This was my second trip to the Tetons this summer. In early July I had climbed for
four days in the Tetons with my sister Jenny. It was a great time with my sister and I was reminded of how much I love the Tetons. Plus, Jackson Hole is an easy place to find places to work remotely (so I can work a bit around the edges) and there is plenty of easy free camping in the area if you know where to look. I returned two weeks later, not batting an eye at the eight-hour drive from Estes Park to Jackson Hole. This time I climbed with Erin, a newfound and equally-psyched climbing partner from Boulder. Erin and I climbed for four days. I drove up after work on Tuesday, worked remotely out of the Jackson Hole library and explored town on Wednesday while Erin drove up, and climbed with Erin on Thursday to Sunday. We climbed
Guide's Wall (5.8+to 5.10, 6p) on Storm Point (Thursday),
Armed Robbery (5.9, 8p) on Cloudveil Dome (Friday),
Dihedral of Horrors (5.9, 4-6p) on Omega Buttress (Saturday), and
Caveat Emptor (5.10, 6p) on Cathedral Buttress (Sunday). It was great to have a partner on the same page— i.e. a rest day just means a sligtly shorter route with a slightly shorter approach. I drove back to Estes Park on Monday, after putting in a full day working remotely from the library and Whole Foods in Jackson Hole. What a stellar four days of climbing!
This page gives a trip report for our first route of the trip: Guide's Wall on Storm Point. Storm Point is the massive crag south of Symmetry Spire and across Cascade Canyon from Teewinot Mountain. Many routes have been completed on Storm Point over the years, although among them only Guide's Wall has become popular or is even known to most climbers. Guide's Wall is the name given to the first six pitches of the Southwest Ridge route on Storm Point. The original route follows the entire 3000-foot ridge to the summit. Now only the first six pitches are normally climbed. Guide's Wall is a classic Teton non-summit rock climb. Its moderate grade, quality climbing, easy approach, and easy descent all combine to make it an extremely popular route. There are many variations, as well as many nearby short climbs, that allow for a wide range of difficulties.
This was a fun first route of the trip. Erin and I climbed the route as four pitches, linking Pitches 1+2 and Pitches 3+4. It was still before noon when we finished the route. We decided we needed to add some more climbing to the day, so we explored a couple of the popular route variations: after making the first rappel, we traversed back over to the base of Pitch 5 and climbed back up to the top of the route via the excellent 5.9+ splitter variation on Pitch 5; and after rappeling back to the base, we toproped the 5.10a roof/flake variation for Pitch 1. So, all told, we climbed 9 pitches (ignoring the linking). We arrived back at the trailhead by mid-afternoon, with plenty of time to write the trip report (me), explroe Jackson (Erin), enjoy and evening at camp, and prepare for our bigger climb the following day.
The following page gives a route overlay, time stats, and photos from fun day climbing a Teton moderate classic.
