Teton Traverse (TR w/ Pics)

[alpinepronghorn]

Looking at this pic from a few weeks back, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the remote, seldom visited parts of the range that lie beyond my grinning mug. So, naturally, a Teton traverse seemed in order. Enjoy!



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In one hand I’ve got a cup of coffee saturated with three sugars, and it’s the only thing keeping my other hand from driving me off the road. It’s 4:30 in the morning, and though we’re still a long way from sun up, I could almost drive by the starlight on this clear, moonless night. Skis, skins and backpacks litter the back of my Subi as arg and I make our way down into Idaho, toward Driggs and Teton Canyon. The hour keeps us from talking too much, but we’re both excited. A long, great day is ahead of us.

We reach the trailhead of Teton Canyon at 5 a.m., peel our skins apart in the dark, and a few blinding flashes later are on the trail.

Arg and APH giving the pre-dawn crazy eyes.


In the summer, the road leads four miles to the fork of the canyon. In winter, however, it’s an hour of flat touring in skate-ski tracks. Arg reminds me that some of the Nordic pros do this tour on their skating gear, and I think with envy of light leather booties and all-carbon skis. By the end of the tour, however, I’ll be glad of my alpine boots and Volkl G4s, despite the toll they will exact on my quads.

APH, in no danger of getting pulled over on the flats.


Sunrise finds us working our way up into the North Fork of Teton Canyon. We’ve elected to follow the summer hiking trail up to the summit of Table Mountain; though longer by a several miles it affords a more gentle climb. The alternative, climbing Roaring Creek from the South Fork of Teton Canyon, is more direct, but involves route-finding on steep slopes, a project for another day.

Being on the west side of the range, we miss out on the real glory of the sunrise, but enjoy the purple light to the west as the dark bled out of the sky.


The North Fork is a beautiful place, with steep slopes bounding a relatively wide canyon floor. Steep, technical lines drop down the south facing slope to our left, while avalanche paths cut swaths down the north-facing trees. The snow deepens as we skin farther into the range, and by the time we reach the open bowls at the head of the canyon, we’re skinning through a foot of fresh. It’s all I can do to remain focused on our objective, and not give in to the desire to farm this remote playground for the rest of the day.


One of the coolest things we come across is this imprint of a birds wings in the snow, evidence of that split second when it swooped in and caught some small rodent hiding in the powder.


Reaching the head of the bowl, we look for a way through the cliffs and cornices of the summit plateau. The easiest seems to be up a narrow chute, and so we throw our skis on our backs and boot up the south facing slope. Here, where sun crusts had formed during the previous warm weather, I punch hand-holds in the crust and pull myself up, hoping the icy sheet will hold my weight. Where we pass by trees the crust disappears, and so we wallow up 50 degree snow, skis tangling in branches and hands soaking from snow and exertion.


The climb is more than worth it, however, as when we reach the plateau we are treated to our first real panoramic views of the range. To the North, wide bowls and steep chutes drop out of the Targhee back-backcountry.


To the west, the steep exposed flanks of Treasure Mountain rear up, an impressive chain that begs to be ripped by long, arcing turns.


We pause to take pictures, scope lines, and enjoy this position in the geographic center of the range. Big Lines…

[alpinepronghorn]

But a long skin to the summit remains, and so we turn from dreams of future days to the rather tedious chore of reaching the summit of Table. The last mile proves a monotonous slog across endless wind-buff, the summit never seeming to draw closer.


The one highlight of this skin, however, was spotting the line that’s now on the top of my tick list; the southwest couloir of Mt. Moran. Long, sustained, proud. Stay tuned…


Once on top, however, we meet with our reward: a stunning view of the west face of the Tetons. We scope lines in Cascade canyon, and admire the ridges of summer rock climbs. With the wind whipping across the summit, however, we quickly drop over the east face into the calm, refueling on cheese and chocolate.


Though only really halfway across the range, the hard work feels behind us, and we’re eager for our first descent of the day. Stripping off our skins, we drop down Table’s south slopes, finding some heavy powder on the suncrust. Not great skiing, but good for a pic or two:


The next stop is Hurricane Pass, a mostly horizontal skin south to the head of Cascade Canyon. Here I would cross the only point on the tour I had visited before, the pass which on a long summer day I had crossed walking from Death Canyon to Jenny Lake. I most looked forward to skiing the schoolroom glacier, a tiny but dramatic glacier with a high enclosing moraine at it’s foot. Seeing this moraine from my climb up the grand had been the inspiration for this tour, and so it was a pleasure to finally reach it again.


The snow on the glacier was great, and though I didn’t think hucking a 20 footer onto it was a great idea, we did enjoy the best turns of the day down it. Arg spoons my turns because, hey, you never know who might want to farm terrain 10 miles from the nearest trailhead…


With the final pass now in sight, we reluctantly pulled the skins back out and began the day’s last climb, up to the head of Avalanche canyon. The Grand, Middle and South Tetons loomed overhead, their impressive west faces nearly enough to make me forget how tired I was.


With great relief we finally reached the pass into Avalanche Canyon. All downhill from here. We ripped off our skins for the last time, and then dropped. Arg got the shot of the day with this pic of me 15 feet into a 4,000 foot descent.


And then arg gets his:


The next hour was spent enjoying great snow and scoping lines for future adventures. This line on the south face of the South Teton looked nice:


But we were happy to just keep dropping.


Down, down, down.


We reached Taggart lake just before 4pm, a little less than 11 hours after we set out. All in all, we spent 8.5 hours skinning, 1 hour enjoying the scenery on our asses, and about 1.5 hours skiing. A great day in the mountains, and one that fired up my alpine stoke. With a new lightweight setup (179 Bros with dynafits,) I’m hoping to make the most of what promises to be an awesome spring season. Hope to see some of you out there.

[FreakofSnow]

Beaut! keep'em coming

[gramps]

Sweet, great tour, thanks for the words and pictures!

[upallnight]

APH-You rock! Nice TR & great photos!!

[XtrPickels]

sick
that is all

[rideit]

UHHH...Nuthin' but NOICE.
I love it. Great Work.

[uglymoney]

Very nice tour! We were talking about the possibility of doing this sometime when we are out, but it'd be tough to get it done from my launchpad here. Someday maybe.

Its good to see it someone getting it done! Bro/Dynafit setup sounds sweet.

[arg]

What a great day that was...I'll have to post some pics too. Strangely enough, they all seem to be of APH skinning.

[Sutter]

Way to get it APH, that looks absolutely gorgeous and that descent must have been smooooooooooth.

[elevens]

Best TR of the year.......smell the soul

[Wysplit_ride]

very nice stuff and thanks for sharing...Mt. Moran couloirs rock!

[72Twenty]

Nice! I've hiked a large portion of that area in late summer.

SCORE!

[lhs]

smell the soul

bet thats not all of aph you could smell by the time he was done...

nice work dude. just beautiful. god those mountains are purty.
getting stoked about the royal ass-kicking i'm going to get trying to keep up with you come next week.

[Tri-Ungulate]

bump this fine piece of work from the depths of page 2.

great work, fellas!

[arg]

As promised, here are some pics of APH skinning across the range...

Shortly after dawn, APH skins into the wilderness


Nearing the base of Table Mountain, APH skins up to the site of our epic wallow


APH skinning onto the plateau on Table Mountain


And there was much rejoicing


But we weren't done yet, APH heading onto the Schoolroom glacier


On the last push, APH skins up to Avalanche Canyon


Despite a perfect day of pushing our skis up hill, we did have to go down some

[Core Shot]

Awesome documentation of a Tour I had heard about, but never really understood.
thanks.

[brettf]

Eff yeah dood!!! Very nicely done!

[goldenboy]

Nice, looks like fun. Does anybody know, has anybody ever done a Sierra crest/Haute Route style multi-day traverse along the spine of the tetons? Just curious after seeing this TR.

[Lexi-Bell]

Excellent TR! Lovin' the pics and yet another addition to the gotsta list

[skiing-in-jackson]

WOW!!! 12345

[Trackhead]

VERY nice.

And ya just had to post that picture of the SW couloir on Moran, thanks alot.

We were just in your neck of the woods this week, more work than play.

Will be back for extended trip in April-May-June, we should hook up for some turns and beers.

[ulty_guy]

wow, that's some seriously calorie burnin'! well done.

[LeeLau]

How on earth did I miss this the first time around? Sometimes its about the tour and not the turns; this time you got the scenery, the tour and some turns. Nice!