Grand Teton approach from Valhalla Canyon

I'm interested in climbing the Grand from VC, but initial info suggests that rockfall can be serious.

Mostly curious about approaching the Black Ice couloir in September/October, and how to best manage hazards.

sept/oct there will be way less rockfall as most everything above you will be or should be frozen.  Approaching the BIC from the VC will be a challenge also that time of year, good on you for trying.

I have only ever done it via the Valhalla  traverse, and I know there are some loose chimneys you will have to climb to come up from below.  Could be interesting. 

Is there are specific reason why you want to approach the Black Ice from Valhalla?  If you are interested in the Black Ice, the Valhalla Traverse from the Lower Saddle is an easier and potentially safer route... and not to mention fun.  However, an approach up Valhalla is appealing as well, and not unreasonable from an objective hazard standpoint, especially that time of year with minimal people on the mountain.  That said, it's the Tetons and rockfall is always a hazard.  The access to the Black Ice from Valhalla is fairly well documented in Renny and Leigh's book, and your route finding crux will be access into upper Valhalla from the Cascade Canyon Trail.  It's kind of a thrash if you don't nail it.  I bet there are some reports online of people approaching for other Valhalla routes that might help.  
I'd say if you are not gunning for a single push, plan on at least a bivy in Valhalla, and then going up and over and out through Garnet Canyon via the Lower Saddle.  You could re-traverse the Valhalla Traverse to get back to the Bivy and do a circumnavigation of the Enclosure which would also be interesting and fun, but I think an up and over would make the most sense to me.  There are a few great bivys in Valhalla, and you should be able to find running water that time of year up there (I'd think but not 100%).  Also, remember the Jenny Lake Boats change hours in early September so if you are starting early plan on walking around the lake.

From a hazard management standpoint, this would be similar to any alpine route.  Give yourself enough time, move efficiently, know what to look for in the weather, and have a plan/know your options.  September/October are very hit and miss in the Tetons for weather, erring on the side of miss.  You can have the nicest climb of your life, but more often then not you are getting shut down.  Winter comes early there, so expect that.  I've often found best climbing in the Black Ice in late spring/early summer, but obviously others have found it in good condition in the fall as well.  

good info, thanks
my main motivation is to get off the beaten path and see new terrain

Came down valhalla canyon from the GrandStand once. Don't know how that connects to BIC. But once you cross cascade creek and head up the drainage, there is a very overgrown trail on the west side of the drainage near the creek. 

I have been up Valhalla Canyon at least six times. Crossing Cascade Creek can be a challenge but once across there is a route up on the west side of the canyon. It is mostly a game trail. There is no additional objective danger other than the creek crossing as the rockfall danger is no different than the Valhalla Traverse. Gaining the routes is not any big deal as one heads up and intersects where the Valhalla Traverse comes in. As Bob Irvine (a long time Jenny Lake Ranger) would say just follow your nose.

One can bivy in the canyon as there are several good locations with water.  That said the Black Ice Gully will be a scree slope in September/October. The Enclosure may still have have ice in it.

I drew a rough sketch of what I imagine the approach (and climb) would look like. [I sketched the BIC-West Face link-up, not the couloir to the saddle] Would 9,700 be a decent bivy site?

Allen Sanderson wrote: I have been up Valhalla Canyon at least six times. Crossing Cascade Creek can be a challenge but once across there is a route up on the west side of the canyon. It is mostly a game trail. There is no additional objective danger other than the creek crossing as the rockfall danger is no different than the Valhalla Traverse. Gaining the routes is not any big deal as one heads up and intersects where the Valhalla Traverse comes in. As Bob Irvine (a long time Jenny Lake Range) would say just follow your nose.

One can bivy in the canyon as there are several good locations with water.  That said the Black Ice Gully will be a scree slope in September/October. The Enclosure may still have have ice in it.

"Crossing Cascade Creek can be a challenge "

It may be less of a challenge in the fall. The water is lower, slower, and there is more deadfall to help crossing the creek. Finding the right spot to cross is the crux of crossing the creek. You have your 5.10 crossings and your 5.7's so to speak. ACGTTTR has a short overview of the crossing and approach. I would add that their route-finding information in the book often seems way easier than it actually is in the field (the new version may improve upon that).

As for fall conditions, you never know from year to year. Challenging conditions is part of the fun of alpine mountaineering.

Earlier in September is better. I approached the BIC from Valhalla in mid-September, 1979.
After juggling my five-month-old daughter and her mother by Cascade Creek, Gary and I got a late start. (I’d just met him at the Climbers Ranch.) Hours of steep trailless slogging brought us to the start of the climbing, just as the sun was setting. We had been unable to see the BIC for most (or all) of the approach, because it’s tucked into a giant recess.

I had never been on this side of the mountain and didn’t really know where to go. So I launched up the first cliff band. I brought up Gary as darkness settled in. I groped up the next pitch, careful to leave all of the loose rocks where I found them, and eventually reached a big ledge system. I didn’t know, at the time, that we were near the end of the Valhalla Traverse and that we should have traversed left and up, to reach the BIC, which, we were to understand later, was still out of sight. I brought up Gary. 
Glowing in the starlight, above and right, soared a beautiful steep ice couloir. It wasn’t black — it was bluish-white — but that had to be it. If we had had headlamps, we would have kept going. It was still dark, so we sat on the rope and huddled together without sleeping bags, shivering for hours, until we could see holds. 
Time was of the essence, so we dispensed with our morning cappuccino. (To save weight, we had left the stove with my daughter.) After a long traverse right, we reached the ice and put on our crampons, drawing one axe for each of us. I began many pitches of frontpointing up consistently hard ice. When I stepped into the sun at the top, I murmured, “Whethefukahwee!”  I had been to the Upper Saddle before. I brought Gary up and admitted, “Whethefukahwee!”
We eventually figured out that we had climbed the Enclosure Couloir. Having done the BIC since, I think that the EC is a better climb.
So what’s the point of all this rambling? There was no rockfall. 

^ that’s a good story George.

Irrelevant but here’s what it looks like currently, from 05/17/2020, though it’s supposed to snow around a foot in the higher elevations this weekend.

Good story George, I have gotten lost, no just off route in the Tetons due to Inclement weather.

I'll add one about the Enclosure as well. Which is a fine climb and comes in far more consistently than the Black Ice Gully. Though we had not meet or climbed before a now good friend and I decided to do a one day ascent. We rendezvoused at Lupine Meadows and started hiking during the night going up Valhalla Canyon. The Black Ice was not in so we headed up the Enclosure, which I had climbed before. Good fun except neither of us received or gave very good belays. But being the first time climbing together neither said anything to the other. Once at the top I apologized for the crappy belays and sheepishly admitted I was falling asleep. He said thanks and admitted that he too was falling asleep at the belays. We just laughed. A good start to a friendship.

As for crossing Cascade Creek yes there can be dead fall but it can be wet. For one crossing I put on my crampons to cross a wet log. And yeah, by September there will some snow as such the Black Ice will be a gully of snow coved scree. In fact, getting it to could well be the crux as there is apt to be a lot of verglas. 

Wydaho Climber wrote: ^ that’s a good story George.

Irrelevant but here’s what it looks like currently, from 05/17/2020, though it’s supposed to snow around a foot in the higher elevations this weekend.

Some true social distancing on the 17th, and for anyone heading up the VC anytime of year.

Would be a great week (end of May) for skimo if early ascent was possible.

When were those taken Gee?  That’s one snowy enclosure Couloir. 

jon jugenheimer wrote: When were those taken Gee?  That’s one snowy enclosure Couloir. 

My guess would be on or about May 8th 2017 ;)

(or was the date added in edit?)

The Valhalla approach is beautiful but terrible imo. It would be a cool place to camp though.  

John Roark wrote: The Valhalla approach is beautiful but terrible imo. It would be a cool place to camp though.  

this x1000. i've never gone UP the grand from valhalla, but having descended it...i would never voluntarily choose to go up that way. no thanks. no no. 

mark55401 wrote: I drew a rough sketch of what I imagine the approach (and climb) would look like. [I sketched the BIC-West Face link-up, not the couloir to the saddle] Would 9,700 be a decent bivy site?

My partner and I hiked out from the grand that way. We joined the cascade canyon trail west of the creek-  the creek out of Valhalla flowing north. FWIW that’s a pretty substantial creek w a cliff band so you can’t quite just follow the creek south into Valhalla easily. The growth after leaving the trail is dense. We never found a game trail. And yes 9700 would be a nice spot to camp. You’d be in a big basin surrounded by peaks. It’s a super impressive area. If you do camp up there bc to not camp to close to the grand. We watched rocks pitch off and go far into the basin. 

When we spent a night on the grandstand, we definitely saw some pretty substantial rockfall coming down from somewhere around the Owen Spaulding. It was impressive. Not sure if that is the norm.

Scanned some of the few slides that I took on our 1979 adventure. I see that the routes are visible from farther away; however, when we arrived at the base of the climbing, the sun was setting and neither couloir was visible. The terrain became more complex as we ascended and light escaped into interstellar space. The last picture was taken after descending to and traversing the Valhalla Traverse Ledge toward where we had stashed our packs. In this last pic, you can see the beginnings of each couloir. We started climbing far to the left of where this last pic was taken and must have crossed over a bare section of the BIC, climbing up until the upper Enclosure Couloir was visible up and right 

This last pic got deleted as I saved an edit to the above caption.