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!