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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Cheers mate! And Happy New Year to you.
Yes, beautiful mountains. My visits there have been a precious few.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Tryin' to keep the Teton psych going...
Guide's Wall:
Cloudveil Dome North Face:
On the way to the SW Ridge (Buckingham Arete) of Middle Teton:
North Face of Middle Teton from the Lower Exum Ridge:
Casual day in Hanging Canyon. Cube Point on the left, Symmetry Spire on the Right.
Glissading back to platforms camp in Garnet Canyon:
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wallyvirginia
Trad climber
Stockholm, Sweden
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Wonderful photos Rgold!
There's something about these photos from the fifties and sixties that resonates really well with me, in a way that pictures of climbing from the seventies and onwards never do.
Mostly aesthetically I guess, the gear and clothes are beautiful in their simplicity but still seems light and functional.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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OP. Yes. 1965.
In the mid 60s the Tetons was where the poor people went. If you had a car you went to the Rockies, the Bugs or the Winds. Otherwise you hitched from Yos, Eldo or the Gunks to the Tetons. The Jenny Lake climbers' campground was a lot like C4, with the added advantage of having the lake right there.
Jenny Lake climbers' campground. One and a bit [arm only] waitresses from the Yos Lodge coffee shop, Joe Faint sitting, and Dennis Mehmet on the right.
Dennis and I did the south buttress left and the south ridge of Moran, taking 2 full days. We walked around the lake, and all the way back to Jenny Lake, arriving about 2 am of the 2nd night. We were so stoked we could have walked all night!
Hamie belays the "pendulum pitch".
John Roskelley climbed our descent route a few days later.
Joe Faint low on the north face of the Grand. We did the 2nd one day ascent, taking about 18 hours lake to lake. The late Pete Sinclair did the first.
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Great stuff. Only climbed there once but got up the Direct Exum, back in the mid 80's.
BAd
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Reeotch
climber
4 Corners Area
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Wow, thanks for posting all the historic photos. Especially rgold, jgill, and johnkelly.
I'm psyched to go up there next summer, you pretty much have me convinced. Just need to find a partner.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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I might not be in the mainstream on this, but I always made relatively early-season visits (i.e late June to perhaps mid-July) to the Tetons in order to enjoy them in a more alpine context. I'd much rather plod up a snow slope than a scree slope, and glissading from the lower saddle down to the Garnet Canyon trail in a matter of minutes sure beats coming down the endless mid-to-late season moraine.
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johnkelley
climber
Anchorage Alaska
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Yeah I'd go either early season or in early fall. Far fewer people, more ice/snow, no dust...
There's a bunch of really good rarely done ice/mixed routes to pick from in spring/fall.
On the Grand there's the Tower Two Chute on the Second Tower, The High Route and Mr. Glass on the North side of the Enclosure, the Root Canal, the North East Couloir, and the Grand North Couloir (Shea's Chute) on the North Face.
The Run Don't Walk on Owen, the Minor Fourth Couloir on Moran....
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steve shea
climber
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RGold and JK that is exactly why I moved here from Chamonix. To be here when the good stuff was in; ice mixed. I almost never climb here in summer. Summer is pretty busy now. Plus, you need permits well in advance. August is for the Winds or the Beartooths.
The Run Don't Walk is an interesting route once you get there. It has the approach from hell. But as John says some good stuff comes in in the autumn. I've done it spring and fall. The NE Snowfields on Mt Owen are often good in the fall. Neve stretches connected by short ice sections. Really reminiscent of easy routes in Cham. The Tetons in spring can be fantastic for alpine climbing given a good winter's snowpack and cooperative spring weather. There is ice everywhere at times.
BTW I think two guys climbed what called the Grand North Couloir in '78.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Wooo...great thread!
Fun!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Belay at the top of the Black Face on the Lower Exum Ridge:
A "late-season scree field" underneath Middle Teton (note the 2-piece ice ax):
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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This thread has longer legs than I expected.
Along with good climbing, good food and some romance are also important. Here are a couple of examples.
Most rest days, and there were lots of them, we would catch a ride or hitch into Jackson. There was a small sporting goods/climbing store there which was beside a restaurant that was closed. An unlocked door connected the two stores. The owner of the climbing store told us to go into the restaurant and check the deep freeze. We were delighted to find a large number of freezer burned steaks inside. Somehow we managed to keep this a secret, and we were able to pick up a few free [but old] steaks on each visit to town.
One day someone heading to Jackson arrived at an accident scene involving a bakery truck. He was able to 'acquire' a large number of pies, which he brought back to Jenny Lake. He then walked around the campground shouting "Stolen pies. Get them while they're hot". Free steak and free pies, we were in heaven.
Dennis told us that on one occasion when he was hitching into Jackson he was picked up by an attractive lady, who then propositioned him. He claims that he declined the offer. Logic dictates that at least one of those 'facts' has to be untrue.
After a brief romantic encounter with a passing tourist I said,"Goodbye, it's been nice knowing you." "Yes," she replied, "In the biblical sense!"
Good times. The camping was free. All you needed was a weekly entrance pass, as this campground did not officially exist. I doubt if the ACC ranch is as much fun.
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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In 1983, driving from New Hampshire to the Valley, I was splitting gas and driving with a visiting Brit who was a runner but had never climbed. We pulled into the Tetons late in the afternoon and hiked in to the bivy for the Grand, and the next morning I roped Raymond up (so he couldn't go back) and dragged him up the Upper Exum. We were the first to summit since the last round of storms, and had the summit to ourselves. At the OS rappel I realized that I had to do some trickery to get down with one rope, so lowered Raymond and was just about to figure out the next bit when another party joined us from above and we rapped down on two lines. We spent that night back in the tent before hiking down and continuing on to Craters of the Moon, some fishing on the Snake, and then down to the Big Ditch.
I was so impressed by Tetons that a few years later I returned with my new wife for our honeymoon, which included a three day backpack along the Teton Crest Trail.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Hey (idle) rich, cool shot of Leigh Ortenburger (RIP), an iconic Teton figure and author of some of the most delightfully incomprehensible guidebooks ever.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Early morning mists lifting:
Rushing down before the storm hits:
Red Sentinel Rappel
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Rgold. thank you so much for the photos and stories.
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Wow! Thanks to all the contributors . . . wonderful writing and photos you all! I was fortunate to do the Direct Exum in 1985 with Kim Grandfield and Paul McCandless. Such awesome rock for an alpine climb.
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Always dug the Tetons,can hardly wait to get back.
Great thread.BASE.
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