A Grand Failure

Despite living less than five hours away, I’ve spent very little time in the Tetons. So, I was stoked to learn the lay of the land when my buddy Jon invited me to join him on an obscure route up the Grand.

After driving up the night before, we left the van at 3:45 in the morning and started the 6 mile, 6,000ft approach to the base of the Otterbody Chimney. Soon after crossing Bradley Lake, the first lesson of the trip became extremely obvious—always bring ski crampons. With them, the steep, icy skin track wouldn’t have been too bad. Without them, it was absolutely hateful, with each of us falling multiple times (something that doesn’t happen often).

Eventually we made it to the top of the moraine above the headwall, switched from ski gear to climbing gear, and noticed the huge plume of snow coming off the Grand. This wasn’t a good sign, since it was blowing in the direction of both our main route and our back-up plan.

As we made the approach up the Teepe Glacier, we ran into a few skiers coming from the Stettner Couloir. They said the spindrift was so heavy and continuous that they didn’t even bother to start up it. So much for plan B.

Plan A was also a mess. There was no ice at all, but we figured we may be able to pick our way through the rock. Either way, it didn’t matter since there was heavy, nearly continuous spindrift pouring down it as well. So, as happens all too often in the mountains, we turned around and headed home.

Skiing the 6,000ft descent on bullet-hard snow with heavy packs wasn’t much fun, but at least it was fast. About an hour after clipping back into skis we were back at the van drinking a well deserved Guiness and eating left overs from the day before. Then Jon tapped into his traveling-sales-rep powers, pounded a Redbull and drove us home.

Sure, it would have nice to actually climb something instead of taking the gear for a walk, but it was great to be in the mountains. I can’t wait to explore this range some more.

Jon skinning into Garnett Canyon on one of the worst skintracks ever.
First light.
About three hours into the day.
Too steep (and icy) for skinning. Time to switch to the bootpack.
Snow blowing off the summit of the Grand.
Remember kids, litter lasts a long time.
Heading up some more after switching to climbing gear.
Nearing the start of the route.
Yup, that looks nasty. Maybe not.
Sunburst over Dissapointment Peak,
Taking a short break before starting down.
The one section of skiing that was actually fun.
The view from the trailhead that we didn’t get when we started.
On March 14, 2021   /   Adventure, Blog, Snow  

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