Warning- Super long blog post. As I was researching the Grand Traverse I was surprised at how little info there is on the web about it. Rolo’s page is extremely helpful, but that is about it. So I have tried to include key bits of beta that helped us along the way which the casual reader may find boring and useless.
The Grand Traverse is a link-up of all of the central Teton peaks: Teewinot, Mt. Owen, Grand Teton, Middle Teton, South Teton, Ice Cream Cone, Gilkey Tower, Spalding Peak, Cloudveil Dome and Nez Perce. Since the first time I ever heard of the Grand Traverse I had always dreamed of climbing it in a single push. For now, I have no interest in climbing it in multiple days, partially because I dislike heavy packs and bivis but also because I like the style. It is very all or nothing for me. Of course I can climb it in two or three days, but in a day? I’m not so sure.
Every summer I always have some sort of excuse for this not being the year I would try it. Too busy, I need to be more fit, I need to know more of the route, blah blah blah. This year I decided to just give it a go. I had heard many horror stories from friends of never ending route finding. One friend’s advice was to just do the Cathedral traverse and then rest a few days and go back and do the Cloudveil traverse, “it is actually enjoyable that way,” he said. He was probably right, but I had made up my mind and wanted to go for the whole shebang. In the past I have been guilty of biting off more than I can chew but, with the Grand traverse I knew it was huge. I had no delusions of being able to nail this thing first try. If I did… great, if not, I will know more next time. No expectations whatsoever, that’s the way, unhhuh unhhuh, I like it.
Fuel
So it was not completely heartbreaking when we left my sister’s house in Jackson at 2:15 a.m. August 31st and lightning was striking all around us. Nor were we devastated, possibly a bit disheartened, at 2:30 a.m., while driving to the trailhead, when we got a text from our one man weather support crew, Jason Dunlop, which read simply- crap! We told Jason we had an iphone so we could watch the weather and that he should go back to sleep. He responded something like “I will sleep when I am dead” followed shortly by a full weather report (Thanks Jason!). It looked like a strong but small and fast moving system was going to cross over us for the next hour or two. With absolutely no desire to be up on Teewinot in the rain and lightning we hung out at the trailhead in my truck from 3:00 until 4:45 when the storm seemed to have passed. 1 hour 45 minutes behind schedule leaving the trailhead, not so good. We pounded out the 5,600 vertical climb up the East face of Teewinot a bit harder than we planned trying to make up some time.
We had planned on being on top of Teewinot at first light. Obviously not happening as I hike through the nice early morning light a few hundred feet from the summit of Teewinot. Photo: Travis Kemp
The summit of Teewinot is awesome. Trying to see my shadow. Photo: Travis Kemp
Travis and I have both climbed the East face of Teewinot, but everything between the summit of Teewinot and the summit of the Grand was new to us. There is a lot of route finding to deal with. We knew this would be our crux. From the summit of Teewinot we headed back down the way we came a hundred feet or so before heading south to a large obvious notch (visible above my head and a bit left on the first photo of Teewinot). We went west through the notch to access the southwest face and followed a steep gully down for a couple hundred feet before catching a small ledge to the south (skier’s left) to escape the gully onto the large open ridge leading to peak 11,840. From the top of 11,840 we avoided the 3 rappels right off of the top of and opted instead to go for the Northwest chimney. We accessed the NW chimney by heading north off of the peak down and around a small (mini van size-ish) pinnacle and then continued about 40 or 50 feet down and to the north. There is an slung horn for an anchor at the top of the obvious chimney. Easy but exposed downclimbing or a single rap take you to less steep but less solid ground, we rapped. From here we traversed steep dirt, choss, snow and ice (pulled out the crampons) until we were able to get back on the ridgecrest. Next sub-peak we traversed to the north through some loose blocks, but nothing too horrible.
Travis negotiating one of the more loose sections between Teewinot and Mt. Owen.
From there we had a slight route finding error as I thought that we were supposed to traverse the next peak to the south when in fact the next peak was the East Prong and the ridgecrest was the best route. Lost twenty minutes or so. On top of the East Prong we did two rappels to get to the Koven col.
Travis rapping off the East Prong into the Koven col.
Travis coming out of the Koven col.
We filled up on water at the base of Mt. Owen and continued up the Koven route.
Travis enjoying some fantastic rock on Mt. Owen.
We cruised up the Koven route to the summit enjoying fine rock along the way.
Travis catches a quick breather on top of Mt. Owen with the North ridge of the Grand Teton looming large above.
From the summit of Mt. Owen we downclimbed the way we came for a couple hundred feet and then followed the Southwest ridge, staying on the east side of it, towards the Grand. On the recommendation of a very helpful and knowledgeable ranger we passed Rolo’s recommended descent gully and continued south down the ridge as described in the West ledges descent in the Ortenburger/Jackson guide. This was one of my favorite sections. Amazing rock and some easy moves with exposure. Super exhilarating! No signs of fatigue we were both feeling great. We followed the ridge until continuing to the south became difficult, located a slung horn and did one rappel to the west which led us to small ledge system which we followed towards Gunsight notch. The ledge system led us south to three raps with somewhat manky anchors and some loose rock into Gunsight. In retrospect, next time I think that I will downclimb further to the west to a bigger ledge system below which apparently takes you into a couloir a hundred feet or so below Gunsight. I would much rather hike an extra hundred feet than knock a loose rock onto my head while rappelling. Just me. Out of Gunsight we followed Rolo’s directions which were perfect, “out of the Gunsight climb up and right 60 feet, then up and left 50 feet to a slanting ledge going down to the east. Head 100 feet down the ledge.” This took us right to the base of an amazing, steep, knobby, 5.8 pitch. We roped up for the first time and enjoyed some of the best rock I have ever found in the Tetons.
First pitch coming out of Gunsight Notch. Even better than it looks, so classic. Photo: Travis Kemp
The next pitch was just as good, more of the same, steep and knobby 5.7. From there we put the rope away and scrambled up to the top of the Grandstand. We were hoping to climb the Italian cracks up to the second ledge then traverse over to meet the Owen-Spalding. We located the first pitch, which is shared with the original North Ridge route, and Travis quickly led it. I followed and then ran up the 3rd class gully to a ledge. Travis met me there moments later.
We pulled out our topo and tried to locate the next pitch. Neither of us were sure exactly where the next pitch was. This is not where I imagined having route finding problems. This is where I thought we would just find a crack and follow it. In retrospect, after inspecting other topos and photos, the Italian cracks were around the corner and out of sight to the climber’s left of where we were but, based on our topo any of the cracks in front of us looked like they could be the Italian cracks. Travis was leading so he played a quick game of eeny, meeny, miney, moe. Moe crack it was. He headed up a crack that started alright but soon turned into a loose nightmare. Having made some hard moves (not downclimbable) over bad gear he battled through more loose rock and sketchy gear to a ledge. I climbed up to him and knew without him saying a word that he had just fried himself mentally. I took the rack and started exploring. First right, then left, then straight up, then far left. Nothing looked great but I continued up. Why? I have no idea. I chose far left. I battled up short corner with some hard moves and a ton of lichen which brought me to a ledge with an ancient anchor. It was becoming very clear that we were not on the Italian cracks. I backed up the old anchor and belayed Travis up. Once again I explored. Right, left, straight up. Nothing. We finally came to the conclusion that we were definitely not on the Italian cracks and that we would not find them by wandering up this face as we had been doing so far. Brilliant! We rapped. A full 100′ rappel just barely got us to a tiny stance where we could traverse over to the original North Ridge route which is thankfully a large and obvious chimney. We climbed a bit of loose 5th class to base of the Chockstone chimney. We were psyched to be “on route” but knew we had wasted way too much time (4+ hours) being off route and that the Grand Traverse was most likely out of reach.
There were about ten steps of pure ice guarding the start of the chimney that crampons were helpful for. From there we shot up at rapid pace. I led. Climbing as fast as I could safely. I arrived at the top of each pitch winded. Travis followed, with no consequences for falling he climbed like a maniac. Travis would arrive at the belay completely out of breath, hand me the gear and I was off. Three pitches (our topo showed 4, we combined the last two) brought us to the Second ledge. We followed Second ledge to where it meets up with the Owen-Splading route.
We were psyched to be off the North ridge. No afternoon thunderstorms! I knew we had just gotten away with one. Anyone who knows anything about the Tetons would never choose to be on the North ridge from the hours of 1-6 on a late summer afternoon.
We scrambled up the O-S to the summit of the Grand. We had the summit to ourselves. Not surprising at 6:30 in the afternoon. We both knew that the Grand Traverse was not happening for us today. Mentally toasted and way behind schedule due to our North ridge mini-epic, we had no motivation to continue on deep into the night. We would have to settle with just the Cathedral traverse. No sense of failure for either one of us. It was nearly impossible to not be psyched after such an amazing day of climbing. Although I can not wait to come back and try again, this will always be one of my most memorable and enjoyable days spent in the mountains. Mini-epic and all. We spent some time on the summit and watched the Grand Teton’s shadow grow. What an amazing place, what an amazing range, what an amazing day! I want a REMATCH!!!!!
GEAR:
BD stoppers- #5-12
BD C4 cams- #0.3, 0.4, .5, .75, 1, 2
4 shoulder length slings
3 double length slings
BD Neve strap-on crampons
FUEL:
12 servings of Hammer gel each
15 Perpetuem Solid tabs each
2 scoops Perpetuem powder each
2 scoops Heed powder each
2 Hammer Bars each
Sounds like quite the quest! Burly. Nice work
Nice work guys. I did it once over two days, at a casual pace. Then Guy and I tried it again, made it over Middle, couldn’t find water, and crapped out.
To do the GT in a day, in my opinion, needs a few things to pull it off.
1. Terrain familiarity. You need to do every aspect of it, at least once, before pulling it off. There’s too much route finding to slow you down.
2. Near soloing. If you could solo, and leave the rope behind, you could travel so much faster.
3. A summer of scrambling with 25lbs on your back, then attack the GT with a 20lbs pack.
Lastly, I think for mere mortals, the Cathedral Traverse is great. Man, that Cloudveil traverse is way harder than you’d think, and imagine doing it with tired legs.
Derek- You were the one that told me to just do the Cathedral and then come back and do the Cloudveil when we were on Timp last winter. Wise words!
1. Terrain familiarity. I totally agree. Aside from our North Ridge mini-epic, we did really well with the route finding but still all the little two minute- I poke around this corner, you poke around that corner- add up for sure. I knew this would be an issue but I did not think we would get lost on the North ridge. We may have put our guard down a bit trying to hurry and really paid for it.
2. Near soloing. I am not ready to leave the rope behind yet, although I hope to someday. I think that it can be done in a day with a rope. I do not think that it is possible to be uber-fast (sub 10 hours) with a rope. Once we were on route on the North Ridge we climbed the chockstone chimney and the two pitches above in less than 45 minutes without ever simul-climbing. I think that the weight of the rope is more of a burden than the time lost by roping up if you and your partner solid and dialed. That said, if you roped up for every 5.5 or 5.6 move the traverse would take forever. Our plan was to rope up for the 2 pitches coming out of Gunsight, which can be avoided, 4 pitches on the North ridge and the 1 pitch on the Ice Cream Cone. Other than that the rope was away. So 5-7 pitches of roped climbing depending on what you decide to do coming out Gunsight. I think that it can be done in a day that way. Maybe I am delusional.
3.We both trained almost exclusively by trail running and we both felt great. Granted throw the Cloudveil on top of that and I am sure I would be using other adjectives to describe how we felt. We weighed our packs before and they were 16 pounds each including a liter and a half of water. We rarely had that much water with us as water was accessible in many spots. Which I think is another key: knowing exactly where there is and is not water. That would allow you to carry a minimal amount of water. For example we both filled up at the Koven col but we should have just had a drink as there was water almost all the way up Owen, but without knowing where our next water source was we both played it safe and filled up.
I completely agree that the Cathedral Traverse is awesome! It stands as one of the most fun days I have ever had in the mountains. I would recommend doing just the Cathedral in a day over trying to do the Grand Traverse in multiple days. But somehow I have become obsessed with the idea of doing the whole thing in a day. Sufferfest and all.
Thanks for the input. I think 300 and something miles in a day on dirt bike sounds like a sufferfest! Nice work!
Andy
Nice job dudes! I cant wait to see story/pictures of attempt #2, from what Travis has told me it sounds pretty insane. You seemed to have the routes dialed, hopefully next season the conditions will be more forgiving.