Teton TR: "Climbing and Skiing and Bears, oh my!" Recap: 6/16-6/19
Got a back-log of trips to post up here... Between Mt. Moran, and Garnet Canyon there's a ton of snow yet to be skied in the Tetons, though the climbing's getting good too. With that in mind, last trip first. Here goes...
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I've been clinging to the ski season like a toddler unwilling to give up his blankie. It's not that I don't have other things to do; I could have started climbing again months ago. But last summer's overly dramatic finale -watching lhs get short-hauled off the Exum Ridge under the belly of a 'choper - had left me rope-gun shy. Each week I've put off pulling out the rack, choosing to pursue the snowline as it retreated above 8,000' instead of tying into the sharp end.
But now it's June. The rock is dry, warmed to the touch by long summer mornings. The approaches are fast, over melted-out trails. An unfinished tick-list remains. It's time to face my demons.
So instead of skiing both day of a weekend...I'll just ski one.
After wrapping up work on Friday night, coworker Katie and I head out to Lupine Meadows to make an evening approach to the meadows. Planning on climbing saturday and skiing sunday, my bag is stuffed to the gills with ropes, hardwear, camping gear and clothes. Strapped to the outside, my skis and boots ad insult to an injurously heavy load. After this trip, I tell myself, they'll all be easier.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_yLWOaPSNRNM/TL...2/DSCF0125.JPG
It's fun hiking the popular trail up to Garnet Canyon in June with skis on your back - even at our late hour there were a few tourists still on the trail to raise their eyebrows at a pair of skis. They weren't the only ones on the trail, however: after 2 miles I nearly stumbled upon a mother bear and her cub. Backing away slowly, I snapped a couple pics of the cub who had scampered up a tree, where he sat returning our curious gaze.
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Left with no alternative, we cut the switchback and continued up to the meadows unmolested by any other wildlife. [/slow pitch] After setting up our tent on the snow-covered meadows, we enjoyed a rich dinner of pesto pasta before crashing with nervous thoughts of the climb to come. Could I still climb 5.8?
Our objective was the Corkscrew on Fairshare tower, a 6 pitch 5.8 above the meadows, just below Disappointment Peak and on the approach trail to the Grand. The day broke clear, but though the valley remained in sun, a stiff breeze quickly formed clouds in the lee of the high peaks. "Damn Tetons creating their own weather," I thought.
Katie on the approach with Nez Pierce in the background.
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We didn't take any photos on route, but it lived up to its status as a classic. After a short easy pitch to get onto good rock, a 5.6 corner led to a 5.7 hand crack system. Following the cracks from one side of the arete to the other, we enjoyed airy moves over moderate terrain until confronted with the crux: a short but daunting pair of 5.8 fingercracks. Without footholds I climbed and retreated off of the pitch several times, plugging gear in until I finally forced myself to fire it. With a solid cam at my waist, I shouldn't have been as gripped as my sewing machining legs betrayed, but I managed to make the moves. Katie sent the final off-width chimney to put us near the top, and we scrambled over the top, psyched to have ticked another great route in the Tetons.
lhs met us in the Meadows, less than 18 hours after her arrival in town for the summer. With many hours of daylight remaining, she and I decided to make a couple turns before dinner. We worked ourselves up to the base of the hourglass couloir, stopping to enjoy the evening alpenglow before making a quick descent.
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The next morning, Katie and Dylan headed off to climb the SW buttress of Disappointment while lhs and I headed up the middle. Booting up the lower headwall above the meadows, we enjoyed the spring shortcut that leads up a perfect couilor below the middle. The SW couloir of disappointment is the broad ridge on the right of the photo.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_yLWOaPSNRNM/TL...2/DSCF0147.JPG
Coming from Santa Cruz, lhs oddly hadn't quite acclimatized to 10,000' in the day she'd been in Wyoming. So while she worked up to the shoulder of the Middle, I took a quick detour up the North Snowfield of Mt. Spaulding. With smooth summer snow and a long, continuous snowfield, the descent fired up what had been my waning enthusiasm for skiing in the summer. With lines like this, the ski season is long from over!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_yLWOaPSNRNM/TL...2/DSCF0152.JPG
After catching back up to lhs, we climbed over the shoulder of the Middle, ditched our skis, and climbed the rotten snow and rock of the SW couloir. It was my fourth time on top, and lhs' third, so we somehow forgot to take photos. But on a still summer day with hardly a cloud in the sky, it was one of the best times I've ever been up there.
Back on the shoulder we clicked into our skis and made quick work of the snowfields. Having slogged down over talus on this climb, making turns was a welcome change.
lhs drops back into the south fork of Garnet Canyon, with the South Teton behind.
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lhs liked her turns, even if they ended in a talus field...
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Down down down...The snow was that summertime perma-corn that never seems to get too soft. With hardly any suncupping, it was perfect spring skiing only a few days before the solstice.
http://www.alpinist.com/pics/mnts/garnet/leahrip.jpg
Yeah, I know. I'm a poster child for technical outerwear...
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We made it back to the car by 8pm that evening, and settled into Katie's car to wait for her and Dylan to return from their climb. It turned out to be a longer wait than we expected: Finding their route a long, wandering 5.6 that verged on 5.8, they topped out only a little before we were back at the car. Six hours later, at 2am, they made it back to us, tired and apologetic, but happily safe. Having kicked the sixer hours earlier, we were glad to finally get to go to bed.
