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!

Middle Teton, Southwest Couloir.

Middle Teton, June 29-30, 2014. (written 8/1/2014).  A fun climb in the central part of the range is the Middle Teton (12,804').  The Southwest Couloir route is Class 3 and requires a fair bit of travel on loose scree in the late season, so I decided to head up in early season and enjoy some crampon and ice axe work and avoid the scree. This is a time of year when I am working on conditioning as well, and I thought it would be fine for that purpose.

The Middle Teton (12,804') is the peak in the middle, with Nez Perce to the left, and the Grand Teton to the right, and Mt Owen to the extreme right.  Picture taken from near the AAC Climbers Ranch.

I decided to do a 2-day trip, with a overnight in the Meadows in Garnet Canyon. The only negative to this approach is I ended up carrying a fairly heavy pack on the first day. First carry of season so it was a slow plod up the hill. It took me about 3 hours from the Lupine Meadows trail-head to the Meadows, a gain of about 2500 ft. One reason for the heavy pack was the 10 feet or more of snow still at the meadows. I brought a tent, sleeping pad and heavier bag in case I was snow camping. Fortunately, however, there is a stringer of trees which comes down from Disappointment Peak and I was able to find a flat spot which was nicely melted out for my camp. There may be as many as three of these flat spots in the tree stringer. I was able to find water in the creek about 200 feet down from my camp, where the creek exited from under the snow-pack.

I arrived at the meadows at 2 pm, and had camp set up by about 2:30 pm, and just kicked back and enjoyed the scenery. Talked to a few people coming up and down, including a pair who had been successful on the Exum ridge of the Grand that day. Considering it had rained and snowed in the range for the proceeding 3 days and there was a lot of ice on the route, that pair had done very well.

Also met another fellow, Alan, in the Meadows with plans to climb the Middle Teton the next day. It would be good to have someone else around. 

Looking toward Jackson Hole at about 6:20 am as I start to gain altitude coming up from the Meadows.  The snow is very hard and crampons work well.

Left my tent at 6 am the next morning.  Alan left his camp a while later and we met up about when it was time to put on the crampons. The sky was clear and the snow was set up very nicely. Alan and I hiked about the same speed, but he had a slightly faster pace and got to good rest spots before me. I was also slowed down by needed to remove my aluminum crampons for short sections of rock...whereas he had steel crampons and could continue on through those sections.

Alan moves ahead as we work our up toward the Middle/South Teton Col.

It's about 3 hours to reach the col separating the Middle from the South Teton.  The view is delightful down into Alaska Basin to the west. Iceflow Lake was still entirely frozen and the landscape was still predominantly snowy. Turning north at this point will take you up and across hard snow and some rock to the bottom of the Southwest Couloir. The sun had not reached inside the couloir so the snow was still very hard and it was good crampon work on a pretty steep slope. About the limit I would want to be on without a belay here and there.  The couloir was 98% snow; there was only a couple of very short sections of rock.....I left the crampons on for these. As the couloir tops out, I removed the crampons and stowed them and my ice axe. Then it's a hundred feet or so of easy 3rd class to the summit, but the snow and ice that were present did make it a bit interesting at times.

The SW Couloir of the Middle Teton.  It's located slightly left of center of the image, and slants from left center to upper right.  Most of it not visible because its right side wall blocks the view from this vantage point.

Got to the summit at 11:00 am, total time from the Meadows was 5 hours.  As expected, I found Alan already there.  I took some pictures, had lunch, and we talked for over an hour, waiting for the sun to soften the snow/ice in the couloir so descent would be easier.  A marmot shared our space....he was finding something to eat under the snow just below the summit proper.

Me at the summit.  The peak in the background is the Grand (right), and the Enclosure (left).  There is a clear view of the huge snowy gully that leads up from the lower saddle to the upper saddle (it's on the left under the summit of the Enclosure, not the even larger gully just barely in the sun. The Exum Ridge is in the sun, but the Owens-Spalding  (out of sight,around the corner to the left) is in the shadows and probably quite chilly.

From the summit of the Middle Teton, the South Teton on the right, and Gilkey Tower on the left with the pyramidal Ice Cream Cone between.

About 12:15 we decided to head down.  Met a couple of guys just exiting the couloir who I found out later were on their first climb ever. This is a pretty challenging route to do without an experienced person in the party. I found later that both self-arrested during their descent of the couloir 30 - 60 min after us. Alan and I had no trouble, the snow was softening quickly; however, there were several sections we took turns on and did a fair bit of front-pointing facing into the slope. No slips for us; good thing, as there were still some icy sections and a fall would have been lousy. (Apparently there is a long history of such slips and this couloir has had more than its fair share of accidents in years past.)

Alan shot this image of me carefully descending the upper section of the couloir, making full use of my front points on a still frozen snow slope.

Before we got back to the Middle/South Teton saddle, Alan decided he would also climb the South Teton in the afternoon. The weather was good.....I was tempted....but Alan had a camping permit for 2 nights and mine was for one only.  Plus I was tired and was looking forward to pizza and beer at Dornan's in Moose that evening.  So he went up and I went down.....the trip to the meadows was fast on soft snow and a few nice standing glissades. I got back to the meadows at 2:30 pm and had a late lunch and packed. Left there at 3:30, and rolled into Lupine Meadows at 6:00 pm. 

Quick trip to the Climber's Ranch, a hot shower, and into Moose for pizza and beer and watching the sunset over the peaks. Perfect.

Static Peak, via Death Canyon

Static Peak, July 20, 2013 (written 6/26/2014). One of the taller mountains in the southern part of the range is the little known Static Peak (11,303'). It's a pleasant morning's walk from the Death Canyon trailhead with a trail for most all except the last bit to the top. A great view, and a good hike. It's about 5-km from the trailhead up the Death Canyon trail to its intersection with the Alaska Basin trail, and then about 7-km more from there. Turn north there, switchbacking up steep slopes, eventually pass just west of and a few hundred feet below Albright Peak (10,552'). Static peak is very obvious beyond once you reach a quite prominent saddle and you can see over into Jackson Hole. About a kilometer later, you reach the Static Peak divide. Leave the trail there and walk up to the summit, about 20 min from the trail.

Approaching the Static Peak Divide at 10,790'.  Static Peak (11.303') is the rounded summit on the right side of the skyline.

Disappointment Peak, East Cliff Bands

Disappointment Peak. Aug 30, 2012 (written 6/19/2014). Today I have a easy trip planned -- Find my way to the top of Disappointment Peak (10,000'), which I understand from the guidebooks and talk with a GTNP climbing ranger, includes a small bit of class 4 scrambling. But its sort of unclear the best way to go, like usual, I'm likely to be making choices essentially on my own. Disappointment Peak is so named by the first ascent party, who thought it was a viable approach to the Grand Teton. From the valley, the Grand sits directly behind Disappointment, and its impossible to tell they aren't connected. But in fact, there is quite a huge chasm between the two.

I leave the Lupine Meadows trailhead at 0745.  From there, its an easy 2 hour hike past Surprise Lake to Amphitheater Lake at 9698'.  From Amphitheater Lake, you can get a look at the Class 4 scramble that lies ahead.  Above the lake to the East is a vegetated talus slope with a cliff band above. A trail leads through the lower slope to the base of the cliff band. On the right side of the cliff band, there is a steep gully, the best "weakness" in the cliffs.  The trail will stop just below this. You can either climb just on the left side of this steep gully, with just a bit of exposure. Or, enter into the 6 -10 ft wide crack at the center of the gully and climb up behind a very large chockstone. Behind the chockstone, it's pretty tight, it's best to tie your pack to about a 6-ft length of rope or cord and pull it up behind you. (I climbed the face to the left of the chockstone/gully, but on my descent, saw someone else go both up and down behind the chockstone.)

From Amphitheater Lake, crossing up the lower slopes to the right side of the main cliff  band.

At the end of the trail that goes to the bottom of the cliff band.  I climbed the slabs and ledges in the middle of the photo.  The gully with the large chockstone is on the right of the photo and slants slightly to the left.

After I got to the top of the cliff band, I could see the summit.  It's possible to find paths that make travel a little easier as you cross open rocky meadows and a thicket of trees.  As I passed the trees, I aimed for the gaining the summit ridge on the north, or right side.  You'll find climber's paths in several places.  As I got to the upper ridge, I started moving left as the terrain allowed.  Then I traversed across the east facing slabs approaching the summit, and was rewarded by reaching the top about 11:45, or 4 hours from Lupine Meadows.

About 40 minutes from the summit, which is the rounded bump in the left center of the picture.  Aim for it's right side ridge and follow climber's paths.

On the summit ridge, easy scrambling while moving south to the summit.

In this shot, I standing a few feet away from the summit of Disappointment Peak, while in the background is the Northeast side of the Middle Teton.  All the big peaks are spectacular from this spot.

A "selfie"  on the summit, with a view of the east face of the Grand in the background.

Prospectors Mountain, SW Ridge to East Ridge Couloir

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.

The Saddle between Tukuarika Peak and Prospectors Mountain.  Avoid this cornice by staying to the right (east).

The Grand and adjacent peaks from the Southwest Ridge of Prospectors Mountain.

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).

The Grand from the East summit of Prospectors Mountain.

Symmetry Spire, SW Ridge

SW Ridge, Symmetry Spire. Aug 28, 2012 (wrtiten 8/13/2013)   I tried to climb Symmetry Spire via the Durrance Ridge on Aug 12, 1975. It proved too much for me....seemed like an affliction of altitude sickness. A few days later, however, I summitted via the class 4 northwest ledges.
   But of course, the desire to do a multi-pitch climb on Symmetry never really went away, no matter how many years slipped by. After our success climbing the Grand Teton just a few weeks earlier, my desire to climb some more had resurfaced. Problem was I knew few technical climbers at home in Sandy, Utah, although there are of course many. So the solution was obvious....I contacted Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, and soon was set up with guide. They recommended the Southwest Ridge of Symmetry Spire (10,546') rather than the Durrance ridge -- its more sustained, and a more fun experience. So the morning of Aug 28, 2012, my guide Keith and I grabbed the first boat across Jenny Lake and soon were hiking up Cascade Canyon.  The morning was perfect, and the forecast ideal as well.
    Keith and I had plenty of time to get acquainted on the hike up to the ridge. The difference was large - me the old retired guy, and him not long out of college and strong and enthusiastic. I was happy however, to keep up with him for most of the steep hike up Symmetry Couloir. Or at least he let me think so.  We did, however, catch up with another climber and guide (from Exum Mt Guides) who were hiking up to climb Symmetry as well. Not knowing their objective and wanting to get on the route first, we passed them by and never looked back.
   The Southwest Ridge route is 7 pitches of class 5, and then some class 4 on the summit ridge. It had been a very long time since I had done that much class 5. The crux (5.7) comes on the 3rd pitch as the route moves on the right side of a prominent dihedral.

The Southwest Ridge route on Symmetry Spire.

   We started the climb about 9:30 am, and I was happy it started off easy; good for me to get comfortable with communicating with Keith and belaying the way he asked. We got a good rhythm going; we could get through a pitch in about 35 minutes. The crux seemed a bit impressive at first, but as my turn came, I was able to take advantage of the awesome grip that Teton rock has for a climbing shoe and things went well. The fourth pitch also seemed challenging at first; it included a small blocky fractured roof that fortunately had great holds. About this time, I heard the voices of the climbers we had passed. They appeared to be on the Durrance Ridge. Keith and I were sure to use each others' names on our signals to avoid confusion.

Looking up from a belay stance about half way up the climb.  This is a 5.6 pitch.

   We did 3 more class 5 pitches. One memorable one was probably at the 5th pitch, where the best holds are found by stepping left above a particularly airy face with (I think) an slight outward bulge. I found this short move to be as exciting as the crux, although it was easier climbing. Soon we were done with the fifth class work, and changed into approach shoes for the scramble along the ridge. There was a spot or two, however, where the exposure was impressive and I was not unhappy that Keith continued to belay me as needed. Guides are cool.
    We got to the summit about 1:30 pm, had lunch, and started an easy walk down the northwest ledges until we could pass over to the top of the Symmetry Couloir. Then down on the typical loose scree. After a bit, we stopped and Keith graciously detoured and retrieved the gear we had left at the base of the climb. Although we had not had a long day by any means, I was tired from the effort and took my time down the couloir to Cascade Trail. We made the Jenny Lake boat a bit before 5pm. As we had passed the Durrance Ridge we still heard shouts of climbers from high up. Seems like the other party was having a longer day and it seemed unlikely they would make the last boat. I was very glad we had with time to spare.
   Even though it required a 37-year break and the highly capable services of a mountain guide, I couldn't have been happier to finish up this long delayed climb on Symmetry Spire. There was some celebration over beer and pizza that night....