South Teton + Grand Teton
On the way home from Utah I made a scenic detour to Jackson, WY, where I climbed & skied South Teton (Amora Vida couloir) and the Grand Teton (Ford-Stettner route) on back-to-back days. South Teton went quickly & smoothly; the Grand was quite an adventure. Both of these routes are well covered elsewhere online so I won't go into much detail here, other than to mention that my partner and I significantly underestimated the level of effort required for the Grand. A 7K day is pretty typical for this time of year, but not all 7K days are created equal, and this has to be one of the hardest anywhere. I had originally planned to make it a hat trick by adding Middle Teton on the 3rd day, but there was nothing left in the tank after the Grand. Here's some POV video from both ski descents plus selected photos from the Grand. Happy to chat in more detail with anyone heading out that way.
Lovely ski of a classic couple of routes.
Cool, big lines.
How did you build up to the technical skills of the grand? I'm curious since I am not much of an ice climber
Also, did you have to deal with crowding or concern of sluffs onto other parties? Looks busy!
@kamtron I'm not an ice climber and wouldn't have done this without a partner who could lead ice. The amount of ice climbing required on the route at present is pretty small and not too difficult, but still. There was one other group ahead of us and no one behind us. It wasn't a problem having people ahead of us, we caught up with them at the summit and all descended together joining 2 60m ropes. My partner and I only had a single 60, so it was actually quite lucky to have the other group there. I would say that double 60s are pretty much essential for the rappels; this wasn't clear from other trip reports. I could see how crowding on the route might be a problem later in the season, I wouldn't want to be climbing on the upper mountain while another group is descending. I also wouldn't want to be sitting around on the summit waiting for another group to descend when it's cold up there.
Sweet thanks Tim. I would also need a rope gun for the ice. The skiing sure looks fun, and just one other party - wow, you scored!
Freaking glorious Tim!! Such amazing skiing and so nice to see someone that knows how to plant a pole. Two more for my list. Thank you!
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