Need beta on Grand Teton East Ridge

[Rodchester]

I am looking for beta on the Grand Teton's East Ridge route.

 

Any beta is appreciated, but I am looking specifcally for info on turning the Molar Tooth ... south v. north v. direct.

 

On the south traverse, the books (Ortenburger, Bonney, and 50 Selected Climbs) all refer to the "window" and the "notch." This is confusing me somewhat. They're not the same thing...right?

 

Also, did you do it in one day from a camp new the glacier or one of the lakes? How long from there? Did you bivy on the route? Are there any decent bivy spots/ledges?

 

Heading out there in a few weeks and want to do the GT East Ridge, come down to the lower saddle and then go over the Midddle Teton via its North Ridge and then hit the South Teton. Any beta on that also appreciated.

 

[Wopper]

Yeah, when you get to the base of the east ridge start climbing up. Place pro as you need it and stop when you run out of rope so your 2nd can climb up to you. Repeat as many times as necessary. Eventually you will get to the summit. You will know you are on top when there is nothing else to climb. Let me know if you need additional info.

[J_Fisher]

I did this about 7 years ago, so the memories are a little fuzzy, but here's what I remember...

 

I think "window" and "notch" are referring to the same thing. The "Left Chimneys/4th Class Gully and couloir" version described here is what we did:

 

http://www.way-wired.com/oldwwm/ergrand.html

 

The description matches my recollection. It seemed pretty obvious at the time.

 

Where we got screwed up was on the second tower. We couldn't make sense of the route description...couldn't find the "downclimb to ledges". We ended up rapping down a gnarly choss/ice/mud gully for about 50 feet to a flake system that we used to traverse across the north side to gain a chimney system that I think got us back on route. To this day I'm not sure how we got screwed up there. From the notch we probably should have looked harder for a traverse instead of rapping.

 

The route is certainly doable in a day if you are comfortable 3d classing or simul-climbing tons of 4th and low low fifth class terrain. My partner and I were pretty green and we made the mistake of pitching it out. I lost count of the pitches we did, but between the end of the 3d class stuff and the 2d tower it was at least 15 and we were slow.

 

There are decent bivies around the second tower. By the time we finished our shaninagans on the 2d tower it was dark and we bivied on the crest of the ridge just west of the tower.

 

For the start, we bivied on the morraine right at the base of the climb. There was water a short scramble below, meltwater from the Teton Glacier I think.

 

If you've never done the Grand before, plan on having some daylight to find your way off the summit to the Owen-Spalding rappells. That is not something I'd want to be puzzling out in the dark.

 

I thought it was a cool route--definitely a classic mountaineering type route, and you cover a lot of territory. Have fun

[Rodchester]

J_Fisher:

 

Thanks for the BETA!!!

 

I am familar with the rap off and the peak in general. I was planning on doing a first night bivy at the base of the Molar Tooth in what the books call the bowl. And then pushing to the summit the second day. Opinion? Is the bowl a decent bivy sight?

 

Also, I am thinking of doing the Petzoldt(Direct)-Upper Exum. Have you done it? If so, which is the better/more fun route? I have done the Upper Exum, and would love to do the Petzoldt(Direct)-Upper Exum .

 

But, I also want to do the East Ridge. We won't have time for both...I figured we would have better luck getting permits for the East Ridge and would see fewer people.

 

What is your opinion?

 

Thanks for the beta .

[Thinker]

I did the Petzoldt ridge and didn't see anyone else apart from our party on the route. I highly recommend it. You will, no doubt, see others on the Up Ex.

[Rainier_Wolfscastle]

My buddy & are planning on doing this route later this month also. We had planned to do the Black Ice Coulior, but apparently it is mostly a snow climb at the moment. We are big fans of car to car missions, so I think we are going to try that method on the East Ridge also. We've had some pretty good success doing it this way on the Exum & Cathedral traverse so far, so we'll see how it goes. We are taking a small rack, 35m X 8mm rope, 35m X 6mm zip cord (tie together for rap on Owen). Approach shoes, instep crampons, & ice axe each. Maybe we will see you guys up there. Do you know when you are going to be on the route? Later, Mike.

[Rodchester]

Mike: AKA Wolfie:

 

We are leaving Seattle on Aug 1, 2003 (after work) and will drive straight through. So we'll get there some time on Saturday. We will likely crash at the AAC Climber's Ranch or the forest camp site eveyone uses out off of Antelope Flats. (If there is no room at the Ranch).

 

We figure that we'll start up the peak on Monday. My partner is somewhat new to Alpine rock, so we're not planning on blasting the thing. Also, I want to do all three Tetons. Given the team and goals, we'll bivy two nights. One on the East Ridge and one at the Lower Saddle.

 

We'll be taveling mid to light weight. Bivy sacks, 30-degree down bags, canister stove, aluminum crampons, light axes, alpine rack with an extra piece or two, and a 9.8 x 60m rope.

 

So not ultra-light by any means, but not heavy either.

 

maybe we can hook up to swap beta and some brews....

 

When are you there?

[Wall]

I have never done the GT East Ridge but am also looking into it. I did the Upper Exum on the 9th of July and posted about it not too long ago.

As for the South and Middle Tetons I have climbed them both. If you do the North Ridge on the Middle the only tricky part is finding the true summit (or maybe that was a personal problem). The summit of the Middle is composed of several blocks. It is not real hard to find the true summit just don't veer to far to the east.

As for the South, its a cake walk for the most part. You will most likely descend the SW coulour (how do you spell that?) of the Middle and end up in the saddle. Then the easiest way up the South is the NW coulour. It is easy fourth class with only one sort of exposed move. No gear needed except for an ice axe so leave it all in the saddle. It should only take you an hour or two to reach the summit of the South once you have descended the Middle and reached the saddle.

I know this is not much info and not very detailed but the Middle and the South are pretty straight forward.

Let me know if there is anything else you need.

[Rodchester]

Thanks for the beta wall....much appreciated.

 

When are you heading back that way?

[Rainier_Wolfscastle]

We may go the first weekend in August. We're only 3 hrs away, so we'll see what the weather looks like & decide then. We'll probably drive up after work on Friday, sleep for a few hours and then get started (for car to car trips). We usually bivy at the Lupine Meadows parking lot. There is no campsite here, but if you arrive at night, alot of people just throw out a sleeping bag and pad in the meadow. We are planning on bringing a small rack, ice axe, 35m X 8mm rope, 35m X 6mm zip cord (for Owen rap), & maybe instep crampons. Those aluminum crampons sure are nice. Don't have a pair yet. You do know that the Owen/Spalding rap needs 230 ft of rope right? Apparently there is a 60m rope rap spot further right, but it is a rope eater.

[Rodchester]

Wolfie:

 

I rapped the main rap station multiple times with a 60 meter rope with no problem, and about one foot to spare. Last time I did it was in 2001. There is another set of raps that you can do with a 50 meter rope (book says two 70 foot raps) and when I did the main rap in 2001 and in 2000, I could see two other rap stations.

 

It would also be fairly easy to go down the Owens route. I've spoken with more than a couple of people that have down climbed it and saying it was no problem. (Assuming dry conditions). But the one spot on the Owens where the original climbers stood on each other's shoulders would be an interesting scramble down.

 

Have a good climb!!!

[Rainier_Wolfscastle]

OK. That's good to know. The book says 115-120 ft or something like that. We were leading with two half ropes last time, so it was not an issue. Have a good one. Later, Mike.

[J_Fisher]

Rodchester, I don't remember there being bivies in the "bowl" below the molar. Not saying there are not...I just don't recall. I do remember that after you go through the window and scramble down, the moat b/t the molar and the top of the Tepee glacier/snowfield was fairly level and sheltered and would be an OK place to bivy in a pinch. Plus you could melt snow for water. The only other snow/water after that would be west of the 2d tower. Since our bivy was unplanned, we were thankful for meltwater off the upper snowfield during our night up there.

 

When I did the route we tried to go super light and had neither stove nor sleeping bag, but we had very warm stable weather and sort of lucked out on the water thing.

 

I've never done the Petzoldt, but would imagine it's of similar character to the Direct Exum, which I've done. The east ridge is a totally different sort of route. The lower exum and the Petzoltd, I'd imagine, are basically nice crag routes that go to a summit (and technically probably more interesting and aesthetic). The east ridge is more of a mountaineering objective--cruising huge amounts of moderate terrain, with a bunch of really steep, exposed snow. I thought the upper snowfield was pretty wild (at least as wild as snowfield could be...)

 

Have fun!

Edited July 23, 2003 by J_Fisher

[Wall]

I noticed a few people were mentioning the possibility of down climbing the Owen Spalding... not a great idea! Yes it can be done but it is not very good time management, especially if you are trying to do all three of the Tetons. As for the rappel... a 60 meter rope will do the trick if you throw to the south when the rap rings are to your back!!!! That is SOUTH, not skiers left, although they are almost the same thing. With a 60 meter your feet will just touch the ground and then you will have about 20 feet of easy down climbing. Be careful not to rap off the end of your rope!!!! A girl did that on DT a few months back!!!! In addition to that, to save time and to be safe you can rap down Sargents Chimney as well.

Peace and happy climbing

[Northwest_Lunacy]

I've done all the routes on the G. Teton car to car in a day without any problem. (although the N. Face was a long day. Texplorer was begging for a 15 minute nap.)

The East Ridge is probably my favorite route and can be easily done in a day, car to car. Starting from Lupine at 1:30am it's easy to follow the trail to Surprise Lake in the dark. On the back side of S. Lake ascend the ridge to the only notch. From the notch there's a steep trail that heads down. If you miss the notch and trail you're screwed. There isn't any other way into the canyon! It's all enormous cliffs. The trail will send you into the boulder field where you'll scramble to the obvious start of the East Ridge.

There isn't one single line up the E. Ridge, especially at the bottom. Just scramble. My brother and I climbed un- ropped to the giant chockstone at the top of the first couloir. Once we did get the rope out we just simu-climbed.

It's been a few years since we climbed it but the last pinnacle below the snowfield didn't seem very difficult. Just plan on climbing right up a notch at the bottom of pinnacle, drop down through the notch then traverse across the right side until you get to the final snow field that's below the summit block.

We summitted about 20 minutes after our friends that climbed the Upper Exum, who left the car at the same time.

Good luck.

[DougGeller]

It sounds like you plan to carry all your gear over the summit of the Grand to camp at the Lower Saddle for the ensuing ascent of Middle. In that case the key to the East Ridge route will be an extremely early start and 'efficient' climbing (i.e. 3rd classing or simul style). I do not recommend you start from the valley but instead obtain a bivvy permit and find a spot near Amphitheatre Lake cirque. Be prepared for routefinding, rappeling enroute, and summit snowfield.

[Rainier_Wolfscastle]

We wound up doing the East Ridge last saturday car to car. Started at 3am from Lupine Meadows. We had a little trouble finding the start of the ridge but otherwise it all went well. We considered the first 200 feet of the route to be low 5th class which is not mentioned in the guidebook. After that, it was pretty easy to Molar tooth (good route finding challenges here). Getting around the Molar tooth is really cool. Lots of exposure and the first good rock we found on the route. The chockstone lodged at the top of this notch is the largest I have ever seen. The slabs above the Molar tooth have a ton of loose rock. Just the movement of the rope dislodged many little rocks to those below. Helmets are a must on this route! Passing the second tower was much easier and also had cool exposure. The slabs above this section contain more loose rock and are wet from snowfield run-off above. Easy climbing, but slippery, and not much pro available. Care must be taken in this section. Snowfield above was fairly easy with ice axe. I think we stopped and belayed for about 6-7 pitches total. The rest was simul-climbing or unroped. I'll post some digi-pics soon for anyone interested.