DESTINATION Generic 216 Photosets
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| Hike & Climb | 16.27 Miles |
8,292 AEG |
| | Hike & Climb | 16.27 Miles | 1 Day 8 Hrs 2 Mns | | |
| 8,292 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Toprope • Trad • 5.5 Granite Excellent • 2000 Feet 12 Pitches | | |
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| partners | | After two days of training with Exum Guides, we were sorted into appropriate groups based on skills. We were told we were the A team. Our group consisted of two guys from NYC who had little to no hiking/climbing experience, myself, and Joel. Our guide, Suz, was energetic and talkative. She had loads of experience and exuded competence. Our team was likely to do the Upper Exum Ridge which is longer and more difficult route than what most of the Exum clients would do on the Owen-Spadling Route.
Our objective for the day was to hike 7 miles with about 5000 feet of elevation gain. To us that is not an unusual plan for a day, business as usual. Our packs were lighter than normal overnight trips as we didn't have to pack tents, sleeping bags, or stoves which made the trip pretty relaxing.
We headed out from the Lupine Meadows trailhead to Garnet Canyon. Then we followed Garnet canyon up to the lower saddle below the Grand Teton.
Suz is a naturalist so I left my flower book in the car and relied in her to identify what I didn't know. It was great because I learned more about some of the plants then I would have trying to use my guide I had purchased. She also pointed out garnets in the rocks.
Along the way, we stopped in a 'cave' for lunch. Basically, it was boulders that had come down from above and piled onto each other leaving a nice gap. Some hikers would probably bivy in them if the weather was bad. Joel and I had pizza from Dornan's for lunch and it really hit the spot!
At the top of the canyon the Middle Teton Glacier lays off to the side below Middle Teton. It had watermelon snow on it. I had heard the term before so I ask Suz about it and she said that is an algae.
Near to the top is a spot in which the guides like to rope up clients. It's probably a class 4 scramble. Since we weren't carrying harnesses we did a quick one handed bowline around our waists with one end of a rope and the second person was roped in with a figure 8 on a bight. Then Suz belayed us up two at a time.
At the saddle there are two huts. One for the NPS rangers and the other for the guided clients. There are also rules to follow at this base camp. First, you must use a WAG bag. They provide an outhouse-like structure for privacy while using the bag. You then store it in an ammo can and carry it out with you to the trailhead. Second, you can only urinate off the west side of the saddle. Third, don't walk on the veg. Four, clients cannot sleep outside the hut.
We learned how to do kiwi coils and tie off before dinner to help make us more efficient on the climb. We also left some knots in the rope where we would tie in when we roped up in the morning. We got our summit packs ready and stowed them for the night.
Then it was dinner time. Joel and I brought a salad and frozen lasagnas. The later we dropped double bagged into boiling water. Sure beat our typical backpacking food!
We hung out after dinner staring our our route for the morning. We also got to see the sun rise and the full Supermoon rise. We were going to be lucky to climb in the moonlight.
Soon it was bedtime, we crawled into the loaner bags with all our clothes on to make getting ready easier in the morning. As usual, I was too excited and pretty much laid there all night without sleeping. Unfortunately, I also had a nosebleed.
Soon, I heard the gas turn on for our coffees and oatmeals. It was 3:00 and we wanted to be one of the first groups out since we were doing a longer route. We were successful in being ready by 3:45 AM.
We headed out mostly using moonlight instead of headlamps. It was a treat as for our other 'big' climbs we had to use headlamps. We took our first quick break at the big Black Dike. I was hot and went down to just a base layer on top. After this break we wouldn't take another one until the top several hours later. Instead as we waited on each other to climb we'd snack on food we had shoved in our pockets.
We continued onto Wall Street, a narrow ledge named for a client from NYC. This is where we roped up. At the end of Wall Street we encountered the famous Step-Across where Glenn Exum leaped on his solo ascent many years ago.
From there we climbed the Golden Stair Pitch. This pitch is supposed to be really exposed but I didn't really notice.
For each pitch we did a quick hip belay for the person climbing behind us. The climbing was pretty easy, even for me with my bum shoulder.
Soon the sun was rising and we could see all around. The weather was amazingly beautiful! However, it was colder and I had to put my softshell back on.
The Friction pitch was to be the crux of the climb. But it wasn't too hard.
We encountered a section where we didn't need to pitch it out. Instead we did terrain belays where the ope was threaded on opposite sides of a big boulders.
Then we went over to the dark side. We were in the shade and it was really cold. I couldn't wait to get back over!
Finally, I noticed there wasn't rock above us! We had reached our goal to be on top of the Grand Teton at 13,770 feet after climbing 12 pitches of 5.5 rated rock! Because of the awesome weather we could see a lot of the Tetons and the surrounding area. Notably for me I could see Death Canyon Shelf, Death Canyon, Alaska Basin, and Static Peak! There is nothing like being on a peak and seeing familiar backcountry territory that you had just visited. I also could pick out a few other landmarks. We ate a snack and took a group photo. Then we started our descent.
On the trip down we were mainly on the Owen-Spadling Route. We did a lot of scrambling down with a belay with Suz. We would travel in pairs for those spots.
We had a 120 foot rappel, in which, unfortunately, we had to do it with ATCs (which have a lot of friction on the larger diameter ropes compared to what we typically rap with). But the rappel was still pretty cool. When we reached the bottom, we had to get out of the rockfall area and behind a large boulder 20-30 feet below to regroup near the Upper Saddle. The spot at the bottom of the rappel is one of the most risky in the climb/descent and the guides coach their clients to not send rocks down when they are at the start of the rappel and to exit quickly when they are done rappelling.
Since we had skipped the Eye of the Needle on the way up, we hit it in the way down. It's like crawling though a tunnel. It was pretty fun!
On the way down, I was happy to see Sky Pilots! A reminder of how high we were! I also learned that they smell bad! It's amazing to see such a beautiful flower that emit an unpleasant aroma just so that they can be pollinated by flies.
We got back to the Huts and switched our gear back to our big packs. Then we returned the 7 miles and 5000 feet descent to the trailhead.
We got a belay through the sketchy spot right below the lower saddle. During which, Joel and I were not partnered tighter. My descent was straight forward but Joel's partner slipped which made things more difficult. I kept wondering what was taking them so long.
Close to the end of the hike we started to see bushes with berries: huckleberries, service berries, Oregon grape, and Utah twin berries. We made a small feast of the huckleberries. They were super tasty!
After we finished the hike, Joel and I celebrated again at Dornan's. We were treated with a moose sighting right by the cars. |
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