Teton beta request

[jja]

So we've got 10 days in the park in late June, early July this summer. I think we want to do at least two routes that typically start at the lower saddle. How bad does the hike up to the saddle suck? Instead of doing the approach twice does it make sense to bring a lot of food and fuel up there for say 4 or 5 days and do two or three routes? The books kind of implies that the lower saddle isn't a very pleasant place to hang out.

 

How bad is the valhalla traverse? Is it totally nuts to think I could get away with doing it in goretex sneakers and aluminum crampons on the way to do the north face or north ridge? Speaking of which, if we're only going to do one, which is the better route, the north face or the north ridge of the grand? Italian cracks or do the chimney and slab?

 

Anybody want to predict what the BI couloir is gonna be like in late june ? If the Black Ice is out, what else is a similar climb that is more likely to be in? Is the Enclosure couloir boring?

 

For straight up rock routes, am I right in thinking stuff like the guide wall, the snaz, and irene's arete are the best climbs in the 8 - 10a range, or are those just the super popular ones?

 

Totally psyched for this trip .. here's to ten solid days of sunshine with no afternoon t-storms !! Thanks for any and all beta and/or spray.

 

-john

[ken4ord]

Another beautiful 10a in that area you should check out Gloden Face (? not sure if that is right). It is the route to the right of the Complete Exum. It looks quite beautiful.

 

The two time I have been up to the Tetons in early July, once I needed crampons and the other time I didn't. The time that I did strap-ons crampons over sneaks worked just fine. If I was going to do Black Ice I would probably stepin with boots, but I am sure you could easily do it with strap-ons. Have fun.

[Billy]

I would recomend camping at the Morraine, and not the Lower Saddle. Its only a short distance below the saddle and much less windy.

 

Valhalla traverse can be spicy that early in the season, you may want steel crampons.

 

The N Ridge is the better than the N Face, and will probably be drier than the N Face that early in the season.

 

The Black Ice may be gone, as I have heard that it no longer exists. But there are other great routes on the Middle Teton like the Glacier Route and the NW Couloir that you can easily access from the Morraine.

 

Alot will depend on how warm the spring is, cause the Tetons have below normal snow this winter, so you may be in there. Call the rangers at Jenny Lake Ranger Station, they are really cool and all of them climb pretty hard, so they have great info on conditions.

[layton]

yeah, that golden face pitch is fun

good times on guides wall, caveat emptor, and the snaz

 

want to do the fifty crowded route on Moran, and also baxters, and N ridge of the grand (off the top of my head). i'm sure's there's more good stuff.

[jja]

want to do the fifty crowded route on Moran,

 

Yeah, we were looking at that one too. the approach by canoe looks fun. I'll have to make sure we figure out how to do the double pendulums first though, neither of us have ever done that before.

[ken4ord]

The canoe ride to the base of Moran sometimes the real adventure. One I was up with some friends to go climb Moran. We got a nice early start, and starting the day with a nice paddle up a river was great. We arrived at the portage and we noticed a bear up in a tree, it sounded sort of distressed and we sat for a bit hoping it would just leave. Eventually we decided to just go for it since the bear seemed to freaked to come down and leave. As soon as we got onto shore the bear cruised right down the tree followed by two cubs. We abandoned everything, and walked down the trail. She walked right up to the first canoe and without hesitation grabbed the top pack and brought it over to the cubs and started to tear it apart. After seeing that I decided to try and make a recovery effort for my pack while she was busy. In the whole incident we lost one pack and a day of climbing. We went back the next day and up and down soloed CMC.