| Middle Teton via SW Couloir Trip Report |
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| Middle Teton via SW Couloir   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Wyoming, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 43.72990°N / 110.8105°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 4, 2006 Activities: Mountaineering Season: Summer | Page By: jfox Created/Edited: Sep 11, 2006 / Nov 9, 2007 Object ID: 225054 Hits: 2845 Loading... Page Score: 88.09% - 9 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Planning/Preparing.For my first mountaineering expedition, a buddy and I decided to try Middle Teton in Grand Teton National Park, WY. Prior to this adventure, I had only summited two easy Colorado 14ers (Bierstadt and Grays), several other CO 12ers and 13ers, Static Peak of the Teton Range and a Utah 11er, Mt. Nebo. Dan had not summited any 14ers before hand but he had done some mountaineering in the German Alps. I had done Grays solo in the winter and so I thought I was prepared for something of the Middle Teton's stature.
We were both working in Jackson Hole for a few weeks and had the fourth of July as a paid holiday so we took the day off from work to climb. A few days prior to this we bought our mountaineering equipment, Black Diamond Raven and Raven Pro axes, and Crampons. Dan got some Grivel’s; I bought a pair from Black Diamond over at Yostmark Mountaineering in Driggs, ID. I also bought my first helmet there as well. We had heard from some of the area locals that there was still much snow on the mountain and that we'd be ill advised not to use this gear. Boy were they right as Dan would find out shortly ascending the central couloir above the Meadows.
Garnet CanyonWe left the Lupine Meadows trailhead (TH) at 4:15am on Tuesday, July 4th 2006.
 Heading out early in the a.m.
Even though it was early, there were several cars parked in the parking lot already! Was this going to be a crowded mountain? It turned out that it wasn't. We encountered a few tents and people camped out in the Meadows and then only saw two other people just below the summit on the way up. We ended up having the summit to ourselves which was nice! Colorado summits on the other hand, can be quite crowded! On the way back down, we only encountered three groups ranging in size from 2 - 4.
The view from the entrance to Garnet Canyon, just below the Meadows. Our route is in red, the standard(?) route in blue. |
The climb/walk up Garnet canyon in the dark seemed to go by quickly. It is a nice meandering switchback up a grassy slope at first, then through the woods and finally into the talus laden canyon. By the time we got to this point, the sun was rising above the Sleeping Indian and so we turned off our headlamps. After crossing some snow fields and climbing some huge boulders, we came upon the Meadows. There are a few stream crossings in this area too. Waterfalls abound and it is really a beautiful spot to camp! After gaining the top of the Meadows just below the couloirs, we put our crampons on our feet and got our axes ready for the climb. I assumed we were to ascend the more gentle couloirs to the south, but Dan wanted to go hey-diddle-diddle, straight up the middle one! O.K., lets do it. In hindsight this wasn't a wise decision. Neither of us had ever used crampons, axes or done any steep snow travel!
Our route in red, the standard route in blue. View from above the Meadows. |
When we started up this couloir, it was still in shadow. The snow was very hard and made the going a little slow. We had to engage the snow with our crampon points rather hard by kicking out placements in the snow. It was all on the toes and ball of the foot climbing! Kick, kick, kick, step. Kick, kick, kick, step. Ice axe placement and maintaining three points of contact on this steep snow was crucial! I’m not sure of the angle here, but it steepened as you got higher. To me it felt like at least 45 degrees, but like I said, I have never done anything like this before so it may have been different.
Dan ascending the central couloir above the Meadows. |
Once you gained about 600’ – 800’ of altitude, the angle shallowed a bit for approximately 50m and then got steeper than before at around 50 degrees. Again, I’m assuming the angle based on my judgment of the lower part of the couloir. This part climbed another couple hundred feet. Dan was above me and to my right by about 60’. By the time we hit this altitude, the sun was out in full force and the snow became wet and sloppy. The going got harder and concentration on foot and axe placement became even more crucial. It was about this time that I heard “Oh shit, oh shit!” from Dan. As I looked up, he came zooming by me headed down the couloir on his stomach! All I could do was watch him go flying past me and yell for him to get stopped! Luckily, he got turned around without snagging his crampons and was able to self arrest with his axe about 100’ below me. This made me nervous as hell! I wanted to get out of this couloir pronto! Dan was able to re-gain his composure, brush himself off and continue the climb. We got out of the couloir about 30 minutes later to where it leveled off some and met back up with some rock/talus. From here, we took a much needed break, drank some water and removed our crampons for the remaining trudge up to the saddle.
After another half hour of scrambling along talus towards the west, we reached the saddle between South and Middle Tetons. From this vantage point one has an incredible view towards the west of Idaho and the Alaska Basin. Just below this point lies Iceflow Lake. The wind here was intense and made it very cold. My lightweight hiking boots, not being waterproof, were soaked after playing in the snow on the way up. I changed socks, ate a snack and observed the remaining route and picked our line.
Ascending the SW Couloir.From the saddle, the climbing steepens dramatically. There is a knife edge along the cliffs overlooking Iceflow lake that allows you to avoid the snow fields to the east. The rock here is pretty stable and if you stay low, the exposure to the west does not seem that bad. After a brief climb up some jagged slabs, the area flattens out for a bit before you gain the couloir proper.
From this point, the route finding is hit-or-miss. We just picked the path of least resistance and made our way up. The rock here is loose, and rock fall is a definite hazard! This part of the route is probably the most dangerous. If you have climbers above you, there is a real potential to catch a nice rock in the face. One must exercise extreme caution not to send a cascade of rock back down the couloir. There are some class 4 moves in this section and I’ve recently read that some are class 5. I don’t know about that, since I’ve never done class 5 climbing, but maybe there is. Upon exiting the couloir just below the summit, there is more class3/4 climbing involved. You need to meander to the north-west a bit to gain the summit. At this point I would entertain the idea that it requires minimum class 4 and maybe low class 5. The exposure here is incredible! A nice precipice above Alaska Basin greets you, and the magnificent Grand Teton comes into view for the first time! From here, it is a short boulder hop to the proper summit of the Middle Teton. The summit itself is nothing more than a teetering boulder the size of a large van.
We gained the summit at 10:30am six hours and fifteen minutes after leaving the TH. I believe the altitude gained from TH to summit is around 6,000’. After spending about a half hour on the top and snapping the obligatory pictures, we decided to head back down. We still had a long way to go and clouds were building up to the west.
Myself on the summit block of Middle Teton. 10:30am on 7/4/2006 |
The Down-ClimbThe down climb was relatively easy. However, upon exiting the SW couloir but still above the saddle, we got off route and ended up on some steep rock and snow. Trying to avoid the snow this late in the day proved difficult. We didn’t want a repeat of Dan’s bobsled-like fall earlier. This is where we encountered another team still heading for the top. They were roped up and heading up the snow that we were trying to avoid. Finally, we did make the saddle and began the arduous decent.
We both agreed that we would NOT descend the snow couloir we used on the ascent! This proved to be a good decision, but trying to get back down without getting back in snow was impossible. We spent a lot of time trying to find safe passage back down to the Meadows. We tried skirting rock at the snows edge, but at one point this proved almost disastrous! On a particularly steep section, we were walking on snow, holding onto rock. Dan was below me and that’s when a big section of the snow broke loose and left Dan dangling in the air! Luckily he was able to hang on or he would have fallen into a crevasse created where the snow melts away from the rock. O.K….this was getting ridiculous! We ended up ‘hop scotching’ from rock area to rock area and only crossing small snow patches. Finally, we came to a spot where we had to get back in the snow for a long descent. We were at the southern couloirs above the Meadows at this point. We attached our crampons again and cautiously made our way across a massive snow field and then down the couloir to rock at the Meadows.
Relieved to be out of danger, we proceeded down the canyon towards the TH.
The route back down through the Meadows. |
The remaining hike out was pretty uneventful. I was beat however. I thought the TH would never show up! Finally though, we reached the parking lot at 5:15pm a full 13 hours after setting off!
All in all a good trip that could have gone bad! We learned a lot from this and will take these lessons to heart. Our next goal is Teewinot and then of course the Grand Teton. Middle Teton is a great climb/hike and I highly recommend it!
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Teton Range > Middle Teton via SW Couloir
