TR: SE Couloir South Teton

[Ted26]

I'm always amazed and humbled every time I venture into the Tetons. Grand Teton National Park is one of the last great wild places left in the Lower 48, and the mountains there embody the adversity and untamed natural beauty of the American West in a way that no other place can. This past week, I had the great privilege to tick off another one of my dream lines in GTNP, the steep aesthetic SE Couloir off the South Teton.


The red dots trace the path of the line off the summit of the South Teton.

It was cool and clear when my friend and I arrived at the Taggart-Bradley Lake Trailhead early on the morning of April 21. The moon was out, the full moon, which illuminated the surrounding landscape in a milky white light. This was a good thing, as I forgot to bring a headlamp. Anyways, we set off into the park a little after 2:30 AM, hoping to make it to the snowline quickly. However, it was a bit of a slog to reach the point where we could skin continually. This was our third early morning excursion into the park in the last month, and yet we still managed to get turned around on our way to Garnet Canyon. We lost the trail, crossed a river via a narrow log and almost let a poll float away down the river at 3 in the morning, but luckily it was recovered without incident...

We were well into the alpine by the time the sun came up, even with these minor setbacks.



Skinning above the Meadows

We continued to climb ever higher into Garnet South Fork.

The Ellingwood Couloir


Getting higher...


Looking towards the Middle Teton.



Our legs were tired, but the lure of the summit helped push us the last few steps to the top.


Once on top of the South, the sky was a brilliant blue, extending uninterrupted by clouds in every direction to the edges of the horizon. The great peaks of the Teton Range sparkled white, illuminated by the radiant April sunshine.



Summit panorama!

[Ted26]

It was still cold when we arrived at the summit, so we hung out for around 30 or 40 minutes to give the snow a chance to corn up. We probably could've started the tour a little later, but it's always better to air on the side of caution. After all, in the mountains, it is always later than it seems.

Buck and Wister



We watched two groups of two people climb up and out of the Ford Couloir and ascend to the summit of the Grand via the East Ridge while we hung out on top of the South Teton. Pretty cool.



Can you spy the people?


Obligatory summit shots.


Moi

Eventually the snow softened up to buttery perfection. It was time to shred. We clicked into our skis on the summit and skied fall line down into the SE Couloir, and it was steep. Really steep. Probably a sustained 60+ degrees to the crux, at which point it mellowed out to around 50 degrees or so...

Steeep




Charging into the thick of it.


My turn!

[Ted26]

The crux of the route is a stupid steep pitch that happens to also be a double fall line. And it's about 5 feet wide. Fun stuff!

Sizing up the crux of the couloir.




Yolo

Conditions down the couloir were primo corn snow, which made for some really fun steep skiing.

Taking a break below the couloir.


Did I mention he's on tele skis?

We continued to harvest pretty good corn snow all the way back down into Avalanche Canyon, even saw some bear tracks at one point.

Crossing Lake Taminah


One last look at the SE Couloir

All in all, a damn near perfect day on a Teton classic. Can't ask for much more than that.

[abraham]

Very cool trip! Looks like you had great conditions. I need to get back to the Tetons soon

This one's great

[rod9301]

Great descent

[North]

Nice shots!

[tone capone]

Nailed it, nice work man!

[2FUNKY]

Awesome man! That looked like a blast!

[LightRanger]

Very very cool.

[Meadow Skipper]

Very nice work! Great pics.

[Doremite]

Fantastic work. Looks like a beauty of a day.

[Mike Pow]

Grand, just grand. Thanks.

[zion zig zag]

Awesome work.

[eagleskier]

Great work! I enjoyed the excellent trip report and the photos.
I was up there with a partner a few weeks ago and did the SW Couloir on the Middle. Your depiction of the start in the dark reminded me of our conversation as we headed out that morning. Between us we have been up into Garnet Canyon several times from the Taggart Lake parking area and we were talking about how we NEVER seem to take the same route until we get to Bradley Lake.

[406]

Awesome!

[klar]

Ooohhh. Cool line and great fotos!

[brutah]

Rad!

[::: :::]

gorgeous!

[truax]

So good.

Thanks for bringing that heavy-ass camera along. Beautiful.