairly easy to climb but is a pretty good walk in.  A spring climb on snow saves the climber much tough travel on boulders, cobble, and scree, but it can be quite cold and windy on the summit in June.

Betsy and I have been planning this climb for about a year, basically since I had climbed the Middle Teton by myself.  I couldn't help but see during that ascent that Northwest Couloir route on the South Teton looked very fun and would be just a perfect route for Betsy to add to her few experiences in snow and ice climbing.  So we followed the same approach I had made in 2014 and set out mid-day from Lupine Meadows and hiked to my favorite new campsite at the Meadows in Garnet Canyon.

Our camp in Garnet Canyon.  Tomorrow we'll be making our way up the snowy slopes in the background.

After a cool night, we were up and moving out by about 5:30 am as the sky was starting to lighten in the East.  The snow surface was fortunately quite hard and we put on our crampons as soon as we moved out of the flats of the Meadow and onto steeper slopes.  Then we walked steadily up, occasionally crossing rocky areas but mostly on gentle snow slopes in the South Fork valley.  After about 3-1/2 hours of this, we were not quite to the saddle proper between the South Teton and the Middle Teton, but decided to turn south a bit early, in order to take advantage of prior climber's steps which had been kicked in the deep snow in the days prior.  These slopes were much steeper now and eventually we came to the entry to the couloir.  The sun was on the slope, but it was still quite hard.  One needs to be careful here; a slip on this hard surface could be extremely unpleasant if one did not self arrest quickly.

Betsy with a smile as we enter into the upper part of the Northwest couloir.

Inside the couloir itself, there were occasionally short rocky sections to cross.  Then, at the top, it narrows dramatically, and then we popped out on the summit ridge.

Betsy just as she comes onto the summit ridge.  The top of the couloir is just to her left.

It's a quick and easy scramble to the summit, and we arrive at 10:30.  The joy is somewhat moderated by the howling wind and quite cool temperature.  We bundled up with all of our warm outerwear, found a spot somewhat out of the wind, and settled in for a long lunch.  We hoped for the hard snow of the ascent to soften to make travel back down the couloir safer.

Betsy at the summit of the South Teton.  The first peak behind her is the Middle Teton, although it tends to blend in with the much larger Grand Teton in the middle of the picture.

About 11:30, we gather ourselves and scramble back to the top of the couloir.  I lead down; now the snow is soft enough that I can improve the steps somewhat.  It's steep enough, however, that I down-climb facing into the slope through much of it.

Dan descending the couloir.

Betsy soon came down behind me.  Then we moved together to cross the top of the snowfield, and found soft snow and moved quickly after that.  Soon we were back to the South Fork valley and soon found some glissading opportunities.  We were back at camp by 2 pm.  Had a bit to eat, packed up, and heading down to Lupine Meadows, arriving about 6:30.  A great day!

Mt Moran, East Face

Mt Moran, Aug 18 - 20, 2014.  Soaring to 12,605 feet above Jackson Hole is Mt. Moran.  This peak, more than many other Teton mountains, stands by itself and thus creates quite an imposing view even though it is well short of 13,000 feet. It is somewhat more difficult to reach and complete a climb than other peaks so a multi-day trip is a good strategy.

Mt. Moran as viewed from Leigh Lake.

My wife Betsy and I arranged a trip with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, who supplied not only a guide but also two canoes for crossing from String and Leigh Lakes to a prominent avalanche gully that descends from the Skillet glacier on the upper slopes of Mt Moran. We left the String Lake put-in at 11:15 pm on Monday, Aug 18 on a clear and beautiful day. There was a very short (10 -15 min) portage to cross from String Lake to Leigh Lake during an uneventful trip taking about an hour. We brought up the canoes onto shore, stashed 3 beers in some cold water in the lake, shouldered fairly heavy packs, and started up. The trail was well-defined and crossed through boulders, cobble, and soil.  The trail runs along the creek so water is plentiful. After about 2,160 feet of steep climbing, the trail turns left and moves into brush and trees. Then it's another 800 ft of climbing to the highest of the CMC campsites at about 9,860 feet.

The CMC climbing route on Mt Moran.

Our plan is to climb the CMC route the next day.  This route is named for the 1941 first ascent party, who were members of the Chicago Mountaineering Club. But this afternoon we settle into a very nice campsite, enjoy the view over Jackson Hole along with several other peaks including the Grand Teton to the south; and just kick back and enjoy.

After a tasty dinner of chicken tacos, we get to bed early at about 8 pm. Another couple of climbers showed up at the campsite not long after that, so it looks like there'll be two parties on the climb. Neither of us slept really great, but got up at 3:30 am nonetheless.  Joel, our guide, had hot water ready and we had oatmeal and tea. Then on with day packs and we headed up out of camp about 4:40 am. The first part of the climb we did in early morning darkness with headlamps to light our way. It's about 1,780 ft up through brushy slopes and scree along a climber's path that is fairly easy to follow. At 6:15 we are enjoying a spectacular sunrise as we reach the top of a pinnacle known as the Drizzlepuss. We wait for a few minutes for there to be enough light for climbing, and then rope up. The route from here includes downclimbing a couple hundred feet to a notch. Joel belayed us and I downclimbed along with Betsy, who was tied in about 10 -12 feet above me. The climbing was easy (about 5.5), but of course had some decent exposure in spots. It took 30 minutes or so to get to the notch. A rappel is sometimes done rather than downclimb this section, but that didn't seem to be necessary given the easy climbing.

Sunrise on summit day.  Picture taken from nearly to the top of the Drizzlepuss.

At the notch, the sun has now hit Mt Moran's East Face full on in the left of the picture.

From the notch, it's great to move out into the sun of the huge East Face of Mt. Moran. We'll have about 1,000 feet of roped climbing to get to the summit.  Much of the lower part of the route is on steep easy granite slabs. The upper part gets less slabby and then moderates to easy class 4 quite near the top. The 5th class climbing that makes up nearly all the climb is up to 5.5, and is typically pretty exposed down to the Falling Ice Glacier.

At about 7:00 am, Joel leads us out of the notch in a traverse, and then we start moving up in pitches less than a full rope length. We soon move more to the right to stay on the route.  Betsy and I climb together; I am at the end of the rope and she is tied in about 10 feet above me.  There is occasionally a need for me to stop momentarily to remove the hardware Joel has placed for protection, but mostly we can just move steadily. The other climbers on the route, Tony and Ashley, downclimbed to the notch just before us, but as we move along the face, they take a slightly different route in the early going, and we soon move out ahead of them.

From here, we climb steadily as the sun continues to rise.  By 9:00 am we have moved above the slabs, and now we occasionally see small cairns in the gullies and ledges of the 4th and easy 5th class sections just below the summit. Immediately to our right is a feature known as the "Black Dike", which is a volcanic intrusion made of a dark igneous rock similar to basalt. Soon the slopes moderates and we reach the summit at 9:45. The summit is unique to the Tetons -- it's football field sized, and it capped with sedimentary rock rather than the typical granitic rocks common in the range.

Joel leads up the 5.5 slabs on the East Face.  Way up above is the "Black Dike" (actually more dark brown) igneous intrusion that slices up the face.  The summit is just beyond the top of the dike.

Time to enjoy the view, take a few pictures, and eat some lunch while trying to stay warm in spite of the brisk cool wind along the summit. Tony and Ashley arrive just as we're leaving. From here, we reverse our route along the upper section as we climb down. But then we work to the right (south), and locate a rappel anchor. Then we've got two 100 ft rappels followed by a bit of downclimbing to get us well down the face. Finally, we get back almost to the notch with a 190 ft rappel (Joel downclimbed some of this bit). After a brief traverse we're back at the notch proper, and get ready to climb back to the top of the Drizzlepuss. Tony and Ashley catch up to us here and we all enjoy a bit of dark chocolate together before Betsy and I follow Joel up. There's mostly easy ledges and a few short 5.5 moves and we're at the top in about a half hour.

On the summit.  From left to right, Joel, Betsy, and Dan.  The large peak in the background is the Grand Teton.

Rappelling down the east face.  The pinnacle behind is the West Horn.  The glacier far below is the Falling Ice Glacier.

From here, we're back on the climber's trail toward camp.  No hurry, the weather is fine, and we arrive at 5 pm. Overall, the descent has taken longer than the ascent.  It actually takes longer for 3 people to rappel than it does for them to climb, at least on these easier routes.

Back at camp, we unpack and get re-hydrated.  Joel's dinner treat is pizza ... a meal that takes a lot of talent to make when all you have is an MSR whisper lite stove.  We finished that with a bit of chocolate and went off to bed early.

Next day we're up at 7:00 am.  The weather is a bit unsettled.  We had some rain during the night and judging from the clouds in the area, more may be one the way. After a breakfast of fried potatoes and bacon, we break camp about 10:00 and head down.  It took two hours back to the canoes, and we were slowed a bit by a couple of light rain showers.  Fortunately those cleared as we got the canoes set, retrieved our cold beers, and enjoyed some fine ale before pushing off.

An easy and fun paddle back, a great end to a fun trip!

Index of Climbs

List of Climbs to date.

Because I am unlikely to post at the same time as I actually climb a Teton Peak, dates can get confusing.  So here is a table which shows the blog date, the date of the climb, and a link you can use to easily see the blog for that Peak.  I'll try to keep this blog as the most recent entry, making it a table of contents of a sort.



Blog Date               Climbing Dates            Route                                      Peak & Link

1975 Climbs

July 19, 2013          Aug 13, 1975           Northwest Ledges                      Symmetry Sprire

July 19, 2013          Aug 16, 1975           East Face                                 Teewinot
                                                                                                           
also:  attempted, but not completed: Guides Wall & Mt. Owen


2012 Climbs

July 22, 2013          Aug 10-11, 2012       Pownal-Gilkey                           Grand Teton

Aug 13, 2013          Aug  28, 2012          SW Ridge                                 Symmetry Spire

June 19, 2014          Aug 30, 2012           East Ridge                               Disappointment Peak


2013 Climbs

Aug 18, 2013          July 18, 2013           SW Ridge, E Ridge Couloir        Prospectors Mountain

Aug 11, 2014          July 23-26, 2013       Serendipity Arete                      Mt. Owen



2014 Climbs

Aug 1, 2014            June 29-30, 2014      SW Couloir                              Middle Teton

Aug 11, 2014          July 30, 2014            East Ridge, East Face             Buck Mountain

Aug 24, 2014          Aug 18-20, 2014       CMC (East Face)                    Mt. Moran


2015 Climbs

Aug 12, 2015          June 16-17, 2015        NW Couloir                            South Teton

Aug 28, 2015          July 9, 2015                South Slopes                         Mt Woodring

Aug 28, 2015          Aug 16-17, 2015         SW Ridge                              Enclosure Peak

Mt Owen, Serendipity Arete

Mt. Owen, July 23 - 26, 2013. (written 8/11/2014).  A major peak in the range is Mt. Owen (12,928'). I first attempted to climb it back in August of 1975, as I discussed in my blog entry dated July 19, 2013. I had met a fellow at the Climber's Ranch who was looking for a partner for the climb. His plan was to climb the Serendipity Arete route in the course of one day.  The route includes a hike up Cascade Canyon, a creek crossing, and a strenuous hike up through the brush of Valhalla Canyon. The problem with this approach is that all this plus the long and challenging rock climb is that it translates to a very long day. Not surprisingly, a one day effort turned out to be a poor decision. So, after not starting early enough, but still completing the first few pitches, that attempt ended when we reluctantly rappelled and down-climbed well before reaching the summit.

The failed effort, however, gave me an appreciation for the climb.  Leigh Ortenburger describes it: "This enjoyable climb is consistently interesting and nowhere excessively difficult." I think this climb had lived in the back of my mind for many years, in that list of things that eventually had to be done right..

Keith from Jackson Hole Mountain Guides had never done this route but was game to learn it and get us up safely.  He studied it diligently, and even did a recon essentially to the base of the climb proper. Thankfully he found a great camp spot much higher the normal camping spot in Valhalla Canyon, and this would give us an earlier start, always a good thing.

It's pretty tough to get a picture of the entire route. The climb goes along the Serendipity Arete (an arete is a narrow steep ridgeline), which is on the north and west sides of the mountain, and the climber encounters 4 distinct towers, or buttresses, along the route.   The best I picture I have found can been seen by clicking here. (Credit:  Many more pictures and climbing info can be found on the page where this picture is by clicking here. These folks had much better cameras with them, and it shows--I'll also reference four more of their pictures below as I describe this climb.)

On Tuesday, July 23, Keith and I took the boat across Jenny Lake and started up Cascade Canyon at about 10:45 AM.  Eventually we made it to where Valhalla Canyon intersects Cascade Canyon (at about 7,700'), waded a very icy Cascade Creek in the early afternoon.  From there, we found the climber's trail and made a slow climb up an occasionally very gnarly and steep slope. Once we crested the headwall at about 9,600', we made our way up another hour or so to the camping spot, arriving at 5 PM. Elevation there is about 10,000'.

Interestingly, we had company. A party of two climbers from Arkansas was planning on the same route the next day as well. They camped at the lake and meadow complex at the top of the headwall, which is the usual campsite for parties climbing Serendipity Arete. Considering this route is climbed infrequently, it was amazing we would have two parties on the route the same day.

Our campsite at about 10,000 ft on Mt Owen above Vahalla Canyon (to the left), and far below, Cascade Canyon.  Note the flat summit of Mt. Moran in the far background.

Unlike the usual camp spot, we had no water at ours. Keith foresaw this, of course, and he made a hike up higher to collect snow.  We had brought along plenty of stove fuel and spent 30 - 40 min melting enough water for dinner, breakfast and the climb. Then we ate, packed our summit packs, enjoyed sunset in a fantastic place, and got to sleep.

The next morning we're up at 4:00 am for breakfast and final packing, then on the way at 4:45 am. We've got about 2 hours to hike to get to the base of the climb.  We got the rope out once and Keith belayed me through one steep section, and then arrived at the bottom of the first pitch at about 6:30 am. The weather looked good as the moon faded and the sun emerged.

6 am, crossing a short steep area on the way to the first pitch.  Sunrise on the north face of Grand Teton and The Enclosure in the background.

Keith gets set up with his gear and it's time to get climbing.

The climb is a long one. Most parties, depending on rope length, would need about 10 pitches to the summit.  However, in our case, and sticking to guiding standards, Keith will keep me on belay through some places where others might scramble on Class 4 terrain. So our count was closer to 15 - 16 pitches. Either way, this climb is entails about 7 hours of climbing to reach the summit. The climb is best described as working up 4 separate towers (buttresses) along the arete before reaching the summit ridge. There is about 1300 feet of height to gain in the process. The route is mid class 5 throughout, with occasional harder spots.

As we're getting set for the climb, the sun is reaching mountain tops all over the Tetons. The first pitch goes up and across some easy slabs, under a big overhang, across a 5.7 hand traverse and around a corner to end out of sight.  This is a pitch I led in 1975; amazingly, I remembered it well; it's just as I recall. (For a picture of this hand traverse section from another climber's record, click here.)

The second pitch starts off with a 5.7 hand crack which was easier than I recalled it from back in 1975. Two more pitches brought us to the top of the first tower at about 9:00 am. From here one crosses a "knife-edge" to the bottom of the second tower. The term "knife-edge" is a bit generous. I was roped up, of course, but crossed it standing fully upright. (For a photo of the first part of this section from another climber's record, click here.)

Making my way along the ridge between the top of first tower and the bottom of the second tower, having just crossed the  the "knife-edge".  Photo courtesy of Keith.

I don't remember exactly where my partner and I turned around in our 1975 attempt. But I have no recollection of crossing from tower 1 to 2, so we must have turned back after the end of the third pitch. During this trip, I noted rappel chances to our right into the steep gully to the west of the arete and that was probably our way down.

Back to today. We are now hearing other voices on the route below us. The other two fellows who camped below us have made their way up. I'm hoping I am fit and fast enough to stay out in front. So I do my best to maintain Keith's pace.

As usual, it's tough to take pictures during a climb. On a couple of occasions, however, I can get my camera out as I catch up to Keith and he still has me on belay. Other times, I can get to the camera after he has finished the pitch and anchored himself, and while I am still also anchored.

After passing the "knife-edge", there's a long 5.7 pitch that leads to the top of the second tower.  We're keeping our rhythm, moving along well.

The first pitch on the third tower starts with the black and red "ship's prow", which we started at about 9:45 am.

The start of the climbing on the third tower; this feature is reminiscent of a the bow of a large ship.  This section is climbed on the mid-right side of the "prow'" as we look up at it.

After reaching the top of the third tower, the route moves a short distance to the climber's left (north) along a ledge with some pretty spectacular exposure down toward Cascade Canyon. We climbed a more difficult pitch (5.7) from here and reached easier fourth & fifth class terrain through the middle of the fourth tower. Then there is a 5.7 pitch followed by an easier fifth class pitch to reach the top of the fourth tower. I gotta say....I was pretty glad at this point I was getting some rest while on belay. This route is pretty hard work....and there is a lot of climbing to be done on this fourth tower in particular.

Typical terrain on the climb of the upper portion of the fourth tower.  Essentially vertical but lots of good holds with that fine Teton crystalline rock.

From the top of the fourth tower, we descended slightly to the col between the fourth tower and the summit ridge.  Climbing up onto this ridge, one soon comes to the crux of the climb.  It's a chimney rated 5.9 and is very off-width. The first step is to remove my pack and hang it on a sling from my climbing harness; there's not going to be enough room for me and it when I move up. However, I saw no way at all to climb it....the right side (which eventually becomes more a face) is smooth down low with no good footholds, and the left side starts far away from the climber and only becomes reachable once one has ascended some distance and as the rock begins to slant in towards the other (right) side of the chimney. So, since there are no places for my feet, it's entirely an upper body effort to get high enough for the width to become reasonable for "normal" chimney techniques. The potential for handholds down low is non-existent, the only weakness is a crack in the middle/right of the chimney and it's hopeless until you get high enough where it widens, about where an old piton is fixed in place. Keith faced the same issue, of course, but somehow negotiated it, and placed a stopper with a long sling (better keep downward pressure on it!) and protected himself with the fixed piton. This stopper/sling allowed me to do a fairly strenuous pull-up and hand over hand to get my body high enough to have access to the left wall of the chimney and then lean into it with my hips and counter force with my feet on the right side. All the time hanging on to the sling and trying (desperately) to find better footholds and jams wherever I could find them. Not to mention the dead weight of my pack swinging below me. Eventually I got stable enough to retrieve the stopper (let's just say it was delicately placed) and unclip from the piton.  Then I moved a little higher, pulled up my pack, got it on, and then was able to move on more easily. (Other than my left hand being in a spasm from gripping the sling so tightly for a minute or so as I got my feet placed and got stabilized mid-chimney).  For me the rating was 5.7, A0. I can't imagine how I could climbed as a free 5.9.  I call it a 5.11 if you're not 6'5'' or taller. Even then, I'm not at all sure how to do it. There is no doubt this is the crux of this climb, and it is at about 13-14 pitches into the climb, let's just say it was a big challenge....

Keith snapped this shot of me after I completed the crux and emerged onto the summit ridge. (For another climber's picture at the same spot, click here).  We're still some distance from the summit, however.

After moving up on easier fifth class following the crux, I came up to Keith and the beginnings of the summit ridge, such as it is. One could really call it the fifth and final tower along the arete. Then our next pitch moved us to the southwest along this ridge and then eventually the next  up into the deep shade of the easier climbing in the Koven chimney. Up that easily and soon one breaks out into the light of the summit!

After a long morning and a couple of hours into the afternoon, here I am at the summit proper  at 2 pm.  The sky was cloudy, but not threatening at all. See another great picture of this summit here.

Keith and I are very happy to complete this route.  He did an awesome job leading this climb.

The climbers behind us have not reached the Koven chimney as we down-climbed it, but we continued to hear them occasionally. The descent, unfortunately, is far from a no-brainer.  There is a lot of confusing terrain.  The basic approach is to work along the ridge that runs between the Grand Teton and the summit of Owen, and turn right (northwest) at just the right place. Although we missed the "ideal" spot to turn, so had many other parties, indicated by the numerous rappel slings and cairns. Soon we were route-finding down seemingly endless ledges of the Northwest Face (a grade III, 5.6 route in it's own right). I was moving pretty slow by then, but we eventually found the path we had traversed at 5:30 am that morning, and followed it back to to arrive at our tent at just before 6:00 pm. But it's not over....we packed up camp and persevered through loose scree and talus to the much better camp down at the meadow. The other pair of climbers on the route caught us as we made our way down and we reached the meadow and lots of cold fresh water about 7:30 pm.

I'm going to the first to admit that this was a very hard long day. Was this really something for a 60-year old to do? I can't say enough about how good Keith was for his great leads and route-finding. Plus he kept me safe the entire time, which was particularly good on the descent, as exhausted as I was. So, yeah, with good help, this IS something for a 60-year old to do!

Buck Mountain, East Ridge

Buck Mountain, July 30, 2014 (written 8/11/2014).  Buck Mountain (11,938') is an imposing sight from Jackson Hole. It's the largest of the southerly summits, and is surprisingly accessible, although not via a maintained trail. The class 4 route on the East Ridge is spectacular. The easier East Face makes a nice descent route. The access is from the Death Canyon trail-head. Simply hike up the trail to just before the 3rd foot bridge and and you should soon find a small path to the right (north). Follow this path through the woods, cross a couple of meadows as you climb, and you'll be in Stewart Draw.

The East Face of Buck Mountain showing the approach and the East Ridge.  The trail dips into Stewart Draw for a couple of kilometers.

I left Death Canyon trail head about 6:45 am. Probably a bit too late, given the unsettled weather of the past few days, but all turned out okay.  After turning into Stewart draw, and hiking about an hour, one must cross the creek. Normal mid and late season, this is easy, but this year, the water was still high. I didn't relish the idea of a cold wade, so I looked upstream and found a rock and a logjam which allowed me to jump across. Trekking poles were very helpful.

I relocated the trail on the north side of the creek easily and continued up. After some moderate grade, I eventually popped out of the trees and found myself at the bottom of a cirque.  Followed the trail, which moved more northerly, and was able to ascend, with several short switchbacks, up to about 9,600 ft. It then turns westerly, and climbs slowly toward an area of slabby rock outcrops.  These are pretty flat, and there were a few patches of snow as well. There are very few cairns and no path in this section. Before actually getting to the slabs, I gained elevation a bit too quickly and found myself in a field of large boulders.  Looking down about 100 feet, I saw a cairn.  So I made my way down to it, to get back on track.  However, in doing so, I slipped a foothold and my left foot went into a hole between boulders.  All that stopped me was my left hip hitting the rock very hard.  It hurt! I knew there'd be a good bruise from this. I continued on.

Above the slabs, the east ridge rises dramatically drops from the saddle between Buck Mountain and point 10,696. The ridge can be accessed from the slabs by continuing west and a shade north and climbing to the ridge at its most easterly point, or by continuing to work your way more strictly westerly under some cliffs until there is a weakness in the cliff that can be climbed through and then ascend to the ridge.  This second approach appeared to me to be wet from melting snow so I stuck to the first choice. I climbed a snow slope to what looked like an elegant class 4 way to attain the ridge. The snow had melted way from the rock, leaving a large moat to cross. I choose a likely crossing, climbed down into the moat and back up on class 4 rock. First I encountered easy climbing, but soon the steepness increased as did the exposure. After a few easy class 5 moves, I decided it was time to reassess.  While I was clearly going to the ridge line, it didn't seem like a safe approach given that above me it looked more like a 5.5 with exposure. So I descended, got back on the snow slope and looked for better lines. At first, no luck, but eventually I did find a dirty chimney with easy class 4 climbing. However, I had lost about 40 minutes and I was worried about being off the peak before any afternoon rain showers. So I had a little talk with myself; reminded myself I had already bruised my hip significantly, and it was already about 11 am. But I figured the next short bit was safe, and I would at least find if I was on the correct route. It would still be easy to retreat if I needed to. So up I went. After a short distance, I noticed a group of small trees that I passed by. They can be seen from below and would be a good landmark to help know where to ascend up to the ridge.....basically take the line that allows one to most efficiently pass these trees.

The East Face and Ridge of Buck Mountain.  Picture taken from Jackson Hole with a zoom of 320 mm.  I climbed to the summit via the ridge, and descended via the face.

It was now 11:20 am. But the sky looked okay, the ridge didn't look too long, so I decided to press on. It was all class 3 and the lower ridge is 20 or more feet wide. As I ascended, there were occasional easy class 4 sections. The view to the right (north) was often spectacular, and the views can be enjoyed without exposure. In the upper part of the ridge there is a large isolated block known as the "Fortress", which can easily be avoided by working to the left a little.  Just prior to the Fortress, however, there is a very short true knife-edge.....vertical exposure for a thousand feet or so to the north, and very steep smooth rock to the south. Crossing this 6 foot feature is an easy hand traverse (with friction for the feet) with one's body on the south side. Because the feature is so knife-like, you can't help but look and respect the vertical nature on the north side, but in addition, a fall to the south side would have serious consequences.  Some people might want a rope for protection at this spot. It may also be possible to avoid it by retreating a few minutes down the ridge and then traversing out onto the east face, although I didn't see any such a route that was obvious. (And I certainly didn't feel like backtracking and route finding with the summit so close!). So I did the hand traverse and keep going.

The upper East Face and East Ridge.

The rest of the way to the summit was easier, just staying to the left to avoid the Fortress, and taking the line of least resistance.  I got to the summit at 12:20.  Later than planned, but the weather was okay.  Had a short lunch, took some pictures, and started down the east face route.  I avoided snow patches by moving a bit to the west.  These patches were a bit steep, not the best to negotiate in approach shoes and without an ice axe. Eventually, I got to the large and less steep snow patch on the east face, and did a downward sloping traverse and regained the east ridge quite low down.  From there, it was route reversal: short distance down the ridge, past the small group of trees, down the dirty chimney, across the moat to the snow, down the slabs, and so on.

From the summit of Buck Mountain looking down the East Ridge route.  The saddle between Buck and Point 10696 is in the middle right of the photo.

By now, my bruised hip hurt much more. As a result, walking down was slow, and I found I needed to do the occasional short uphill section with half steps only; glad there wasn't much of that. Was back to the car at 4:45 pm.  Between my route finding issue and the slow walk out, it was much too long of a day. Should have been back to the car by 2 pm or so had things gone better.

But all in all, still a good day in the mountains and a bit of fun scrambling!