Prospectors Mountain. July 18, 2013 (written 8/18/2014). After my climbs of the Grand and Symmetery Spire in the summer of 2012, I found myself hooked on the Tetons. After all, it a world-renown climbing area with great rock, great climbing resources (guidebooks and guides), and only 5-6 hours from home. So a plan started to take shape.
To put this in perspective, in 2009 I retired after 30 years with the U. S. Forest Service. I was determined catch up on some lost time hiking and skiing. My first goal was to climb all the named 11,000 ft peaks in the Wasatch Range. There are 18 of them, and some of the trailheads are less than 30 min from our home. They range from class 2 to some serious class 4 , depending on your choice of routes. Some are quite long efforts too...better plan on 10 - 12 hours for a few of them. I didn't rush out and bag them all in one summer -- I couldn't as I also had the ACLs of both knees rebuilt over the last 3 years. So even now I haven't finished them all - the 4 southern ones remain. But I don't figure that is a reason not to start a new goal. Through time, I've decided my new goal is to climb all the major peaks in the Tetons also. I am still working on defining the list, but just because the list is not completed is not a reason I should not move ahead. Fortunately, I am going to count peaks done in the 1970s as legitimate achievements for this goal. So, as of July 17, 2013, my completed list is:
Teewinot Mountain. August 17, 1975
Symmetry Spire. August 13, 1975 & August 28, 2012.
Grand Teton. August 11, 2012.
Disappointment Peak. August 30, 2012.
Today I am adding to the list. My objective is at the southern end of the range, and is the 11,241 ft Prospectors Mountain. This peak defines, for me, the southern extent of climbing (perhaps the word scrambling is more appropriate in this case) in the range. Rendezvous Peak and Mt Hunt are further south....but Rendezvous is a ski area with a lift to the top, and Mt Hunt is a dangerous looking pile of sedimentary choss, and doesn't rise my somewhat arbitrary and inconsistently applied 11,000 ft minimum. There is really no need for me to pursue either.
My plan is to traverse the peak from west to east in order to learn two of the routes that Leigh Ortenburger and Reynolds Jackson cover in their guidebook. So this is: up the Southwest Ridge (class 1 - 2), across the summit ridge and down the East Ridge Couloir (class 3). I left Death Canyon trail head at 06:45, and made my way to the entry to Open Canyon about an hour later. There are well maintained trails throughout. The Guide book says to continue up Open Canyon to about 8,960 ft and then turn northwest and make your way up to the saddle between Tukuarika Peak and Prospector. I found that if you wait til you get to 8,900 ft, you'll find your way blocked by a deeply cut and impassable gully. Better to leave the trail about 8,600 ft, contour down to the creek, cross it easily, and then make your way up the far right side of the side canyon that leads to the saddle between the two peaks.This area is not visited often. I apparently moved quietly and at one point, there was some mutual surprise at close quarters for both me and a large mule deer buck....a pretty interesting moment for both he and I.
After my heart rate went back down, I worked my way east as I continued up the last third of the side canyon, so I was actually a couple hundred meters east of the saddle as I gained the ridge. The saddle had a pretty decent snow bank with a cornice on its south side, it didn't make sense to go through that. At about 11:30, as I popped up on to the Southwest Ridge proper, I was greeted with a stunning view of the major peaks of the range to the north. This was the defining moment of of the day, although the experience with the buck was a close second. About 20 minutes later, I was at the west summit, and I stopped to get out of the wind and get some lunch in a protected spot. Then I moved on to the eastern summit, which is higher, arriving at 12:20. From there, I worked my way further east, looking for the entrance to the East Ridge Couloir. I had taken a pretty close look at it on the way up Open Canyon, and knew there are two places that would look correct as I passed along the ridge. The first, however, had a significant bank of snow at the top, and nasty cliff bands below. So I carefully choose the second entrance, which had no snow bank, and correctly entered the East Ridge Couloir. The next 2-1/2 hours included a bit of everything....scree, a short glissade (I took an ice ax), game trails, low angle cliff bands, brush, brush, and more brush. When I hit the creek in Open Canyon, I simply went downstream until I intersected the trail after about 15 minutes. Came across a mule deer buck near the trail. Unlike his kin who I met up canyon, he was quite used to people, and was not the least bit concerned even as I was 15 ft from him. From here, it was a warm hike on the trail to arrive at the trailhead about 5:30.
All in all, this was an enjoyable day -- good weather, nice views, easy route finding. The only negative was the brush at the bottom of the East Ridge Couloir. A better, and probably quicker, strategy would be to reverse your ascent route and descend via the Southwest Ridge.
To put this in perspective, in 2009 I retired after 30 years with the U. S. Forest Service. I was determined catch up on some lost time hiking and skiing. My first goal was to climb all the named 11,000 ft peaks in the Wasatch Range. There are 18 of them, and some of the trailheads are less than 30 min from our home. They range from class 2 to some serious class 4 , depending on your choice of routes. Some are quite long efforts too...better plan on 10 - 12 hours for a few of them. I didn't rush out and bag them all in one summer -- I couldn't as I also had the ACLs of both knees rebuilt over the last 3 years. So even now I haven't finished them all - the 4 southern ones remain. But I don't figure that is a reason not to start a new goal. Through time, I've decided my new goal is to climb all the major peaks in the Tetons also. I am still working on defining the list, but just because the list is not completed is not a reason I should not move ahead. Fortunately, I am going to count peaks done in the 1970s as legitimate achievements for this goal. So, as of July 17, 2013, my completed list is:
Teewinot Mountain. August 17, 1975
Symmetry Spire. August 13, 1975 & August 28, 2012.
Grand Teton. August 11, 2012.
Disappointment Peak. August 30, 2012.
Today I am adding to the list. My objective is at the southern end of the range, and is the 11,241 ft Prospectors Mountain. This peak defines, for me, the southern extent of climbing (perhaps the word scrambling is more appropriate in this case) in the range. Rendezvous Peak and Mt Hunt are further south....but Rendezvous is a ski area with a lift to the top, and Mt Hunt is a dangerous looking pile of sedimentary choss, and doesn't rise my somewhat arbitrary and inconsistently applied 11,000 ft minimum. There is really no need for me to pursue either.
My plan is to traverse the peak from west to east in order to learn two of the routes that Leigh Ortenburger and Reynolds Jackson cover in their guidebook. So this is: up the Southwest Ridge (class 1 - 2), across the summit ridge and down the East Ridge Couloir (class 3). I left Death Canyon trail head at 06:45, and made my way to the entry to Open Canyon about an hour later. There are well maintained trails throughout. The Guide book says to continue up Open Canyon to about 8,960 ft and then turn northwest and make your way up to the saddle between Tukuarika Peak and Prospector. I found that if you wait til you get to 8,900 ft, you'll find your way blocked by a deeply cut and impassable gully. Better to leave the trail about 8,600 ft, contour down to the creek, cross it easily, and then make your way up the far right side of the side canyon that leads to the saddle between the two peaks.This area is not visited often. I apparently moved quietly and at one point, there was some mutual surprise at close quarters for both me and a large mule deer buck....a pretty interesting moment for both he and I.
After my heart rate went back down, I worked my way east as I continued up the last third of the side canyon, so I was actually a couple hundred meters east of the saddle as I gained the ridge. The saddle had a pretty decent snow bank with a cornice on its south side, it didn't make sense to go through that. At about 11:30, as I popped up on to the Southwest Ridge proper, I was greeted with a stunning view of the major peaks of the range to the north. This was the defining moment of of the day, although the experience with the buck was a close second. About 20 minutes later, I was at the west summit, and I stopped to get out of the wind and get some lunch in a protected spot. Then I moved on to the eastern summit, which is higher, arriving at 12:20. From there, I worked my way further east, looking for the entrance to the East Ridge Couloir. I had taken a pretty close look at it on the way up Open Canyon, and knew there are two places that would look correct as I passed along the ridge. The first, however, had a significant bank of snow at the top, and nasty cliff bands below. So I carefully choose the second entrance, which had no snow bank, and correctly entered the East Ridge Couloir. The next 2-1/2 hours included a bit of everything....scree, a short glissade (I took an ice ax), game trails, low angle cliff bands, brush, brush, and more brush. When I hit the creek in Open Canyon, I simply went downstream until I intersected the trail after about 15 minutes. Came across a mule deer buck near the trail. Unlike his kin who I met up canyon, he was quite used to people, and was not the least bit concerned even as I was 15 ft from him. From here, it was a warm hike on the trail to arrive at the trailhead about 5:30.
All in all, this was an enjoyable day -- good weather, nice views, easy route finding. The only negative was the brush at the bottom of the East Ridge Couloir. A better, and probably quicker, strategy would be to reverse your ascent route and descend via the Southwest Ridge.
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| The Saddle between Tukuarika Peak and Prospectors Mountain. Avoid this cornice by staying to the right (east). |
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| The Grand and adjacent peaks from the Southwest Ridge of Prospectors Mountain. |
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| The east summit of Prospectors Mountain taken from the West Summit. Note the peaks in the left background are Static Peak and Buck Mountain (far left). |
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| The Grand from the East summit of Prospectors Mountain. |
I have questions about your route, if you're able to help...
ReplyDeletesure, I will try to help.
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