Last Go for the Season

Brian Ladd and the Grand Teton from South Teton

Not Quite Right

I should've known better. I spent last Tuesday in bed with shaking chills, muscles aches and every-20-minute trips to the toilet. Brought up bad memories of cheap hotels in Kathmandu where I always had at least one episode like that before expeditions to the Himalaya. But when psyched-up ski partners call inviting me to join them on some aerobic, ski-based sufferfest it's hard for me to say no. 

Nate Brown and Zahan Billimoria had their sites set on Jimmy Chin's 10:55 time for the Grand, Middle and South Teton link-up and they wanted me along. I'd already decided that a less ambitious day on the Glacier Route on the Middle was all I was up for. My legs felt like shit since my day in bed. Turns out some strange gastrointestinal virus was to blame for my woes and I wasn't alone in the community. My gut was almost back to normal but I could tell things weren't quite right with the rest of me. Still, this carrot was too tempting to avoid. I was in.

True to the Style

We were going really light. The weather was bomber and a nice hard freeze was expected. Stupid light was the rule for me with only a Marmot Precip shell (196 gms), Mylar bivy sack (80 gms) and warm hat (69 gms) my only consolation to "extra" gear. Aside from two tools and crampons, my only piece of climbing gear was a Mammut single Dyneema sling around my waste to clip my tool tethers to at transitions. 

Not much room for error, I'll admit. But that's the nature of this style. Jump in with eyes wide open. My one exception to the super light rule was a pair of "real" crampons, Charlet Moser Dartwins (441 gms each). I just got them and they are sweet, serious ice weapons. I'd heard the Chevy was getting icier and I thought that the longer front points would allow me to move faster and more safely than my trick, little Grivel Haute Route spikes (326 gms each) would permit. This added security came at the cost of a half pound. Small price to not die.

All this plus Gu gel/Gu Chomps and water was stuffed into my CAMP X3 600 pack (518 gms). I brought along my helmet as we were expecting other parties above at times. The Ford-Stettner is a trade route now, you know. 

Leaving the trailhead "Teton Style" (ski boots on) was out. Boots were in the packs and running shoes on. All three of us caried the only boot for this sort of thing, Dynafit TLT 5 Performance. Zahan was on Trab Rando Race skis, Nate on some custom Igneous boards and I had my go-to Dynafit Broad Peaks. Nothing over 74 mm under foot nor longer than 169 cm. I know, I know…the TGR forum would have a field day with us. 

Even better, all skis were mounted with race bindings, DIN of approximately 7. Heresy, I hear you say, oh fat and baggy one. My final nod to our preferred style was foregoing Whippets in favor of Dynafit carbon race poles (145 gms each). My Whippet, which is an older version upper paired with a carbon bottom weighs in at a hefty 430 grams. My skinny biceps get pumped just thinking about hefting that a few thousand times during an outing.

A ridiculously casual start time of 5:15 am saw us jogging the flats and hiking steeper sections. It was nice starting out in daylight although it seemed wrong given what was ahead of us. We moved well and were soon transitioning to boots at the Boulders and arrived at the Meadows in 1:20. Tennies off, boots onThe surface was frozen solid so we continued up the headwall below the Middle without spikes. A nice boot pack made the walking easy.Nate and Zahan headed toward the Teepee GlacierRocks in my pack

I started feeling sluggish by the time we hit the JHMG high camp. The Teepee glacier was warming and the surface was slightly punchy in places. This was sucking the life out of me. I couldn't believe how bad my legs felt. My partners seemed to be enjoying the less than all out pace so I didn't fall behind.Spikes on, Teepee GlacierWe topped out on the Teepee and arrived at Glencoe Col below the Stettner in 2:59. Top of the Teepee GlacierA party of two had just descended and were coming up to Teepee Col as we arrived. Teepee Col to Glencoe Col TraverseThose guys had started EARLY. A quick transition to climbing mode and I rounded the corner to head up. I couldn't believe how the route had changed since I'd last been there a few weeks earlier. Huge runnels and running water with bits of water ice covered what was once a smooth, even surface.Nate Brown, Stettner CouloirAt the Chevy fork, we came upon a party of three pitching out the climbing. They graciously allowed us to pass as we exchanged pleasantries while climbing by. The snow and ice was perfect. It was the ideal plastic consistency so that we dropped no bombs on the others as we ascended.Nothin' but Lycra, top of the Chevy, Petzolt Ridge About this time, a soloist joined us, someone we'd noticed low on the Teepee but moving quickly. Clad in a full Dynafit skimo race suit, we knew he was a kindred spirit but none of us recognized him at first. Turns out both Nate and I had raced with him this past season. Brian Story on the move, Ford CouloirIt was Brian Story from Missoula and he was on fire. Pondering his split, we knew he would be close to the record. Little did we know how close he'd be. Painfully so.Brian Story downward bound

Once Brian went by, I was reduced to fifteen demoralizing steps and a rest. Felt like I was at 6,000 meters. Luckily, the climbing was easy. No wind and even some sunshine in the upper Ford. The couloir now had two deep runnels down the middle. This had me strategizing our descent. Mercifully, the pitch eased and we were soon on the summit. Nate Brown, summit snow field, GTMy lack of form was evident in the 1:20 it took us to ascend from Glencoe. The SLC boys managed the same in less than 50 minutes.

But now the fun part. I'd never been on the summit so late and was anticipating some softer skiing. The summit snow field was perfect corn. Kind of silly good, really. We paused at the shoulder of the Ford and then dropped into some some shaded boiler plate. The texture was good so I popped off a couple of turns just to prove to myself I could. I then traversed to the runnels in hopes of getting across to the sunlit side.Zahan Billimoria styling off the summit, GTRunnels are scary on a 45 degree slope. I finally found a low spot and shot across. I found what I was looking for and enjoyed perfect corn as the pitch approached 50 degrees. We side-slipped some more boiler plate where we got pinched by the runnel and made our way above the top of the Petzolt Ridge and back into the sun. Zahan's final turn, Ford CouloirThe party we passed was now topping out of the Chevy and occupied the anchor at which we hoped to transition to spikes. 

When they started up, I couldn't help but pop off two final turns above some of the most exposed terrain I've ever skied. It was thrilling. The soft snow inspired confidence but looking down the Chevy left no doubt about the consequences of a mistake there.

One's Enough

The down climb went quickly for me and I shouted my good-byes to my partners above, having already conveyed my plans earlier to descend. Although I knew it wouldn't be my best effort, I thought l'd try to make lemonade from these lemons and set some sort of personal standard for the GT.

The skiing back to my running shoes was some of the best I've had along this section of Garnet Canyon. Perfect corn top to bottom. I descended non-stop from Teepee Col to below the boulders in about 7 minutes. Definitely tasty lemonade there, extra sugar.

A little comedic relief was in order as I reached the shoes. Seems a big, fat marmot took a liking to Z and Nate's shoes and devoured the heels of both pairs. My shoes were brand new and apparently lacked the seasoning favored by this fat bastard ("Git the shoes in mah belleh!"). I nearly had to grab him by the scruff of the neck to wrestle the kicks from his greedy little cookie grabbers. My parting gesture to my partners was to hang the shoes from a branch out of reach of Fat Bastard.Marmot chow

I had a pleasant, if not sweaty descent back to the car, stopping the watch at 6:47. This would be considered a fast time if it were not for my friends absolutely slaying it better than 90 minutes faster. GEEZUS!Hmmm...4,500 calories. Time to eat.

Over four years have passed since I first skied the Grand Teton. For the first three of those years, not much changed. But this year saw a paradigm shift in how we approach ski mountaineering objectives like the GT. Like any good research, repetition of the experiment is key. The Grand Teton Speed Project is no exception. In less than 4 weeks, my friends and I skied the Grand 3 times, refining style and technique with each trip. Lessons learned at the end of the 2010/11 season will be carried over to next year as soon as the snow flies. None of us can wait.

Oh, and Brian Story? He pulled up in 5:20, only 3 minutes shy of the record. I have a feeling he spent some time in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, wondering where he could have picked up some time. Next year.

Gear

Dynafit Broad Peak skis

Plum 145 Race bindings

Dynafit TLT 5 Performance boots

Dynafit carbon race poles

CAMP X3 600 pack

Petzl Dartwin crampons

Petzl Quark ice tools

Comments

[Ralph S.]

Badass! I just made a note to not ski with you unless I am in WAY better shape!