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Looking back at the S shoulder of Mt Owen from our bivy site on the Grandstand
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From our bivy site it was an easy scramble to the top of the Grandstand and the base of the N Ridge of the Grand Teton.
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The view from the Climbers Ranch the next morning.
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George and Kevin posing for a final photo before we headed back to Colorado. From L to R: Nez Perce, Middle Teton, Grand Teton, Owen and Teewinot.
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The Teton Range from Jackson Hole (elevation 6,700’). In order of the traverse the peaks are (1) Teewinot 12,325’ (2) Unnamed 11,840’ (3) East Prong 12,000’ (4) Mount Owen 12,928’ (5) Grand Teton 13,770’ (6) Middle Teton 12,804’ (7) South Teton 12,514’ (8) Ice Cream Cone 12,400’ (9) Gilkey Tower 12,320’ (10) Spalding Peak 12,240’ (11) Cloudveil Dome 12,026’ (12) Nez Perce 11,901’.
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Rapelling down from the Grand Teton to the Upper Saddle. This is the standard descent for the Owen-Spalding route and the rappels can be quite crowded, but luckily we didn’t have to wait long.
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The Grand Teton and the peaks of the southern part of the traverse, as seen from Teewinot.
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Showered and clean (some of us, anyway) and happy to be back at the Climbers Ranch. From L to R: Martin, Charles, Kevin, Willem and George.
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All done! Martin, Kevin, Charles and Willem on Nez Perce summit. We had to hunt around a bit before finding the route up here. It turned out to be a fairly well-marked track, mostly 3rd class with one short 4th class section.
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Next day’s objectives as seen from the descent of the Middle Teton. From R to L: South Teton, Ice Cream Cone, Gilkey Tower and Spalding Peak. Cloudveil Dome is just out of sight on the L. We bivied on the broad saddle between the Middle and S Tetons.
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Slogging up the E slopes of Teewinot. Only 5,600’ from the valley floor to the summit.
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Charles climbing a 5.7 pitch up the W side of the Ice Cream Cone. After he did the hardest section we noticed an easier traverse ledge coming in from the right. The rock at the top of this pitch was pretty `rank`.
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Sunrise from our bivy site on the Grandstand. We didn’t have as far to go as the previous day and we had the luxury of lying in our sleeping bags until the sun warmed us up.
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George and Willem on the Middle Teton summit.
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Fore! Charles teeing off from the summit of the S Teton.
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Traversing across the Second Ledge to the W side of the Grand Teton. From here we took the Owen-Spalding route to the summit (a couple of 5.4 moves, then 3rd class scrambling).
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George on the descent of Spalding’s E ridge. Supposedly it’s a 3rd class descent, but lower down we found ourselves on distinctly 4th class terrain with scary exposure. From the base of Spalding it was a 3rd class scramble across to Cloudveil Done, then more 4th class down-climbing and a rappel down to the connecting ridge between Cloudveil and Nez Perce.
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Taking a break for tea at the Lower Saddle before starting up the Middle Teton. We weren’t in too much of a hurry that day.
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Looking back at the East Prong and the Koven Col. A rappel allowed us to avoid down-climbing the steep snow.
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Kevin, Willem and Charles on the summit of the Grand Teton, looking down at the rest of the traverse.
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Martin and all the peaks of the Traverse.
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Looking E from the S Teton. It’s a bit confusing but from nearest to furthest the peaks are the Ice Cream Cone, Gilkey , Spalding, Cloudveil Dome and Nez Perce.
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Descending the SW couloir of the Middle Teton, with Icefloe Lake down below.
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Looking across from the Upper Saddle to the N Ridge of the Middle Teton, our next objective.
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Higher up on the E slopes of Teewinot. It’s hiking until half-way up, then mostly 3rd class scrambling.
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Kevin on the S Teton summit, with the Middle and Grand Tetons behind him.
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Martin at our bivy site below the Middle Teton. Another luxury bivy with running water not too far away.
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Hiking down the Garnet Canyon trail. Only 3,000’ to descend between here and the beers waiting for us down at the Climbers Ranch.
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Kevin on the summit of Mt Owen, with Teewinot in the background and Jenny Lake far below.
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Willem and George starting up the Italian Cracks (5.7) on the N Ridge of the Grand Teton. (No idea why they’re called the Italian Cracks, they were climbed by a pair of Americans). This was much more pleasant than the previous day’s climb out of Gunsight Notch; it was sunny and warm, and we’d all had a decent night’s rest.
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Descending from the East Prong to the Koven Col, en route to Mt. Owen.
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Scrambling up the E side of Mt Owen from the Koven Col .
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George on the summit of the Grand Teton.
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Charles just below the summit of Mt Owen, with the N Face of the Grand Teton and the Enclosure in the background.
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At the American Alpine Club Climbers’ Ranch the evening before the climb. From L to R: George, Charles (displaying his inimitable organizational style), Willem and Kevin.
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Down-climbing into a notch on the N Ridge of the Middle Teton, with the Grand Teton behind us. The N Ridge is mostly a scramble with a short 5.6 section.
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George, Charles and Willem on the Middle Teton summit.
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Charles, George, Martin and Willem on the Ice Cream Cone summit.
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Willem rappelling down into Gunsight Notch. The climb up the other side onto the Grandstand was the toughest part of the traverse. It was gloomy, chilly and windy down in the notch, we’d already been on the move for 14 hours, and now we had to climb a couple of 5.7/5.8 pitches with heavy packs, cold hands and sore feet.
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Scrambling up to Spalding summit. We got a bit lost between Ice Cream Cone and Spalding, traversing too low across rubble-strewn ledges on the S side of Gilkey, then having to back-track from the Gilkey/Spalding col to summit Gilkey before continuing on to Spalding.
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Kevin at the top of the first Italian Cracks pitch on the N Ridge of the Grand Teton, with the Teton Glacier far below.
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Martin and Charles on Spalding summit.
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We thought we might have to spend a second night at Scott Duncan Hut waiting out the storm, but by mid-morning visibility improved slightly and Cyril decided we’d be able to continue the traverse out to the highway. Here we are skiing past Mt. Niles.
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Kevin and Martin at the top of the Grandstand, with Mt Owen in the background.
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Traversing across exposed ledges on the W side of Mt Owen, en route to Gunsight Notch.
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Martin on Teewinot summit, with the N Face of the Grand Teton and Mt Owen in the background. One down, another eleven to go.
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Our first night’s bivy site on the E side of the Grandstand, below the N Ridge of the Grand Teton. We weren’t sure what to expect here, as Kevin and I had bivvied further back on Mt Owen last time we tried the traverse. We were pleasantly surprised to discover some nice grassy ledges, sheltered from the wind, with a trickle of running water from snowmelt.
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Stefan and Boris approaching the col between St. Nicholas Peak and Mt. Olive, on the way to the Balfour Hut.
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Scary 4th class down-climbing on the W side of Mt Owen, en route to Gunsight Notch. There are a couple of different ways to do this section, all involving steep, loose, exposed climbing and a few rappels. Last time we took a different line. I’m not sure that the way we did it this time was any better.
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On the way back from Mt. Gordon a few of us made a detour to scramble up St. Nicholas Peak. It’s really more of a knife-edge ridge than a peak.
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On the traverse from Teewinot to Mt Owen, somewhere between Peak 11,840’and the East Prong.
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After two nights at the Peyto Hut we headed over to the Bow Hut, stopping for lunch on the slopes of Mt. Rhondda.
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Roping up above the Bow Hut en route to the Balfour Hut.
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Shortly after passing the Balfour Hut the weather closed in, and we traveled in a whiteout up and over the Balfour Col and down to the Scott Duncan Hut. Fortunately Cyril knew the route well, and with GPS assistance he kept us away from the avalanche slopes and crevasses that lie in wait for the unwary. Here we are arriving at Scott Duncan Hut. Cozy accommodation for a group of ten.
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Google Earth image of the Wapta and Waputik icefields. The traverse starts at Peyto Lake on the Icefields Parkway and ends at Wapta Lodge on the Trans-Canada Highway . There are four huts en route – Peyto (Whyte), Bow, Balfour and Scott Duncan. Also marked are a couple of peaks that we climbed.
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Skiing up the Peyto Glacier in the warm afternoon sun.
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Our only logistical error was to assume that the huts would be stocked with toilet paper. This wasn’t a good assumption. Cyril came to our rescue by paying a handsome fee to our porters to part with their modest supply ($20 for two rolls!). Here’s Karen Woo carefully dividing this precious commodity between the ten of us.
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The view from the dormitory window at Bow Hut.
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Getting ready to ski across a frozen Peyto Lake.
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At the col between St. Nicholas Peak and Mt. Olive. At this point a stiff wind was blowing and a storm was fast approaching. Cyril announced that it would be best to carry on past the Balfour Hut and try get to the Scott Duncan Hut ahead of the storm, since there’s a high pass on the way to Scott Duncan (the Balfour Col) that’s exposed to avalanches if it’s been snowing heavily.
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On the way to the Bow Hut most of us made a detour to skin up the gentle summit ridge of Mt. Rhondda.
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Making turns on the glacier above the Peyto Hut.
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Preparing to leave the Bow Hut for the Balfour Hut (or so we thought). From L to R: Stefan, Cyril, Dave, Ian, Karen Woo, Alex Perel, Leo, me, Karen McGilvray and Boris Kaschenko.
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Dave and Cyril arriving at the Peyto Hut. Cyril had promised us that this would be the longest day on the traverse, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
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Leo, Stefan Kloppenborg, Ian Myles and Karen Woo at the summit of Mt. Gordon. Alas not much in the way of views that day.
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Hiking up moraines near the foot of the Peyto Glacier. This was the only part of the traverse that was too steep for skins.
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Skinning up the slopes above the Bow Hut, on our way to Mt. Gordon. The summit in the background is St. Nicholas Peak.
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Down-climbing from the summit of St. Nicholas Peak.
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Leo Markle, Karen Woo and Karen McGilvray inside the Bow Hut. The hut can be accessed directly from the highway and we had arranged with porters to carry some food – and wine! – up here in advance of our arrival (no helicopter landings allowed in Banff National Park). The wine was supposed to last a couple of nights, but it all disappeared in a few hours.
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Skiing across Sherbrooke Lake, with Mt. Victoria and Mt. Huber in the background. Not far to go now.
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Inside the Peyto Hut.
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At the Trans-Canada Highway, and the end of our trip. At back (L to R): Alex, Cyril, Stefan, me, Dave, Boris. In front: Karen Woo, Ian, Leo, Karen McGilvray.
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Dinner at Scott Duncan Hut after a long day. From L to R: Boris, a pair of green booties belonging to Dave, Leo, Alex, Karen McGilvray, a white cap belonging to Cyril, Karen Woo, and Ian.
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The Bow Hut at evening.
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Ian and Cyril at tree-line on our way down from Scott Duncan Hut. This section was the steepest skiing on the trip.