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!