Teton Trifecta: Grand Teton - Ford Stettner, Middle Teton - Chouinard Couloir, and South Teton - SE Couloir

Teton Range, WY

Chris booting below Teepee Pillar en route to the summit of the Grand Teton

Date: April 22, 2021

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/5179548225;

Trip report:

Completing the Tetons Trifecta is by far, my proudest accomplishment on skis. I had been vaguely considering going for the Teton Trifecta which consists of climbing and skiing the Grand, Middle, and South Teton in a day, but I figured I would save it for a future year to have something to look forward. I arrived at the trailhead at a decent hour the evening before and was getting gear organized when Chris texted me: “Should we just do the Trifecta?”. The answer was obvious and the fire was lit. There were two other parties at the trailhead, both going for the Grand. I made it a point to NOT ski the Grand on a weekend so it really makes me wonder how many times it gets skied a year and how many parties are on it on weekend days with good weather if there were 3 parties on the route on a Thursday. The fact it was Earth Day probably didn’t help matters…

Chris met me at the Taggart Lakes Trailhead at 2:30 AM for a much anticipated climb and ski of the Ford-Stettner Route on the Grand Teton and hopefully the full Trifecta. The plan was to evaluate conditions after we skied the Grand and decide if we thought warming would stay in check to be able to proceed with the Trifecta. We started the day with climbing and skiing the Ford Stettner on the Grand Teton. The approach to the Ford-Stettner was relatively straightforward other than veering too far climbers right and ending up on top of Spalding Falls attempting to skin a bulletproof 50 degree slope in the dark. As always, ski crampons are an absolute must in the Tetons. We cut our losses once we realized our mistake, and performed a precarious transition and skied down to where we were supposed to be. The other two parties started a few hours earlier than us, so it was nice having headlamps to chase in the distance.

The original plan was to be at Glencoe Col around sunrise and we were an hour behind schedule but freezing levels were predicted to stay low all day so it wasn’t cause for too much concern. We stashed whatever supplies we didn’t think we’d need for the Grand there (e.g. extra food, water, skins, ski crampons). We brought a 60m 7.3 mm half/ twin rope and a 65m 6.0 mm static line. The plan was to solo the ice but it was nice to have the half rope as back up incase we decided to do some belayed climbing since it was both Chris and I’s first time climbing the Ford-Stettner. We donned crampons and broke out the ice tools and simul-soloed the few small ice bulges in the Chevy/ Stettner Couloir. We encountered the first group in the Chevy and they let us climb through as they roped up. Everyone’s risk tolerance levels are different, but if you’re comfortable leading WI3/4, you’ll probably be more than comfortable soloing all the ice on the Ford Stettner ***in the conditions we had***. Once we hit the base of the Ford, we secured our ropes to a rap anchor as the technical climbing was over. From here, it was a straightforward bootpack to the top of the Grand Teton. Chris was starting to feel nauseous at this point but kept trucking on. The Tetons see a large amount of ski mountaineering activity and one upside of this is that bootpacks are usually in for the most frequented routes so we’re able to cruise up to the summit. The weather on the summit of the Grand was pretty much perfect with very moderate winds. We ate, drank, and snapped a few photos and transitioned in preparation to ski. The ski down the Grand wasn’t too steep and the only thing that made it challenging were the firm conditions. Not long after, we were back at our ropes at the base of the Ford Couloir. We prepared to make several rappels which were pretty effortless due to the plethora of anchors lining the walls of the route and the ability to make full, 60m rappels. If I were to do it again, I would leave the half rope at home and probably just bring my Petzl Purline (6.0 mm, 65m) as I would be comfortable downclimbing the entire route other than one awkward, featured ice bulge. We performed our rappels in an efficient manner and made it back to Glencoe Col.

Unfortunately, Chris was feeling nauseous so he headed back to the trailhead. I also sent my heavy camera down with him which is why the photo quality drastically decreases after the Grand. While we were on the Grand, an unindentified critter broke into my surplus snack bag I left behind and ate all the food I didn’t bring on the Grand. Since Chris was heading back to the trailhead, he graciously offered me his remaining food. I definitely learned my lesson and would not have been able to think about completing the Trifecta without the additional calories Chris gave me.

I proceeded on with the Trifecta solo and made the Black Dike Traverse to get to the Lower Saddle between the Grand and the Middle. I was expecting the Black Dike Traverse to have tricky route finding and potentially a few 5th class moves but it was cruiser and I was on the Lower Saddle in no time. The Lower Saddle has quite a different feel in the spring before the dozens of tents get set up by Exum for the summer climbing season. I followed the North Ridge to the NW Couloir which tops out at the summit of the Middle Teton. The North Ridge was spicy, low 5th class scrambling and was definitely the route finding crux of the day. Thankfully, I had done the North Ridge twice the previous summer and was somewhat familiar with the terrain. I was excited and relieved once I was finally in the NW Couloir as I’m a lot more comfortable climbing snow/ ice in ski boots and crampons compared to slabby rock. The NW Couloir was mostly snow but still had ~60m of sustained AI3 at the top. It was very moderate but definitely another class of ice climbing compared to the Ford-Stettner. It was a super fun solo and my favorite climb of the day. I’ll definitely be back in the summer when the whole couloir turns to ice. I tagged the summit of the Middle Teton and admired the views of the Grand climbed earlier in the day. I rappelled into the Chouinard Couloir and skied into Garnet Canyon. Surpisingly, I wasn’t able to find any existing anchors to get into the Chouinard as it seems most people boot up it and transition when it gets rocky. Thankfully, there we’re plenty of boulders to sling and I made a 30m rappel into the top of the Chouinard. Skiing the Chouinard Couloir was by far the best ski descent of the day. I highly recommend skiing the Chouinard versus the SW Couloir as it only spits you out 600 ft lower.

I ascended South Teton via the standard West Ridge Route which was uneventful other than the exhaustion setting in. I finished off the day with skiing the SE Couloir of South Teton down into Avalanche Canyon. The SE Couloir of South Teton was by far the most taxing part of the day. It required 2 rappels about 1/4 of the way down which I wasn’t expecting. The second rappel anchors was high up on the rocky wall of the couloir which required awkward climbing just to access. The rest of the descent after the rappels was “skiing” bulletproof, refrozen wet slide debris and ice chunks that had fallen off the surrounding walls. I made it back to the trailhead right at sunset completely worked having spent almost 18 hours moving. Funny enough, climbing and skiing the Grand was probably the most chill part of the Trifecta. I was super happy with the gear choices I made as the Dynafit Blacklight Pros, Petzl Irvis Hybrids, and Grivel North Machines were the perfect tools for the job.