The last three summers in Jackson have been colder than normal. The range has been blessed with the right mix of precipitation and weather as well to bring much of the old alpine routes back in to shape. The Black Ice Couloir has been well formed this summer as well as last. This is good news considering there was a time just a few years ago where we (climbers) thought the Black Ice was gone for good.

Three weeks ago, Thursday September 16 my, friend Sam Macke and I made weekend plans to get out to climb the Black Ice to the West Face of the Grand. Sam and I work together building homes in Jackson Hole. I hired him in the camp IV parking lot a few years ago and we have since become climbing partners. Sam is a very solid ice climber.


This route is below "The Scepter" at the beginners area. Sam did the lead with a few beaks for pro. He trundled about 200 pounds of Hyalite kitty-litter on his way to the ice. This drip is not in Josephson's book but we figured Alex Lowe must have eaten this thing for pre-breakfast many years prior. We later learned that some new-router from Bozeman did his own "first ascent" of this thing (after Sam and I and who knows who else) and named it "Close Shave". The same new-router apparently added a few bolts and trundled a bunch more rock. Hyalite rock is not the most solid stuff.

Anyway, back to the Tetons:


Friday rolls around, we are at work and my phone rings. My phone always rings. I almost always answer it. It is Steven Koch. I don't know Steven but I have huge respect for him as an alpinist, dad, and good guy. One of the only times we had met prior was in Garnet canyon after my friend Mike Parris and I had taken a ride down the Hourglass Couloir on Nez Perce. Mike had broken his ankle and we were looking at a long ski out. Koch was super helpful. He and his partner gave Mike a shot of whiskey and a few percocets and set a side-slide track out ahead of us.

Anyway, back to Steven:

Steven says to me, "My name is Steven Koch, I got your number from Neal Grimaldi. Is there any chance you can free up for a mixed route I've got my eye on on the Middle Teton?" I respond, "I am sorry Steven, my friend Sam and I have plans for something on the Northwest face of the GT. Maybe another time? I'll call you and let you know how thing look up there."

Sunday September 22:

Sam and I leave my house at 3:30am. We arrive at the lower saddle at 7:00 am. We have a larger rack in the pack than I have ever carried up there and there is this sick-looking drip formed on the North Face of the Middle. It is Steven's mixed route. Sam and I quickly agree that we need to change our plan and go check this thing out.


Sam and I made it to the bottom of the ice after some snow travel and a few fun rock pitches up to 5.9. I traversed in to the wet chimney under the ice and took a good look. The climbing in the chimney looked less-than desirable and the ice looked wet and thin getting out of the chim. I call it off, traverse back to sam at the belay and we formulate a plan b: rock climb the rest of the face another way. Sam says, "That slanting system to our right looks like it goes from here". I'm all for it.

As I lead the first rock pitch after we left the ice line alone, a large (300 pounds or so) chunk of the unstable ice came crashing through the chimney. Sam said in his calm manner, "I guess we made the right call".

We ended up doing some new pitches (whatever that means... Alex Lowe probably had all those pitches for lunch a bunch of years ago) and some old pitches. The rock climbing on that face is stellar and it was super fun do a bunch of 5.9 in our mountaineering boots. I was even busting out my tools and dry-tooling a bunch.


Back at home, I was studying Renny's Teton book and trying to figure out what was what on the face. I determined that the Robbins Fitschen route was right next to the ice and that we could likely do a pitch of Royal's route and get over to the larger, more climbable ice. That Monday at work, Sam and I agreed that we would go back up there to do the ice as soon as possible. We also postulated, incorrectly, that the ice would grow over the next week or so.

Tuesday October 2:

Sam and I set out from Wilson again at 3:00 am. We decided to climb the face directly via the glacier which proved to be fun. I was not feeling as strong as I had the last time we were up there but all went well anyway.


After crossing the small moat and about 1000 feet of steep snow climbing we were back to climbing fantastic Teton choss. Sam and I climbed 4 long pitches back to the base of the wet chimney where the ice began the week prior. There was less ice and what ice was there looked white and ghostly. We quickly decided to do the A1 Robbins pitch and see if we could get to the ice after that.

I broke out the aiders and proceeded to nail, nut, hook, and cam my way up 50 meters of clean Teton Granite. In ten years of regular climbing here this was the first time I ever carried or used aiders in the Park. This pitch lead us to a ledge that connected us to the final 60 meters of ghostly water ice on the face. I was glad it was Sam's turn to lead. After 1.5 weeks, 12,000 vertical feet of gain and loss, we had finally come face to face with the lone pitch of vertical water ice in the Range. Sam did not back down.

The forest service was doing multiple prescribed burns around the valley and the sky was filled with thick smoke. I got some amazing summit photos with crazy shadows looming over the Jackson Hole valley. All day we were joking about how if you want to kill bears, build roads and fly helicopters in wilderness or start forest fires, you should just go to work for the government.

Some photos of the action after the steep face was surmounted:


FALL ICE IS COMING! YESSS