Mount Moran

Mount Moran - 12,605'

CMC route

August 26, 2021

Just four days prior we were stopped by six inches of snow on the west side downclimb of Drizzlepuss and the CMC route was a raging waterfall of melting snow. 

Since the sun had been out for a few days we figured that the route had cleared off and would be in condition for another go. Laura and I loaded up our $150 blow up kayak in the back of the Jeep, half deflated so that it would fit. 

Put in for Leigh Lake after portaging past String Lake

Kayaking toward Mount Moran

Kayaking on Leigh Lake

We knew that we would need to make good time today but also knew that we didn't want to be up high too early. We opted for a 3:30 am alarm. Setting off from our camp at Colter Bay, Laura put Hazel in the tent with Grandma and we were soon at the String Lake Trailhead. Gear was all packed so we inflated the Kayak and were walking at 4:30 am. We chose to portage our lightweight kayak the one mile along the trail in the morning since it was just as fast to walk to Leigh Lake as it would be for us to paddle across String Lake and then make the 100 yard portage to Leigh Lake. 

Beautiful sunrise across Leigh Lake (taken on first attempt)

We placed our gear in our boat and put on our rain jackets, jumped in the kayak and started paddling. As we turned the corner toward the Falling Ice glacier drainage, we noticed two sets of headlights high on the mountain. One group was above CMC camp already and one group was just leaving camp. We figured they saw us as well, but we were probably four hours behind both groups. We completed the short lake crossing in about 45 minutes and tied our kayak to some rocks just out of the water. 

Stashing the kayak at the base of the Falling Ice glacier drainage

Since our pants were soaked from paddling, we changed to a dry pair. We started hiking up the steep drainage at 5:50 am. Since we were just there a few days back, we quickly located the trail that cuts in after about a half mile. We continued up the trail, Laura leading the way and pushing the pace to almost 2,000 vertical feet per hour. There was no time to talk today and it's a good thing because we were both out of breath. Focused on the objective that we missed, I think we were both in a "go get it" mindset. I normally stop for food and water every hour or so, but today it was pushed to every two hours. The breaks were short, all being less than five minutes long. 

Short break just below CMC camp

We made excellent progress and were at CMC camp in three hours. We passed camp at 10,700 feet as the sun rays broke through the thick smoke in the sky and lit up up Leigh Lake and Jackson Lake below. The ledge system just above CMC camp is the most confusing part of the approach, but today we made smooth progress through. We knew where to access the ledges and how far to traverse back to gain the next levels. 

Working our way through the ledges

We were soon through the ledges above camp and had Drizzlepuss in sight. There appeared to be a group there and as we approached, we realized that this was a third party who was in front of us. From this point on the mountain, the falling ice glacier is amazing. As they descended the steep and tricky ledges of Drizzlepuss, Laura and I awed at the deeply crevassed glacier and geared up and put on our harnesses. 

View of the Falling Ice Glacier and the West Horn from the saddle with Drizzlepuss

View of the CMC face from Drizzlepuss

We completed the short downclimb, which was now completely snow free and dry, and quickly located the rappel slings. It was now 9 am. We rappelled and chatted with the group we had caught. A guide, Brian, from Jackson and his client Drew. They began to climb as Laura and I rappelled. 

Downclimb with snow

Downclimb in dry conditions

Rappel off Drizzlepuss

Brian and Drew ahead of us starting up the CMC face

We were quickly behind them and chatting. CMC route has many options to climb up so I chose a line that did not interfere with their progress. The goal was to simuclimb the entire route in one or two pitches. 

Justin low on the CMC face

Climbing low on the CMC face with the Falling Ice Glacier below

I climbed and placed a cam or stopper occasionally as Laura followed. Our rack was a 70 meter rope, five cams - small offsets to a #2 and a half set of stoppers, mostly in the smaller sizes. I also carried six alpine draws, two of which were double lengths. 

Justin leading the CMC face below the black dike

We climbed about 700 feet of the 1,000 foot route before I ran out of gear and at which point we had caught the second group who had been leaving CMC camp as we paddled across Leigh Lake. As I chatted with them, Laura climbed past since she had all the gear that I had placed along the first portion of the route. 

Easy climbing on the CMC face of Mount Moran

Easy climbing on the CMC face

She lead to the summit, which was mostly 4th class scrambling. We reached the top of the climb and saw the group who had been farthest up the mountain at 5 am as we crossed the lake. They exclaimed "We didn't expect to see you", noting that we made excellent progress and must be very fast hikers and climbers.  We made the short walk to the summit, finding the interestingly spelled Mt. Moranet USGS survey marker at 10:20 am. 

Justin making the final ascent to the summit

Success!  We're at the end of top of the climb.

Geological survey marker at the summit of Mount Moran (Moranet?)

Summit marker

Justin having fun on the summit

To get off the mountain you downclimb the upper part of the route and then move south several hundred yards. Careful route finding leads you down 4th class ledges all the way to Drizzlepuss. We were the only group to downclimb the route today as the others took the time to set up multiple rappels. Reaching Drizzlepuss, we chose an incorrect ascent path up the 5.7 crux of the entire day. I backed off that lead and chose to go over to the south side of Drizzlepuss. 

Wrong way to climb back over Drizzlepuss

Correct way to climb back over Drizzlepuss

I started climbing and quickly found an old piton. I clipped it and traversed about 20 meters before gaining better ledges and a short ramp the lead toward the rappel we had used earlier in the day. Laura and I unroped here and scrambled up to the top of Drizzleupss. It was just before 12:30 pm. 

Final scramble back to the top of Drizzlepuss

We packed the rope and gear in our packs and started the steep hike down to the kayak. Moving without stopping except to chat with a few groups who were headed up to camp for the evening, we were back at the kayak at 2:27 pm. 

Final descent back to the kayak and Leigh Lake

This is not an easy day and the groups we passed all seemed quite impressed that we had done the route in a day. We joked with them that we were going to switch our kayak for one of their canoes to make our trip back easier. Their response was "cool, just don't drink our beers". Laura joked about finding their beer, but I told her if we took one, we'd probably sink on our way back...karma. While I suppose most people do not go for this climb as a single day push, we felt it was better than carrying camping gear 3,000 feet up. A day trip proved to be the correct decision and I would recommend that anyone who moves quickly on the approach and can simuclimb the entire CMC route do it the same way as we did. The crossing of Leigh and String Lakes went smoothly and we arrived back at the car right at 4pm. A very successful day in a beautiful setting. We are happy to have had a great experience on this gorgeous mountain 

Teewinot, Grand Teton National Park

Teewinot - 12,326'

August 24, 2021

Snow stopped us in our tracks at 10,700 ft on Mt Moran just two days before. Our original plan was to climb a new route to us on the Grand Teton, but it too was in poor condition and we did not have proper winter equipment to get down safely. Laura and I altered our plans and chose to go to Teewinot mountain instead. 

Approaching Teewinot

At a fairly easy climbing grade it would be okay if it was wet and snowy. Even the easiest mountains in the Tetons are challenging with almost 6000 feet of elevation gain. This one is no different. We climbed the east face with a short variation out onto the east ridge for a few pitches of 5.5 climbing.

Justin in front of the Worshipper and the Idol as seen on the approach to Teewinot

Easy climbing on the east ridge of Teewinot

More climbing on the east ridge

 We summitted early and thought of continuing on to Mt. Owen but decided that we were tired and not ambitious on this day. 

Cool summit block on Teewinot

View of Mount Owen.

We instead searched for the tunnel through Teewinot mountain, which we never did find. 

Looking down the north face toward Cascade Canyon

We hiked down and out and were back to the car by mid afternoon. Ascent time to summit was roughly 5 hours.

Looking back at Teewinot through the smoke from the forest fires

 

Lovers Leap - Traveler Buttress

August 10, 2021

Laura and I had one last day in California before heading home so we decided to take advantage of a cool morning and head over to Lovers Leap to climb Traveler Buttress, which is listed as one of the 50 classic climbs of N America. I’m not sure it belongs there but it is because the author of the book made the first ascent of the route so he gets to do what he wants. We got to Lovers Leap and made our short hike in to the base of the route where there was one group who was climbing the same first pitch of the route but then deviated off to climb a different route. The first pitch was enjoyable 5.9; steep California style crack climbing and we both really enjoyed it. 

First pitch of Traveler Buttress

At the base of the second pitch, as I started up there were some guys above us and I made a comment to Laura that that sounded just like Alex Honnold. So as I was climbing up the off-with part of the second pitch, who else but Alex Honnold and his climbing partner Timmy O’Neill rappelled down to the ledge right next to Laura. 

Alex Honnold and Timmy O'Neill rappelling down next to us.

She must have been star-struck because she just smiled and then asked him for a picture. I yelled down and said don’t be a dork, but Timmy and Alex said it was too late for that. Anyways they took some pictures and laughed for a few minutes. 

That time I ran into Alex Honnold on a ledge at Lovers Leap

Since I had just listened to a podcast about an adventure climb that Alex just went on with Tommy Caldwell, I asked him a question about that and told him that it was a fun podcast to listen to. As I continued up to climb the off-width crack, Alex told me that I should be climbing the finger crack instead because it would be way more civilized and I wouldn’t have to work so hard. I switched over to the finger crack and it was quite a nice variation. Funny how really experienced climbers can give good advice! I finished up the second pitch, made a belay at a good ledge and Laura followed. 

Justin struggling up the off-width on the second pitch of Traveler Buttress

The third pitch climbed up and around a very exposed arete and was quite nice. I ran the rope out as far as I could before setting a belay. 

Third pitch of Traveler Buttress

Laura followed and lead the final pitch of rock to the top of the route. It was a casual day out but we had lots of fun and it was pretty cool to run in who somebody who is the one of the best climbers in the world. Alex and Timmy were pretty cool guys and were very nice to us when we met them - we appreciated that from two guys who could very well be role models for our daughter some day. 

Justin finishing up the final pitch to the summit

We are happy that we got to go to Lovers Leap this time because as of today, two weeks after our climb, there’s a massive forest fire that looks to threaten and most likely burn all of the Lovers Leap area. We sure hope that doesn’t happen.

Looking up at Lovers Leap on the hike out.

Matthes Crest

Yosemite National Park, California
August 8, 2021

So I am writing this on the approach hike to climb Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park. It’s two weeks after our climb of Matthes Crest, but somehow I haven’t had the time to write the blog yet, so here we are. Matthes crest is a huge fin of granite in the Tuolumne area of Yosemite National Park. It drops steeply on both sides and is a classic scramble that Laura and I thought would be a great climbing adventure. 

Approaching Matthes Crest from the North

Two days after climbing Mt. Russell, we again woke up at midnight at the hotel in Bishop to drive to Tuolumne Meadows. We were hiking in from the trail head by 3 a.m. and were soon to the climbers trail that cuts off towards Cathedral Peak as marked by a sign with a carabiner, something you’re probably only seeing in Yosemite. The hike across to Budd lake was uneventful, we made quick work of it but went too far before turning off and climbing up the steep scree to access the col that you need to cross over to get to Matthes Crest. A little bit of scrambling and we were up and down and walking across the granite towards that gorgeous fin of rock. You can climb both ways, north to south and south to north. We chose to go north to south first and see how it went.

Some of the first towers reached on the North to South traverse

One of the trickier sections.  We bypassed the tower.

Working through some of the towers on the north ridge

Downclimbing one of the towers on the north ridge

Interesting wave formation along the route

View of the summit from along the north ridge

South to north is more popular but going the opposite direction is slightly more difficult climbing so we chose that direction. When we reached the narrow part of the ridge we roped up and simuclimbed in several pitches most of the ridge north to south. 

There were several very exposed and tricky traverses and step across moves that made the climbing a lot of fun. 

Some of the many towers we had to get over

One of the step across moves

Final pitch to the summit

We climbed up to the north most tower and highest point along Matthes Crest and rather than continuing on, downclimbing a significant portion of rock we chose to rappel down. 

Summit register on Matthes Crest

Justin reading the summit register

On the summit of Matthes Crest

Since it was still early in the day we walked across and then climbed the ridge south to north. This direction was mostly a fourth class scramble but was enjoyable and only took us a little over an hour.

Roping up to start the ridge from the south

First pitch of climbing from the south

View toward the summit from the south ridge

Climbing along the ridge

Final pitch to the summit from the south

While the smoke from the wildfires was fairly thick, we were above it and the views were amazing. We could see the smoke hanging down below us in the valleys and we were thankful that we had clear air to breathe and enjoy this beautiful place. After we completed the south to north direction, we again rappelled the same gully and started our short hike back out. This time we would go a different direction than how we had came in. We decided to hike out over Cathedral Pass and past Cathedral Lakes and experience another beautiful area of Yosemite that we had not been through before. It seemed like a backpackers paradise near Cathedral Lakes and it didn’t add more than a mile distance to the round-trip. We were back at the car by 3 PM happy teddy bear didn’t break in and eat all of our toothpaste

Our rack was a single set of cams .4- 3 and a half set stoppers