Wyoming Tetons, 1980-1982. In the past few years, climbers have ...
W yom in g Tetons, 1980-1982. In the past few years, clim bers have been very active in the T etons. H anging C anyon A rêtes, M ount St. John. W ithin the past five years, several routes on the short arêtes leading up tow ard M ount St. John near the eastern end o f H anging C anyon have been w orked out, providing easily acces sible and enjoyable rock clim bing. H aw keye (II, F9), located som ew hat below and to the east o f the main arêtes, contains three pitches and was clim bed on Septem ber 5, 1980, by C huck H arris, Leo L arson, and M ike B eiser. O f the three arêtes, P eregrine (II, F9) is the m ost easterly and its four pitches w ere clim bed by E xum guides early in the sum m er of 1981. The central arête o f w hite rock, O strich (II, F8), w as clim bed in four pitches on June 5, 1981, by C huck H arris. A vo cet A rête (II, F8), the w estern arête, is som ew hat longer, providing six leads, m ostly o f m oderate difficulty. M ount M oran, Irvine A rête. This ridge, w hich lies east o f Staircase A rête and w est o f No Escape B uttress on the low er southeast side o f M ount M oran, w as first clim bed on A ugust 13, 1982, by Leo L arson and E. T hom pson. B eginning at the base o f L aughing Lions F alls, the route starts east up a couloir until it becom es blocked by a chockstone. From a large tree out to the right, a difficult jam -crack led to a narrow chim ney capped by a bulge requiring F9 friction to pass. M oderate leads brought the party to a short vertical w all containing a splendid jam -crack w hich was clim bed to an other tree. The sixth pitch ascended the steep wall above, and w as follow ed by tw o m ore leads angling up and slightly right. An overhang in this last lead was passed by a ten-foot pendulum to the right on a hex chock. A large tree was
found for a belay stance after clim bing on loose rock with poor protection. T hree pitches o f scram bling took the party to the top o f the route, from w hich one can look dow n to the w est to the top o f the Staircase A rête. D escent was m ade dow n to the southeast, using three rappels to reach the final talus leading to the valley floor. G rand Teton, W est F ace, Variation. On July 22, 1982, Renny Jackson and P eter H ollis m ade an im portant new variation on the D urrance-C oulter w est-face route. This clim b ascends the regular Black Ice C ouloir for som e 600 feet, until it veers to the left (east) ju st below the narrow crux o f the B lack Ice, into the chim ney system to the right (south) o f the standard w est-face route. The first lead in this very steep chim ney contains som e vertical ice to reach a chockstone w hich is passed by clim bing behind it. The next section also ascends extrem ely steep ice to a belay ju st below a giant jam m ed chockstone, w hich is passed on the left w ith difficulty. From this point the w est face could be rejoined by traversing to the left (north). This party, how ever, join ed a previously clim bed variation w hich leads for som e 300 feet back to the right and up to the U pper Saddle. L e i g h N. O r t e n b u r g e r
found for a belay stance after clim bing on loose rock with poor protection. T hree pitches o f scram bling took the party to the top o f the route, from w hich one can look dow n to the w est to the top o f the Staircase A rête. D escent was m ade dow n to the southeast, using three rappels to reach the final talus leading to the valley floor. G rand Teton, W est F ace, Variation. On July 22, 1982, Renny Jackson and P eter H ollis m ade an im portant new variation on the D urrance-C oulter w est-face route. This clim b ascends the regular Black Ice C ouloir for som e 600 feet, until it veers to the left (east) ju st below the narrow crux o f the B lack Ice, into the chim ney system to the right (south) o f the standard w est-face route. The first lead in this very steep chim ney contains som e vertical ice to reach a chockstone w hich is passed by clim bing behind it. The next section also ascends extrem ely steep ice to a belay ju st below a giant jam m ed chockstone, w hich is passed on the left w ith difficulty. From this point the w est face could be rejoined by traversing to the left (north). This party, how ever, join ed a previously clim bed variation w hich leads for som e 300 feet back to the right and up to the U pper Saddle. L e i g h N. O r t e n b u r g e r
