Morlow - Dec 30, 2012 4:45 pm Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2012
SW coulior adventure
I just noticed I never signed this climber's log! I climbed with Tim (musicman82) on an interesting July day. It looked stormy in the morning but it cleared up just as we reached the summit. Couldn't have been better timing. There was some super sketchy ice in the coulior that got the adrenaline going but the summit view was fabulous.
I summited Granite Peak via the standard route in July of 2011. The hike in was beauteful and the view from froze-to-death was awsome. Granite turned out to be easier than expected with fun easy scrambling up various chimneys. The trip took 2 days. We had ok weather, although we did get rained on several times.
Sat out a very rough day at the glacial lake just below the SW Couloir and luckily had a weather day for an attempt the next day. Ended up snowing for a couple hours the night before (after raining and hailing all day). Headed up mid-morning in not much better weather, but soon turned into clear blue skies. A fresh coat of snow and ice made the chute much more interesting!
Spent 3 days on the plateau but didn't summit due to weather. Some incredible lightning, wind, groppel, and snow. A great adventure, but need to go back next year and summit!
Matt Lemke - Aug 30, 2012 2:02 am Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2012
12er #11/26
Climbed the standard east ridge. Fun scramble. Had to dodge storms and even got snowed on lol! Did same day as Tempest
Brian Kalet - Aug 27, 2012 11:49 am Date Climbed: Aug 25, 2012
Southwest Couloir
1 night spent at Lone Elk Lake.
vanman798 - Aug 20, 2012 10:24 am Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2012
SW Coulior
Had the peak to myself at 6:30 pm on August 18, 2012. What a beautiful area!
tigerlilly - Aug 14, 2012 1:20 pm Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2012
Ya, baby
Came up the south gully. Successful summit with crazy cousin Bob, Melinda, Josh, and Michael. For Bob, this was his 49th high peak! Good Job, Bob! SugrBear has spot on advice.
SugrBear - Aug 12, 2012 9:20 pm Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2012
SW Couloir Bowling Alley
Our group of 3 came up from Lady of the Lake to the SW Coul. Ran into a group on their way down to report two climbers stuck halfway up Granite after 2 out of a group of 6 were struck by rockfall. As reported to us, the climbers missed the SW Coul and went up a chute further west where they experienced rockfall and required a SAR team to get out after 2 nights on a ledge. We saw the SAR helicopter do an awesome job of plucking them off the mountain! We went up the Couloir and ran into others coming down that said, beware of rockfall, and this route is fairly easy and will likely become the most popular route. For safety's sake, I hope not. While the climb was only steep scrambling and mostly clear of snow, rockfall was a significant danger. There was a lot of very loose rock. At one point during our descent, I bumped a baseball size rock which rolled a few feet, bumped another which in turn sent a teetering fridge size rock hurtling at a group of 6 that had just appeared 300 feet below us. Fortunately they scrambled out of the way amongst our yells. Not that a helmet would have saved them but they had none. I would not climb this route without one. If you climb this route be very mindful of how many others are on the route and keep yourself in a position where you can find cover. The sides of the couloir are best for climbing and cover. I see why it is called the bowling alley by some.
The scramble up is fairly straight forward but do not underestimate it if you are a novice climber. There is exposure to moderate falls and long slides.We had a novice climber in our group who needed a belay in one spot on the way up. The top of the climb was well cairned and a fun scramble. Staying right at the top of the couloir was good advice from other posts. On the way down, we chose to repel a couple sections with 80'or rope (better with 120'). They could have been down climbed safely with with care.
It was a beautiful and awesome mountain. If you attempt it, respect it and you'll have a great time.
Climbed with Chris (SP member Morlow) - some pretty tricky ice still in the SW Couloir!
JLuthanen - Jul 3, 2012 10:55 pm Date Climbed: Aug 28, 2010
Holy hike! Tempest Peak was worth it
Hiked in late Friday, got up the killer switchbacks by dark. Put up tent in raging winds tucked into a small outlet at the start of Froze-To-Death. After trying to sleep for two hours with a buddy and I holding the insides of the tent up amidst 50+mph gusts, tried to keep the fly down via rocks. Ripped a guy line or two, tore the fly, broke the poles down and slept on top of tent. That worked til the rain came. Epic overnight, early start. Nearly accosted by a group of over eager piss vultures (mountain goats). Winds were rippin, clouds were mixed, we were beat, I had no rain jacket - bad news. Tempest was much less exposed, quicker, and worth the views from the top. Try for a repeat this summer
redneckpaul - Jun 20, 2012 6:40 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 1984
Summer of 84
It was August of 1984, don`t know the exact date. Me and a buddy decided to try and climb Granite. I had climbed a few Mountains before and I was young and dumb and I would try anything. But a guide book in Red Lodge to help with this. We made camp on FTD plateau and a thunder storm hit. We spent the night huddled in our tent with the wind and lightning cracking all around us. We woke up to a cold but clear morning and decided to go for it. There was no snow on the "snow bridge". We made it to where the class 4 and 5 stuff was. We couldn`t find our way beyond this. There was another party coming up behind us and they knew the route so we just followed them. I`ll admit it, it was scary with a lot of exposure. We made it to the summit about 11 AM or so with the help of the other party. It was cold but a nice clear day. we spent a half hour on the summit and made our way down again with the help of the other party. These guys were real cool about helping us as we couldn`t of done it without them. Anyway we got back without any problems. Then I found out a few months later that Granite Peak is one of the most difficult state highpoints to climb. Good thing I didn`t know that when we were climbing it.
bbreaker - Feb 4, 2012 12:51 am Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2001
Nice
Across FTD plateau.
DarrenKnezek - Nov 17, 2011 9:19 pm Date Climbed: Sep 24, 2011
Granite in less than 24 hours
We started hiking around 7 in the morning up West Rosebud. Unbelievable granite walls everywhere! So cool! The switchbacks from hell felt super easy and before we knew it we were on the Froze to Death Plateau. We hiked across this plateau (not too fun with all the talus) and arrived at the bottom of the saddle around 4 pm. Along the way we took our time and ate and took lots of pictures. Getting to the snowbridge from the saddle took less than an hour. The snowbridge was an ice bridge and very dangerous. I would solo the rock climbing pitches and then clip into a belay and belay my wife up on a 100 foot rope. Got to the top, stayed for about a half hour and then headed down. My wife would rappel and then I would solo down the pitches. We got to the icebridge before dark. The hike out was fun, but the GPS was essential in the dark to not get lost and save time. We got back to our car before 7 am. Enough time to drive into Columbus, east breakfast, and take a nap before driving back to Utah!
nickL - Oct 26, 2011 1:48 am Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2011
East Ridge/ S Face
Hiked across the FTD Plateau in light rain to my camp at 11,700 ft the day before, then a 5:00 am start on a perfectly clear morning. Made the top at around 9:00 am, and made 3 raps to avoid the sketchy downclimbing. Made it back to camp just in time to sit out an afternoon hailstorm, and make the soggy hike back to the car. Glad the weather gave me a chance on my first attempt at this beast!
Bivied about 2/3 across the ftd plateau. Left next morning around 7:30. summitted around 11:30 am. we descended with 2 other climbers whom were nice enough to let us use their rope to get down the class 4+/5 section.
Tie-Dye Mike - Sep 7, 2011 2:31 pm Date Climbed: Sep 4, 2011
HP #11
Went up West Rosebud route. Stayed on Froze-to-Death Plateau. Summited after an Alpine Start at 4am. Took 13 hrs from middle of FTDP to summit and return. Such an amazing mountain and accomplishment!
americanswiss - Sep 7, 2011 3:13 am Date Climbed: Sep 5, 2011
Granite
East Ridge. Found the route finding to be much easier than described. Helped out a group that needed a rescue that took two days.
Oh my gosh, what a BEAST!!! Did this monster in one day, and almost fully regret it. I am glad to be done with that one. I normally don't write trip reports, but this one is very deserving of one. There are some things I'd like to share that may be helpful. So pics and trip report to come.
pdeangeli - Oct 7, 2010 12:17 pm Date Climbed: Sep 14, 2010
FTD via Mystic Lake
Weathered off, turned back at snow bridge. :( One of the most fun trips yet, due to great partners, location, etc.
Morlow - Dec 30, 2012 4:45 pm Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2012
SW coulior adventureI just noticed I never signed this climber's log! I climbed with Tim (musicman82) on an interesting July day. It looked stormy in the morning but it cleared up just as we reached the summit. Couldn't have been better timing. There was some super sketchy ice in the coulior that got the adrenaline going but the summit view was fabulous.
PanamaRed - Sep 30, 2012 1:53 am
Fun!I summited Granite Peak via the standard route in July of 2011. The hike in was beauteful and the view from froze-to-death was awsome. Granite turned out to be easier than expected with fun easy scrambling up various chimneys. The trip took 2 days. We had ok weather, although we did get rained on several times.
mrchad9 - Sep 24, 2012 1:23 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2012
SW CouloirSat out a very rough day at the glacial lake just below the SW Couloir and luckily had a weather day for an attempt the next day. Ended up snowing for a couple hours the night before (after raining and hailing all day). Headed up mid-morning in not much better weather, but soon turned into clear blue skies. A fresh coat of snow and ice made the chute much more interesting!
GlacierCountry - Sep 20, 2012 12:04 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2012
Stormy WeatherSpent 3 days on the plateau but didn't summit due to weather. Some incredible lightning, wind, groppel, and snow. A great adventure, but need to go back next year and summit!
Matt Lemke - Aug 30, 2012 2:02 am Date Climbed: Jul 29, 2012
12er #11/26Climbed the standard east ridge. Fun scramble. Had to dodge storms and even got snowed on lol! Did same day as Tempest
Brian Kalet - Aug 27, 2012 11:49 am Date Climbed: Aug 25, 2012
Southwest Couloir1 night spent at Lone Elk Lake.
vanman798 - Aug 20, 2012 10:24 am Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2012
SW CouliorHad the peak to myself at 6:30 pm on August 18, 2012. What a beautiful area!
tigerlilly - Aug 14, 2012 1:20 pm Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2012
Ya, babyCame up the south gully. Successful summit with crazy cousin Bob, Melinda, Josh, and Michael. For Bob, this was his 49th high peak! Good Job, Bob! SugrBear has spot on advice.
SugrBear - Aug 12, 2012 9:20 pm Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2012
SW Couloir Bowling AlleyOur group of 3 came up from Lady of the Lake to the SW Coul. Ran into a group on their way down to report two climbers stuck halfway up Granite after 2 out of a group of 6 were struck by rockfall. As reported to us, the climbers missed the SW Coul and went up a chute further west where they experienced rockfall and required a SAR team to get out after 2 nights on a ledge. We saw the SAR helicopter do an awesome job of plucking them off the mountain! We went up the Couloir and ran into others coming down that said, beware of rockfall, and this route is fairly easy and will likely become the most popular route. For safety's sake, I hope not. While the climb was only steep scrambling and mostly clear of snow, rockfall was a significant danger. There was a lot of very loose rock. At one point during our descent, I bumped a baseball size rock which rolled a few feet, bumped another which in turn sent a teetering fridge size rock hurtling at a group of 6 that had just appeared 300 feet below us. Fortunately they scrambled out of the way amongst our yells. Not that a helmet would have saved them but they had none. I would not climb this route without one. If you climb this route be very mindful of how many others are on the route and keep yourself in a position where you can find cover. The sides of the couloir are best for climbing and cover. I see why it is called the bowling alley by some.
The scramble up is fairly straight forward but do not underestimate it if you are a novice climber. There is exposure to moderate falls and long slides.We had a novice climber in our group who needed a belay in one spot on the way up. The top of the climb was well cairned and a fun scramble. Staying right at the top of the couloir was good advice from other posts. On the way down, we chose to repel a couple sections with 80'or rope (better with 120'). They could have been down climbed safely with with care.
It was a beautiful and awesome mountain. If you attempt it, respect it and you'll have a great time.
musicman82 - Jul 25, 2012 5:58 pm Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2012
Via SW CouloirClimbed with Chris (SP member Morlow) - some pretty tricky ice still in the SW Couloir!
JLuthanen - Jul 3, 2012 10:55 pm Date Climbed: Aug 28, 2010
Holy hike! Tempest Peak was worth itHiked in late Friday, got up the killer switchbacks by dark. Put up tent in raging winds tucked into a small outlet at the start of Froze-To-Death. After trying to sleep for two hours with a buddy and I holding the insides of the tent up amidst 50+mph gusts, tried to keep the fly down via rocks. Ripped a guy line or two, tore the fly, broke the poles down and slept on top of tent. That worked til the rain came. Epic overnight, early start. Nearly accosted by a group of over eager piss vultures (mountain goats). Winds were rippin, clouds were mixed, we were beat, I had no rain jacket - bad news. Tempest was much less exposed, quicker, and worth the views from the top. Try for a repeat this summer
redneckpaul - Jun 20, 2012 6:40 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 1984
Summer of 84It was August of 1984, don`t know the exact date. Me and a buddy decided to try and climb Granite. I had climbed a few Mountains before and I was young and dumb and I would try anything. But a guide book in Red Lodge to help with this. We made camp on FTD plateau and a thunder storm hit. We spent the night huddled in our tent with the wind and lightning cracking all around us. We woke up to a cold but clear morning and decided to go for it. There was no snow on the "snow bridge". We made it to where the class 4 and 5 stuff was. We couldn`t find our way beyond this. There was another party coming up behind us and they knew the route so we just followed them. I`ll admit it, it was scary with a lot of exposure. We made it to the summit about 11 AM or so with the help of the other party. It was cold but a nice clear day. we spent a half hour on the summit and made our way down again with the help of the other party. These guys were real cool about helping us as we couldn`t of done it without them. Anyway we got back without any problems. Then I found out a few months later that Granite Peak is one of the most difficult state highpoints to climb. Good thing I didn`t know that when we were climbing it.
bbreaker - Feb 4, 2012 12:51 am Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2001
NiceAcross FTD plateau.
DarrenKnezek - Nov 17, 2011 9:19 pm Date Climbed: Sep 24, 2011
Granite in less than 24 hoursWe started hiking around 7 in the morning up West Rosebud. Unbelievable granite walls everywhere! So cool! The switchbacks from hell felt super easy and before we knew it we were on the Froze to Death Plateau. We hiked across this plateau (not too fun with all the talus) and arrived at the bottom of the saddle around 4 pm. Along the way we took our time and ate and took lots of pictures. Getting to the snowbridge from the saddle took less than an hour. The snowbridge was an ice bridge and very dangerous. I would solo the rock climbing pitches and then clip into a belay and belay my wife up on a 100 foot rope. Got to the top, stayed for about a half hour and then headed down. My wife would rappel and then I would solo down the pitches. We got to the icebridge before dark. The hike out was fun, but the GPS was essential in the dark to not get lost and save time. We got back to our car before 7 am. Enough time to drive into Columbus, east breakfast, and take a nap before driving back to Utah!
nickL - Oct 26, 2011 1:48 am Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2011
East Ridge/ S FaceHiked across the FTD Plateau in light rain to my camp at 11,700 ft the day before, then a 5:00 am start on a perfectly clear morning. Made the top at around 9:00 am, and made 3 raps to avoid the sketchy downclimbing. Made it back to camp just in time to sit out an afternoon hailstorm, and make the soggy hike back to the car. Glad the weather gave me a chance on my first attempt at this beast!
ianc82 - Sep 9, 2011 4:05 pm Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2011
Wow.Bivied about 2/3 across the ftd plateau. Left next morning around 7:30. summitted around 11:30 am. we descended with 2 other climbers whom were nice enough to let us use their rope to get down the class 4+/5 section.
Tie-Dye Mike - Sep 7, 2011 2:31 pm Date Climbed: Sep 4, 2011
HP #11Went up West Rosebud route. Stayed on Froze-to-Death Plateau. Summited after an Alpine Start at 4am. Took 13 hrs from middle of FTDP to summit and return. Such an amazing mountain and accomplishment!
americanswiss - Sep 7, 2011 3:13 am Date Climbed: Sep 5, 2011
GraniteEast Ridge. Found the route finding to be much easier than described. Helped out a group that needed a rescue that took two days.
kteichert - Jul 17, 2011 12:34 pm Date Climbed: Jul 16, 2011
HP #26Oh my gosh, what a BEAST!!! Did this monster in one day, and almost fully regret it. I am glad to be done with that one. I normally don't write trip reports, but this one is very deserving of one. There are some things I'd like to share that may be helpful. So pics and trip report to come.
pdeangeli - Oct 7, 2010 12:17 pm Date Climbed: Sep 14, 2010
FTD via Mystic LakeWeathered off, turned back at snow bridge. :( One of the most fun trips yet, due to great partners, location, etc.