Trip Report
The Grand Traverse August 2011
Tuesday October 4, 2011 9:35pm
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Credit: Pcutler
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I’ve done a descent amount of rock climbing over the years, but have never really branched out into the alpine category. I began thinking about it and realized that I have never so much as hiked up a mountain. No kidding, I have never been over 12,000 feet .

It was with that knowledge in the back of my mind that I agreed to fly out to Jackson, Wy for a week and attempt the grand traverse with my brother. After a successful trip out to The Valley a year ago and numerous other climbing trips, I was feeling pretty confident that we had the technical skills to climb a route like this. I was, however, lacking alpine experience. I did a little ‘google’ research about how to properly traverse steep snow – plant your ax, kick, kick, repeat – seemed easy enough. I felt that excitement of trying something new when I strapped on my crampons and hiked myself up the first snowfield on the east side of Teewinot Mountain.
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3am start.  The sun was just beginning to rise as we made our way up t...
3am start. The sun was just beginning to rise as we made our way up the Teewinot snow field.
Credit: Pcutler
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The Grand Traverse is big goal for two Iowa boys, one of which has never climbed in the Tetons, but we committed to giving it a try. It’s quite a big route, covering 14 miles, 12,000 vertical feet, significant amounts of 4th class, rappels and many pitches of 5th class. Hell even most of the 3rd class was so exposed that a slip could be disastrous. The most challenging part of the route, however, was route-finding.
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Working our way up the East side of Teewinot.
Working our way up the East side of Teewinot.
Credit: Pcutler
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We lost about an hour at the top of Teewinot Mountain when we climbed to the wrong summit block – over the course of the next two days this would be the first of many, many false summits we would accidentally climb to.
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The summit of Teewinot.  One down a lot to go
The summit of Teewinot. One down a lot to go
Credit: Pcutler
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On our way off Teewinot with Owen and the Grand in the background
On our way off Teewinot with Owen and the Grand in the background
Credit: Pcutler
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Our route finding was primarily guess and check, but we did manage to find our way to the Koven col without significant troubles. The Koven route up Mt Owen was really fantastic. We had a warm, windless bluebird day with the Teton Glacier and the North Face of The Grand as a backdrop. Wearing our crampons, we traversed the saddle and worked our way up through the snow. The sun was blinding as it glared off of the vast white glacier surrounding us.
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The Koven Col.  Crossing the steep snow
The Koven Col. Crossing the steep snow
Credit: Pcutler
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We ran into another party on our way up Mt Owen.  You can see the Gran...
We ran into another party on our way up Mt Owen. You can see the Grand sticking up in the background
Credit: Pcutler
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The summit of Owen might have been my favorite location of the route. On one side, Valhalla canyon seemed to go forever as it descended back down to the valley. From one side you could see the flat expanse of Idaho stretching away towards the horizon. From the other angle the North Ridge of The Grand looms ominously towards the sky and the Teton Glacier falls away steeply. It was a lot to take in, and we didn’t take much time to do so as we had a lot of work left to do.
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Summit of Owen
Summit of Owen
Credit: Pcutler
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Summit of Owen
Summit of Owen
Credit: Pcutler
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Everyone says that route finding to get into the gunsight notch is the most difficult of the route. We had no difficulty finding the gunsight notch though, and before long were racking up to climb out of the notch onto the grandstand.
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working our way down into the gunsight notch
working our way down into the gunsight notch
Credit: Pcutler
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rap into the gunsight.  Its a pretty intimidating place to be.  There'...
rap into the gunsight. Its a pretty intimidating place to be. There's no really easy way out so the only way is up
Credit: Pcutler
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The Grandstand
The Grandstand
Credit: Pcutler
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Things started to go downhill at this point. We didn’t find the right route out of the gunsight and ended up climbing loose completely unprotected 5.9-10. We burned a lot of time and were mentally exhausted by the time we stood at the base of the north ridge. From this point all the beta we had said to take the Italian Cracks up the north face rather than the original north ridge route. The clusterf*#k continued as we again got completely lost trying to find the Italian Cracks. I think we didn’t go far enough left but again we ended up on some loose discontinuous and poorly protected 5.9-10 and decided the time had come to bail. Time was running thin, our bodies and minds were running out of juice, and we had just bailed back down to the grandstand from four pitches up the North Face.

Our second attempt up the North Ridge was much more successful. This time heading up for the predominant chimney system that carved its way up the traditional North Ridge route. With the sun beginning to set and a sense of urgency we began again up the North Ridge. We climbed the 5.8 chimney in two pitches and simul climbed the rest stopping only once to re-rack. We were standing on top of The Grand 1 hr and 10 minutes after leaving the grandstand.
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Standing on top of The Grand is quite a place to watch the sun set.  U...
Standing on top of The Grand is quite a place to watch the sun set. Unfortunately, as we were running out of time and needed to get down we didn't stop to take too many pictures.
Credit: Pcutler
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Sunset from the summit of The Grand
Sunset from the summit of The Grand
Credit: Pcutler
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The down climb off Owen-Spalding was brutal as it was night time and we didn’t really know the way. We made it to the upper saddle before full darkness set in but had to finish the descent by headlamp. We stumbled down to the lower saddle with no juice left in our legs and collapsed on the ground under a rock.

I’m pretty confident that both of us wanted to bail when the next morning rolled around. I know I sure did, but I defiantly didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. For the remainder of the route, the crux was pure physical. The steep uphill slog to get to the summit of the South was the worst. It seemed to last forever and just when I felt that I couldn’t go up anymore the grade leveled out and the summit was in sight.

The next few peaks were all spectacular. This was the knife edge ridge traversing that I had pictured in my head.
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Credit: Pcutler
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Credit: Pcutler
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The steep exposed peaks reached their way into the sky one after the other.
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Credit: Pcutler
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There were a lot of them, and they were close together so they all blended together.
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Credit: Pcutler
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Credit: Pcutler
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At one point we actually thought we were nearing the summit of Cloudveil Dome. We expected to get to the top and see Nez Perce, which was to be our last mountain. Upon getting to the top, however, we realized that Cloudveil dome was still up ahead which meant we still had two mountains yet to climb.
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More mountains, more rock, more snow
More mountains, more rock, more snow
Credit: Pcutler
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Nez Perce looks so close from the summit of Cloudveil. Yet the descent from Cloudveil turned out to be a real bear. We scrambled our way down a loose broken set of ledges and ramps leading on the North side of the mountain. The ramps and ledges kept getting steeper and I feared that they would soon disappear entirely. I envisioned our trail cliffing out into the abyss and the fear kept growing in my stomach.

I was not entirely wrong as the cliff did come. Luckily for us, we were able to rig two full length rappels which barely reached to the bottom of the col.
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Credit: Pcutler
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The col was not quite the salvation we had hoped for; it felt more like a prison, with cold dark walls on both sides blocking out any light. The bottom of the col held a steep ice chute that sent any rocks we kicked down cascading out of sight, and the loose rock was abundant. I could not wait to get out of there and into some sunlight and descent rock quality.

We scrambled up out of the loose col onto the north face of Nez Perce and made the summit. Finally we were done. All that was left now was getting back to the car. A torturously long scramble led to the embrace of the pine trees at the bottom of the valley and the long slog down the trail lead back to our truck waiting in the parking lot.
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Summit of Ne Perce.
Summit of Ne Perce.
Credit: Pcutler
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hike back to the car
hike back to the car
Credit: Pcutler
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Car to car in two 17 hour days, nothing but a few cliff bars apiece and a two liter camelback.

  Trip Report Views: 6,659
Pcutler
About the Author
Pcutler is a climber from Des Moines, Iowa

Comments
David Wilson

climber
CA
  Oct 4, 2011 - 09:41pm PT
great job ! love that pic on the summit of the grand. unusual how it is so flat to the east from up there.
Cancer Boy

Trad climber
Freedonia
  Oct 4, 2011 - 09:47pm PT
Adventure is where it's at! Way to get it done boys. Looks like the glow will last a while. Tetons are magical.
Jennie

Trad climber
Elk Creek, Idaho
  Oct 5, 2011 - 03:16am PT
High quality trip report. Thank you.
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Oct 4, 2011 - 10:08pm PT
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome Job guys, Way to dig deep!
Fritz

Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
  Oct 4, 2011 - 10:30pm PT
Wow! Great job!!

Iowa Mountaineer background??------or are you club-less tough young flatlanders.

I am very impressed-----and great trip report!
Decko

Trad climber
Colorado
  Oct 4, 2011 - 10:32pm PT
NICE.......
thekidcormier

Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
  Oct 4, 2011 - 10:36pm PT
Way to get after it guys! nice one, GOING BIG!
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Oct 4, 2011 - 10:39pm PT
Great job fellas!!

That's a big job and you handled it in fine style.

Top notch pics too, THANKS!!
JSpencerV

Trad climber
Santa Monica, CA
  Oct 5, 2011 - 01:02am PT
Good work!
the goat

climber
Mazama, WA
  Oct 5, 2011 - 01:16am PT
Nice work! An impressive way to bag a bunch of Teton summits on your first trip! You'll have to come up this way and do a Picket Traverse.
reddirt

climber
PNW
  Oct 5, 2011 - 01:17am PT
absolutely excellent!! not many people get to see sunset from the TOP of the Grand... Thanks for posting!
Dudeman

Trad climber
Idaho/Beyond
  Oct 5, 2011 - 01:49am PT
Very Cool! Nice job and great pics. Thanks for sharing!
TomCochrane

Trad climber
Cascade Mountains and Monterey Bay
  Oct 5, 2011 - 02:30am PT
very impressive!

we were flying circles around the Grand on Sept 22nd with Jeff Lowe in the back seat

Gifford Pinchot III and i made it almost to Gunsight Notch before getting slammed by a storm

O.D.

Trad climber
LA LA Land
  Oct 5, 2011 - 09:27am PT
Outstanding!
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
  Oct 5, 2011 - 10:04am PT
Nicely done! Great photos too. Now you need to find a way to get out of Iowa.
zoom loco

Mountain climber
san diego ca
  Oct 7, 2011 - 11:36pm PT
Sweet to see from the top of the grand at sunset...good work
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
  Oct 13, 2011 - 04:09pm PT
Wow
PellucidWombat

Mountain climber
Draperderr, by Bangerter, Utah
  Oct 14, 2011 - 12:33pm PT
Awesome climb guys. TFPU!
golsen

Social climber
kennewick, wa
  Oct 14, 2011 - 01:03pm PT
Thanks for posting and congratulations! I love it when a midwesterner takes the bull by the horns and on-sites such a challenging project. Way cool!
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
  Oct 14, 2011 - 02:53pm PT
Bitchin'.
Murzerker

climber
Away from Walhalla
  Nov 23, 2011 - 09:55am PT
Teton Bump...

Who isn't thankful for Tetons?
smith curry

climber
nashville,TN
  Nov 23, 2011 - 10:14am PT
Great job! Especially for a first Alpine route!
handsome B

Gym climber
SL,UT
  Nov 23, 2011 - 10:19am PT
Nice job! Great pics
Nohea

Trad climber
Living Outside the Statist Quo
  Nov 23, 2011 - 10:44am PT
Tetons Rock!

Thanks for sharing the adventure.

Aloha,
will
Brian in SLC

Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
  Nov 23, 2011 - 10:56am PT
Way to gut that thing out!

Great TR!
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
  Nov 23, 2011 - 11:10am PT
American grand alpinism at its finest!

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!

Less is more in the mountains and this TR is a primo example.

For the rest of your days the outline of the Tetons will always bring back fond memories of two perfect days when you lads touched them all.

Way to get after it gentlemen!
Zander

climber
  Nov 23, 2011 - 11:20am PT
I don't know how I missed this. Great trip!
Thanks for posting,
Zander
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
  Nov 23, 2011 - 03:33pm PT
How excellent to have a brother that likes to get after it in the mountains. I'm going to forward this TR to my sisters, see if any of them catch the fire...
donnski

Mountain climber
Nanoose Bay, BC
  Nov 23, 2011 - 05:35pm PT
Well you survived but not exactly brilliant climbing. Hope you learned a few things.
Pcutler

climber
Iowa
Author's Reply  Nov 30, 2011 - 08:30pm PT
Not to toot my own horn but I felt that our climbing was fairly solid - especially for a couple of Iowa guys with very limited Teton experience

What was horrible however was our route finding and our lack of teton experience. Here's some examples of horrendous route finding:

We got lost on the north ridge for over four hours, but once we found the right route we climbed the entire thing in 1 hour.

I refer in my trip report to our mix up with cloudveil dome and nez perce. Well after getting home and looking at topos I've realized that we in fact had it correct the first time. We actually climbed nez perce thinking it was cloudveil and then climbed another, albeit smaller, peak past nez perce. I dont know what its called, or if it even has a name - its almost just a prong separated from the main nez perce peak by a large intimidating col. Now I understand why the route description didnt make sense!! Speaking of which...anyone know what its called?

I'm sure nobody cares but I was bored the other day and felt like messing around with my computer, I put together a small video thing
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100307517055320
AlexCobbs

Trad climber
Santa Fe, NM
  Nov 29, 2011 - 01:34am PT
Awesome first alpine experience. Just the other day I was doing some research on the Grand Traverse. I hear route finding is the real crux. I happened upon this description from Rolando Garibott : http://pataclimb.com/climbingareas/tetons.html
Hope to get on this sometime.
donnski

Mountain climber
Nanoose Bay, BC
  Dec 15, 2011 - 05:18pm PT
That was what I meant. Not the actual climbing but everything else that goes into climbing a big peak. For someone who had never even hiked up a peak I question if the Grand Traverse was a wise choice.
AKTrad

Mountain climber
AK
  Dec 21, 2011 - 02:25am PT
Nice report and great photos. Love that mountaineering spirit!
slayton

Trad climber
Here and There
  Dec 21, 2011 - 04:09am PT
I suspect that it's much more enjoyable in the long run going after something that is not 100% known and both enjoying the beauty while under way and suffering the indignities at the same time.

Kudos for both your adventurous spirit and for posting your experiences here.

Cheers!!

Sean
Grippa

Trad climber
Salt Lake City, UT
  Mar 9, 2017 - 04:23pm PT
Yeah boys! Such a great route through amazing terrain!
tradmanclimbs

Ice climber
Pomfert VT
  Mar 9, 2017 - 04:42pm PT
Awsome! But on page one you said it was 12k verticle ft,, Bwaa haaa haaa :) you were had on that one. heck you get 12k in just doing Teewionot CTC
Nick Danger

Ice climber
Arvada, CO
  Mar 24, 2017 - 08:39am PT
Righteous trip! You guys most assuredly rock 'n roll. I hope the rest of your climbing careers go as well as this adventure did.
le_bruce

climber
Oakland, CA
  Mar 24, 2017 - 10:05am PT
donnski, ya finger-wagging scold, these Iowa boys were plenty capable and have a few other awesome TR's that shed light on their background + abilities. Case in point, not many climbers who learn by aiding up the limbs of oak trees in Des Moines end up firing the RNWF and Nose on their first trip to Yosemite. Peruse at your leisure:

http://www.supertopo.com/inc/view_tripreports.php?dcid=PzM9Ojs2PSI,

Quiet midwestern crushers - the real deal.
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