A Grand Encore
Alright, it’s July 13th so sliding down the Tetons is starting to be a thing of the past for the next few months. However, since this was the season to get after riding/skiing/racing up the Grand we couldn’t resist giving you one last trip report on what the day was like for those lucky enough to experience a successful mission.
This is from our friend Randy Shacket:
*All pics courtesy of Randy. Sorry about how I titled them. They weren’t named and I wanted to go to bed, so I typed the first thing that came to my mind-Meesh
The coveted Grand Teton hovers in the mind of any aspiring climber who has ever laid eyes upon the Teton range. The 13,770 ft peak has been a magnet to ski and snowboard mountaineers since Bill Briggs’ first descent on june 16th, 1971. Nearly 40 years later with Matt Poluga and my self on snowboards, and Ryan Halverson on skis, we set out to conquer the exposed snowfields and deadly couloirs this granite giant has to offer. This is our story of a successful ski descent of the Grand Teton.
It was about 10:30 PM on Tuesday June 21st as I packed everything i might need for the long day to come. I was gulping down coffee and going through the mental checklist. My watch reads 11:15 p.m; time to load up and hit the road. We started hiking from Lupine Meadows TH exactly at midnight. With the ipod on shuffle, headlamp shinning bright, and eyes fixed on the trail, Matt and I charged to the meadows. We found the boulder where Ryan Halverson and crew had set up camp. (Crew: Jamie Culp, Dave Vanham, Travis McAlpine, Jake Szarzc, and Nate Goodman). The crew had plans to ski the South Teton so they enjoyed some sleep while Ryan, Matt, and I geared up for our grand plans.
It was about 3:00 AM when we got on our way to the long steep slopes that guard the Teepee Glacier. Once again, head down and music blasting we hiked and hiked and hiked some more.
It was a glorious sunrise from the top of Teepee Glacier. The peaks to the south glowed a pinkish orange. I got to admire some beautiful lines that I have done in recent weeks, and i got to drool over lines I hope to do in future weeks. A part of me was enjoying the majestic beauty of a sunrise in the Tetons, and the other part of me was in a sheer panic. With the first glint of sunlight, perfect frozen snow begins its demise into sloppy slushy poop snow. I knew the race was on.
We turned the corner into the dark forbidden tunnel of the Stetner Couloir. It was runneled with scattered rocks and chunks of ice debris that had fallen from the heat in the clear day before. We knew we had to move fast and stay protected. We got to the fork where you can go left up the Chevy Couloir or continue straight up the Stetner Couloir. With a perfect glistening bulge of ice and a clear view up to the east face, the Stetner was the winner.
The ice bulge was short and not very intimidating, but due to the facts that Matt and I were climbing in soft boots with strap on crampons, Ryan didn’t have any technical tools (just two mountaineering ice axes), and a fall in the firm frozen couloir meant death, we decided to rope up. Matt took the sharp end of the rope and strategically hacked the ice with his tool. He placed one ice screw and motored up the couloir.
We simal climbed on 1 rope to the sun infected east face. Once we got out of the Stetner Couloir and onto the east face, the view below was the sheer drop that would be the Otterbodies. We decided to unrope because that would allow us to hike faster. One wrong move meant certain death. The snow was heating up fast and getting soft, but we were breaking trail smoothly and moving quickly. At that point success seemed inevitable, although we all knew there was still a lot of hiking ahead.
Finally, we made it to the ridge that separates the east face from the Ford Couloir. The Ford looked amazing. It was butter smooth and still a little firm. Because of how much heat the east face had received and how hot the snow was getting, we decided the Ford would be our safest and most fun route of descent. It was about at this point in time that I looked to the south to see the “crew” shredding the east face of the South Teton. The tiny little black dots ripping down the face really made that mountain seem huge. We hooted as loud as we could, and immediately heard them hoot back. It was as if our posse dominated all of Garnet Canyon. With all omens showing green lights, we hustled to the summit.
We made the summit at about 11:00 a.m. We were met by three different Exum groups that had come up the Owen Spaulding route. They said we were crazy, but I told them they were crazy for walking up all that snow and having to walk back down. All we had to do was strap in and rip it (maybe a bit more involved than that, but you get the idea.). When I went to drop in, I felt nothing but confidence and excitement. We got a good look at the snow quality on the way up, and I knew it was going to be perfect corn. I made the glory turns down the ridge that separates the Ford from the east face. I stopped and waited for Matt and Ryan to go next. Once we grouped up again, we dropped into the Ford and made perfect turns to our first rappel. What a glorious run it was, but by no means did we have it in the bag yet.
On the way up we had dreamt of the possibility of being some of the few to ski/snowboard the Grand free of ropes. Out of respect for such a coveted peak and fear of such a dangerous peak, we rappelled at all of the normal rap stations. It was late and we were seriously worried about being pummeled with falling debris.
We did five double rope rappels and free of incident we were in the safety zone. In the bag! What a feeling it was. We sat there and reveled in our success for a while. But we still had a long way to go.
After about 2500 vertical feet of perfect corn to the Meadows, we met up with the rest of the crew. They were just laying on some rocks drinking whiskey and reveling in their amazing day which consisted of a ski descent of the east face of the South Teton and a sweet run from the summit of Spaulding Peak. They were camping, so the physical exertion was done for the day for them. Ryan was also one of the lucky campers who was done hiking for the day. Matt and I still had a long way to go to get back to the truck, so we relaxed for about an hour and we were on our way. I was jealous as I threw my heavy pack on my shoulders once again, but I had no other choice.
Getting out of there was hainess, but we were so high on Tetons, we practically floated (and thoughts of Dairy Queen helped too.). It was a magnificent day filled with beautiful views, great skiing, pain, and voluntary torture.
Category: Mission
nice write up shack, sounds like a great day
Nice. Is that some soft boot/crampon action I see?
sicky sicky gnar gnar!! what a great day I’ll never forget. thanks again Matt and Randy for such great friends and partners,, oh and Jay, nice work on ur more recent trip up as well! sick!
Matt Poluga sold me my first splitboard almost a decade ago, a beater Burton S-Series that I rode hard for two seasons. Great to see he’s still killing it!