Blobular Oscillations

Bat Attack Crack

No Perches Necessary

Baxter's Pinnacle - North Face

Attritus

Symmetry Crag 4 - Trinity Buttress

The Snake

Lower Highway to Heaven

Guide's Wall

Baxter's Pinnacle - South Ridge

Vieux Guide

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.

P1- 120', 5.7: Move to the left shoulder of the ridge. Climb easy rock to a short dihedral with pins. Continue above and end at rap anchors.

P2- 60-70' (short), 5.5-5.7: Either continue up easy 5th-class rock straight above the rap anchor, or move right to a fun 5.7 crack. Both bring you to a large ledge.

P3- 180': This is actually pitches 3 and 4 described in the book. It's easy to link them if attention is paid to rope drag. Anyway, there is another left (west)/right (south) option on this ledge.

WEST: take the big dihedral (5.7) for a full pitch, passing the rap tree in the first 30'. It becomes 5.6 after about 80'.

SOUTH: Move right on the ledge to a large flake with a finger crack above. Climb this pretty crack and pull a 5.7 bulge to a ledge. Belay here or follow the crack to Flake Ledge at 5.6.

P4- 80': A great pitch, no matter what path is taken. Traditionally, the leftmost handcrack is taken at 5.7. The right thin hand/finger crack is wonderful as well. While it is possible to traverse back into the 5.7 crack under the roof, you can also pull it at .10. A small traverse back to the left is required if doing the roof.

P5- 80': All variations funnel into this one, a classic 5.8 dihedral/finger crack lined with plenty of awesome faceholds. An outstanding position! There are a couple of pins.

Descent: Four double-rope raps get you down.

This arching corner would be an awesome addition to guides wall if your still needing a little more oomph to your day.  Starts out from the belay ledge as easy face and a traverse right to gain the corner, climb this as it arches severely to the left, a little bit cruxy near the beginning but hold on cause a great rest is to be had before the crux where the crack thins to finger tips then eases off at he the lip of the roof to a few feet of easier hand jamming to the anchor. The feet were a little licheny/scaly but this is the alpine after all.  It is also possible to continue up one pitch(5.8 or 9 maybe?) then traverse left a ways(?) to join guides wall as rossiter describes(i did not do this) The anchor atop the first pitch is two good looking bolts with webbing and rings

No Perches is a fun little route with the most elusive of all Teton benefits - a super short approach! A quick party can do the climb roundtrip from the car in 3 hours.  It is probably the only climb in the entire range you can do this quickly.

And the climbing is pretty fun too, offering two distinct experiences on each of the pitches.

The first pitch (5.9) heads up an easy face to a 40' section of wide crack (3.5").  There are really only a handful wide crack moves before you get some good features on the face.  After the wide crack, easy cruising takes you to a bolted chain belay (another Teton rarity).  You'll need to step a few feet right to find the anchors.

The second pitch wanders up the imposing face above the belay.  A bomber micronut about 10' off the belay protects the first section.  Two bolts and a pin (difficult to spot from below) protect the quality 5.8 face climbing above.  Some additional protection is required to finish the pitch - I placed a #1 Camalot, #0.75 Camalot, and a small TCU.  While this pitch isn't really runout, it isn't a sport climb either.  You definitely want to be solid on 5.8.

Finish on the nice ledge with great views and another chain anchor.

The summit block of Baxter's Pinnacle holds a number of single pitch climbs, many of which were established or freed by some of the great climbers of the day - Robbins, Chouinard, and Gill, to name a few. The North Face of Baxter's Pinnacle is a single 5.10 pitch, which all parties who summit the South Ridge will essentially rappel over when descending from the summit. This 30-40m bonus pitch is well worth climbing if time allows, and the notch between Baxter's Pinnacle and the descent gully can be a nice shady place to hang out for a while after getting baked in the sun for hours. Although the North Face is a fun lead, it's an easy TR as well since your rope is essentially hanging on the anchor you used to rap.

From the shady notch, scramble up some easy terrain, place a hand-sized piece in the crack to the right, and then launch into the slightly overhanging, awkward 5.10 hand traverse with bad feet to reach jugs (protected by three fixed pitons). Surmount the crux move and enter another steep section of 5.9 stemming. There's a bomber green C3 size piece here, just below a suspicious upward-set fixed piton that provides great peace of mind. Pull this section, get another bomber red C3 sized piece and run it out (5.7ish) to the anchor.

Although this shady side of the summit block can be a bit grungy in spots, the rock quality on this particular climb is excellent, and has only improved with traffic. Be mindful of other parties behind you who might be rappelling the route.

This is a quality route with good climbing and really good rock. It was put up over the past year and 1/2.

It’s worth noting that the best way to climb p1 is by warming up on Blobular 5.10 and then hanging the draws on p1 of Attritus.

P1.5.12. 120’ Starts just right of of Blobular on Guide’s Wall. Climb blocky terrain past a pin and tackle the slab past 2 bolts (Crux). Continue into Blobular for upper 1/2.

P2. 100’ 4th class. From the anchor climb straight right and onto  the loose ledge. Down climb the ledge to the very end below a big R facing corner. Build anchor here. .75 and 1. This traverse/ downclimb detracts a bit from the line but I promise the pitches above are worth it!

P3. 5.11-. 110’ Don’t climb the R facing corner but instead step down and climb up and right past 2 pins and towards the corner. Climb out right of the corner before regaining it. Climb the stellar corner past a pin and a fixed nut. Pin and bolt anchor on nice ledge.

P4. 5.11. 120’ Climb up from the belay through some steep blocky rock to a crux at a bolt. Continue past a pin and continue through a right trending flake that terminates on some thin moves past a bolt. Bolt and pin anchor on a nice ledge.

P5. 5.8 140’ climb a short bulge protected by one bolt and continue via 5.7 terrain to flake ledge.

Finish via one of the fine guides wall final pitches or walk around the corner and rap via the GW descent. 45M rope X2 is nice for the raps. Like many routes on GW many of these pitches can be traversed into from other variations especially pitch 4 from the S face variation that starts on the same big ledge.

For the folks who have climbed many of the classic Cascade Canyon climbs, or if you head up to Guide's Wall and it's a mob scene you should check out Trinity Buttress.  The first and fifth pitches of this route are fantastic.  However, the middle few pitches are not the best, although you can get by them quickly.  You will never have to wait in line on this climb and it's only a few minutes walk past Guide's Wall.  Also, you can easily do Guide's Wall after this route as the decent puts you out at the rappels for Guide's Wall (more on that later).

The first pitch may deter some folk at 5.7R, however, if your solid at 5.7 it is quite reasonable.  Really nice rock and good wondering face climbing leads to a short dihedral with great stemming and jams.  A few wandering pitches and you are on a ledge a way up ready for the nice 5.9 corner.  This pitch is the highlight of the climb and has fairly sustained climbing on good rock.

Overall the climb is a great half day adventure with easy access from Jenny Lake.  It's well worth the effort if you have climbed a bit in the area.

For more pictures check out

picasaweb.google.com/Toby.S…

A surprisingly good route with a relatively reasonable approach and descent make this a route worthy of more attention. Four pitches of mostly crack climbing on generally good rock. Despite the longer distance, this approach has significantly less elevation gain and much more trail walking than routes on Symmetry Spire, etc.

P1- Start up below the left-facing corner with a 5.9 mantle to a ledge. Climb the corner/crack (5.9 to 10-) to broken rock within the "snake" feature. Belay (gear) near the top of the broken rock.

P2- Traverse ten feet right and climb the corner (5.8). Belay at a ledge with a fixed pin.

P3- Climb above the belay through some prickly vegetation. Make steep but secure moves through the wide crack (5.8, 3-4") above, moving slightly left and up to a sloping ledge. Climb up a handcrack to another ledge below the last pitch.

P4- Start up a handcrack to a sloping ledge, then transition to the jamming/layback crux (5.10). Belay on the ledge above.

Introduction:

Highway to Heaven is an outstanding multi-pitch climb on the tantalizing granite of Storm Point.  Nobuyuki “Yuki” Fujita and I originally did the climb in eleven pitches.  We purposely kept some of pitches short on our exploratory climbs to avoid rope drag and to communicate better between one another.  However, in two subsequent climbs, that number was reduced to a more efficient seven to eight pitches.

The climbs ends at Tranquility Point – not an official name, we admit, but an appropriate name considering the elegance and beauty of the climbing to reach it.  The climb is all south facing and is climbable throughout the season.

It’s a particularly pleasant route in the early season when other climbs are still snowed in or wet from melt water.  It’s slightly easier and closer to the trailhead than Guides Wall (a popular 5.8 climb located a mile farther than this climb), and it serves as a good alternative when things are crowded there.  It’s conveniently located near the west side of Jenny Lake, starting and ending at the same location.  Many climbs in the Tetons involve a fair amount of scrambling, but not here.  This one is all rock.

The Route:

(See "Location" for how to get to 'The Ramp' which is the starting point of the climb.

From the top of the ramp, you can see the first two pitches.  You’ll be looking at a southeast facing slab that extends upward 200 feet.  The top of the slab is guarded by a huge roof (Entrance Roof) that extends from one side of the slab to the other.  The start of the climb begins on a smooth slope with small holds.  The slope quickly eases off and then steepens up again midway up to the roof.  Entrance Roof is an imposing barrier, but it can be avoided by climbing around it to its extreme left side – where, just above and to the left of the roof, you’ll find a nice ledge (Rhapsody Ledge).

From here, you follow a natural line upwards until reaching Tranquility Point, a high point just below some impressive vertical walls.  (Upper Highway to Heaven begins here.  More information on that climb will be available soon on Mountain Project.)

The first ascent of the route required 11 pitches but on subsequent ascents, we have been able to cut that back to 7 pitches.  I have prepared a webpage with details on each of the pitches here:

ronwatters.com/Climbs_Highw…

Good rock with a sunny southern exposure with a great view above Jenny lake.

The described below should bring you to a huge block for the 1st belay:

P1 Go up and left along a ramp, then go back right past a tree and belay on a ledge where the climb steepens. If you want, the steep wall directly above the 1st belay goes 5.10 and has a couple of bolts. It's a variation called Seizure Disorder.

P2 (5.6) Climb straight up the crest, which angles a little to the left as you approach a large ledge for 2nd belay. A steep crack to the right is the 2nd pitch (5.8) of the South Ridge climb. It has a couple of fixed pins low down.

P3 (5.6) Continue straight up on the south face and top out before setting up belay.

P4 Traverse (more easy) across and slightly down to a large flat stance below the base of the more intimidating tower and set up your next belay from there.

P5 (5.9) Over to the right, just to the left of the corner and above, there is a fixed pin. The crux of the climb is a one move affair to get off of the flat stance and onto the tower above the pin. From there you climb just a bit to the right of the pin and up a big, detached flake. Then a steep (5.7) lieback crack goes up and left along the very steep corner. There are 3 fixed pins in the crack. Finally double cracks lead to the summit.

Although not as hard as the complete South Ridge, a 5.6 pitch vs. 5.8 crack on the 2nd pitch, I really enjoyed staying out on the South Face. The lieback portion of the last pitch had the most enjoyable moves on the entire climb for me.

The rappel is about 75 feet into the notch to the north behind the pinnacle. You then downclimb the steep couloir along the west side of the pinnacle. Watch for loose rock.

An engaging alternative to the standard Guide's Wall.

Vieux Guide, established by a couple highly regarded climbers, ascends weaknesses on the eastern side of the wall and traverses over to Flake Ledge to finish on terrain normal to a Guides' Wall ascent.

The first pitch starts after a fourth class scramble past a large pine tree.  Up the left facing corner, then slightly right through steep terrain (5.8-ish) to a belay position which should have some fixed sling (also the end point for the Bat Attack Crack variation).

The second pitch rises slightly to the left but mostly traverses west ending at a belay position setting up the next easier pitch on lower angle terrain.  5.7 and exposed with reasonable opportunities for protection.

Third pitch rallies up big features, still up and a bit left.  Fourth pitch up shallow crack grooves and features to gain the Flake Ledge joining the standard Guide's Wall.  Pitches are 5.6 or 5.7 depending on line chosen.

Fifth pitch starts in the thin to fat finger crack (5.9) and climbs the overhang above (and slightly right) of the crack.  The crux of the route at 5.10 with reasonable protection with thin cams and nuts in crack features below the lip of the roof.

6th pitch climbs the standard last pitch of the Guide's Wall route.  Descend as for that route.

Description

Routes in Cascade Canyon