Sunday we sorted and packed and then headed to town. Continental managed to tear the shoulder straps off my pack rendering it useless so it was time for a new pack. Lucky for me Teton Mountaineering is well stocked in the latest packs from Arcterx. They had a nice pack with a dinosaur logo just for me. We met my friends Bob and Heidi at the Mangy Moose for some dinner and dessert and a few last minute plans. The next morning we met at the Lupine Meadow trailhead 6700 feet.
My pack was HUGE! I put it on in the parking lot and my legs were wobbly. I was thinking I sure wish I had trained for this. We had 2 ropes (180' x 11mm), 4 harnesses, a small rack, 6 ice screws, 4 helmets, 4 sets of crampons and 4 ice axes plus tent, bags, pads, food for 5 days, 6 shit bags, stove, fuel and the guide book. Nick had a day pack, he carried his clothes and bag, Deneen had a 3000 cubic inch pack and carried her gear plus the crampons, ice screws and some ice axes. Sam and I split the rest. I went for volume and Sam went for weight.
Kev, Nick & Sam with their BIG packs
We hiked in 5 and half miles to Meadows at 9400 feet. It took awhile but we all arrived with no permanent damage. Went to bed early and woke up at 5 for an attempt on the Middle Teton Glacier. We hiked up to 10800 ft to the start of the glacier. Somehow we crossed signals and Deneen and I were waiting for Sam and Nick at the Glacier while they waited for us at the snow field. We finally found them around 8:30 and we're climbing on the glacier by 9. We worked up the glacier crossing 2 minor crevices and belayed the second one to arrive at the moat before the main couloir.
Kev, Sam & Nick starting up the Middle Teton glacier
We lowered Deneen and Nick back down below the crevice. Sam and I continued into the couloir. The couloir was 30 -50 degree ice with a nice layer of rockfall. I led the first pitch and placed 5 ice screws in classic single axe pied a la dinosaur style and set the belay in nice protected alcove. Sam followed nicely with a mix of piolet traction and pied marche or some shit like that. We ran out of time so Sam wrapped and I downclimbed and pulled the gear. I was pretty jazzed for my first ice lead. I had been reading Chouinard and Mountaineering all summer to get this old style ice climbing down and it worked great. The top pitch was around 11600'. We down climbed the glacier to below the top crevice and then I pulled my crampons and glissaded to the base of the glacier, Deneen and Nick had already done their seated glissades to the base and Sam in Rainier Style walked the whole thing down.
Kev pointing to the couloir (photo taken from the Grand)
We stashed all the gear we would need for climbing around 11000 feet and carried the alpine stuff back to the camp. Bob and Heidi met us there, they climbed the SW Couloir to the top of the Middle. The marmots had eaten a hole thru their tent to polish off the last of the desserts; they also ate a good chunk of the foam pad and left plenty of calling cards all over the inside of the tent. Bob was ready for marmot stew but we had a big dinner of freeze-dried lasagna and we were off to bed. The next morning Bob and Heidi headed down and we packed up and moved camp to Lower Saddle 11600 ft. We left all the alpine stuff and extra clothes at 9400 and picked up the climbing gear at 11000 ft. There's a cliff band to negotiate at 11300 and then the last 100 feet seem to take for ever. There's a ranger hut and the Exum hut at the saddle. We set up camp, ate some dinner and then I hiked up to find the approach. I was thinking Nick and I would attempt Owen Spalding but I didn't want Nick to belay. The crowd coming down the peak gave us the beta on Upper Exum so I wanted to check it out.
I hiked to the Eye of the Needle description and figured it out. It's kinda a dumb way to go but maybe it makes the clients think they are getting their money's worth. From there I headed over the ridge and up Wall Street. The move off Wall Street and on to the start of the climb is legendary. The big ledge ends and there's a 6 foot gap that needs to be hand traversed to another ledge on the ridge. Glen Exum climbed the wall and leaped over the gap in 1930 in a pair of football cleats! I climbed across it in my boots and it's probably 5.6, the problem was downclimbing it, it took me a couple of tries before I committed. It's a 2000 foot fall if you hose it up.
The Grand at sunset from the Lower Saddle
The next morning we got started around 6 am. The guides had left at 4 am so it was relatively quiet. We planned to all climb the Upper Exum. We arrived at the Wall Street around 8 am with one party in front, one soloer passing us and another party of kids from CO behind us. The plan was for me and Sam to switch leads then Deneen and Nick would simul climb with me or Sam basically soloing (still roped but loose) and spotting Nick. Nick had rock shoes and the rest of us had mountain boots, Sam's had hobnails in them. Sam lead the gap and I led the first pitch which is a lot like Snake Dike, golden nobs, 5.4 and not much pro. The climb is about 1500 feet with 3 good roped pitches and the rest wandering in and around towers on the ridge. I think we made the summit around 1 pm.
Nick and Sam on Exum Ridge.
The team on the summit - Deneen, Kev, Sam & Nick
It was a great day but the afternoon thunder showers were coming so we headed down. We did 2 raps, one short that could be downclimbed and one 120 foot free rappel. I lowered Nick on both raps. From here you're on Upper Saddle at 13000 ft with a great view looking down the North Face. It's an awesome view of 6000 feet looking down into Cascade Canyon. We hiked and downclimbed all the way back to camp with the last 30 minutes in a light rain. We all climbed in the tent and then the skies opened up. I had slept outside all week in good weather but it wasn't going to happen tonight. We got a short break at sunset to cook dinner and then back to the tent for a squishy night.
Friday we packed up and hiked down to the Meadows to retrieve the remaining gear. My pack was pretty big but I decided to glissade the glacier in style instead of plodding thru the talus. Nick thought this was a great idea as well. It was kinda interesting that no one else from the 60 climbers a day had come up with this idea. The glacier was pretty steep where I traversed in but I could kick steps OK. Nick headed in much lower and I told him to kick steps to the middle of the glacier so he would be clear of the rocks in the runout. He made it most of the way before he slipped or meant to slide back down into the rocks. He bumped into the rocks feet first going slow and was fine but I was thinking it was pretty risky. I kept going until I was sure I was clear of all the big rocks. I didn't have an ice axe or even a dagger rock but the ice had a thin layer of slush on top and I figured I'd be OK. I was turning around to face down hill for my glissade when my feet slipped out from under me. Instantly, I was flying down hill on my butt and pack I tried digging in my heals but they kept bouncing around, I thought about spinning over on my face and trying to arrest on my toes but I thought I was better off seeing were I was going. I was bouncing around a lot and my hands were hurting so I pulled them up off the snow and concentrated on the avoiding the medium size rock down in front of me. I could see I was going to hit it and wanted to make sure I would land both feet on it and push off. I did and kinda glanced by it unscathed. After that it was just a runout and soon came to a stop. I had this brief idea of trying to spring to my feet at the end of the slide to make it look like I was in control but I was shaking to bad and really was just happy to be alive after fucking up. I stopped and stood up. Nothing appeared to be broke but my head was buzzing. A bunch of people were yelling at me from the ridge, apparently they were concerned about my water bottles strewn across the glacier and felt it needed my immediate attention. I was more concerned on whether or not I really had crapped my pants. I regained my composure, waved to Deneen and gathered up the water bottles. Nick came out to congratulate me on a spectacular slide. I brushed off the snow and we slid and walked down the snow field.
A really long time later we emerged at the parking lot and headed out for ice cream.
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2 comments:
What a great travelogue. Love the slide at the end. Next time I see you guys I'll tell you my story of sliding down Pallavaccini at Loveland Pass.
I had forgotten about this epic tale. Love to reminisce.
Backcountry tales with the Lone Wolf.
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