Symmetry Crag 4 - Trinity Buttress
5.9,
Trad, Alpine, 600 ft (182 m), 6 pitches, Grade III,
Avg: 1.8 from 5
votes
FA: 8/1/70 Yvon Chouinard and T.M. Herbert
Wyoming
> Grand Teton NP
> Cascade Canyon
Access Issue: Baxter's Pinnacle and Southwest Descent Gully Closed for Nesting Peregrine Falcons
Details
As of May 27, 2014, Baxter's Pinnacle and its southwest descent gully are closed due to an active peregrine falcon aerie. The area is expected to be opened in August. Grand Teton National Park monitors the area every year to determine whether a seasonal raptor closure is necessary.
Description
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…Location
To find this little adventure, walk past the turn off for Guide's Wall for about 2 minutes. We left our packs and extra stuff hanging in a tree by the creek before going up commando toward the Buttress, as you decend off Guide's Wall. Study the picture (#82) and bring a copy of the topo (p.287) from the guidebook. Before leaving the trail you will be able to pick out the route as seen in the picture in the book. Follow the far left side of the talus coming off Guide's Wall. Start traversing to the left (west) when you get close to the base of the wall. You will have to do some 4th class to gain the base of the route. The route starts on the highest ledge with trees, which is close to the crest of the buttress. In the photo in the guide, the left wandering start of the route is the 4th class, and where the route goes straight up that is the start of the first pitch. Once on the ledge the route starts on the far right side, and the short stem dihedral above will be visible.
Once topped out check out all the potential for routes above! Then follow the ledge towards Guide's Wall. There is no trail and eventually you will be in the gully to the west of Guide's wall. From the gully you can walk/ downclimb to the last rappel on Guide's Wall, or keep climbing from the top of the first pitch. It is easy to traverse in at many points here, and you can follow a ledge from the gully to the flake ledge. Enjoy!
Protection
Standard Teton Rack. Double set of cams up to 3" and stoppers. The topo shows RP's in the dihedral on the 5th pitch. I don't remember too many small nuts, but you might as well bring some along. As for the 5.7R just keep looking, and wondering right and left and it will stay 5.7. Get creative for pro. No fixed anchors, I don't think this route sees too much traffic. Last summer there were slings around a tree on the ledge atop pitch 4. I think a two rope rap would bring you down to the big ledge atop the first tier, where you can walk off.
![The top of P5.]()
[Hide Photo] The top of P5.
![The route starts on the ledge with the tree near the crest of the buttress. The stellar 5th pitch is the large right facing dihedral in the second tier, which starts at the lone tree.]()
[Hide Photo] The route starts on the ledge with the tree near the crest of the buttress. The stellar 5th pitch is the large right facing dihedral in the second tier, which starts at the lone tree.
![Modern topo for Trinity Buttress with proposed modern grades. OJ topo is still useful. Many paths seem possible on pitches three, four and six. We tried to follow the OJ topo as much as possible]()
[Hide Photo] Modern topo for Trinity Buttress with proposed modern grades. OJ topo is still useful. Many paths seem possible on pitches three, four and six. We tried to follow the OJ topo as much as possible
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Wilson, WY
Hailey, ID
Victor, ID
Location - First buttress west of Guide's Wall. We followed the Guide's Wall approach trail and branched off when practical, stashing gear in a convenient grove of trees. The description provided in the Ortenburger-Jackson (OJ) guidebook and this post are sufficient to locate the climb. The "scrambling" required to reach pitch one is often wet, loose, and might necessitate a rope for some parties.
P1*** (5.7R, 5.9) - Spot an obvious wet facing corner from the belay and begin on a convenient tier of rock steps providing practical passage around an otherwise intimidatingly steep cave. 5.7R is fair for this pitch so long as you stay vigilant and avoid getting sucked into more difficult terrain. I down climbed and traversed around a few times, but generally just sought the path of least resistance to the base of the dihedral where protection became abundant. Climb the crack and stem the clean, steep corner (5.9) to a belay ledge with a small but healthy tree.
P2* (5.6) - Seek the path of least resistance up a channeled vegetated gully trending slightly left, and be careful not to crush your belayer with a choss block. On the broad ledge above, traverse third class terrain left, towards the western ridge crest, and belay below easy broken terrain.
P3* (5.easy) - Climb easy blocky terrain to the next forested ledge. Belay where convenient, then move the belay through the forest and left, back to the western ridge crest, and belay below fourth class terrain with a large, bending tree. (OJ topo especially useful here)
P4** (5.easy) - A copy of the OJ topo is especially useful to describe this pitch, but I'll do my best. It's basically a very horizontal rightward traverse angling gently up along the path of least resistance to another large ledge beneath the crux pitch five golden right-facing dihedral. Locating pitch five from below the climb and having a general idea of your positioning in relation to it will help guide the way. There was a bail sling on this tree as of 6/24/23
P5**** (5.9+/10-) - A true four star pitch with a little bit of everything, and very consistent climbing at the grade. There's no one particular crux, just continuous difficult climbing for some 40-ish meters. At the time I thought this was an old-school sandbag and definitive modern 5.10-, but the whole upper crack was seeping which could have skewed my perception. The guidebook recommends RP's for an obvious knife-blade seam halfway up, but if you're cool with climbing a body length or two above excellent gear the small nuts are unnecessary. I got sucked towards the roof and built a semi-hanging belay higher than recommended, adding horrendous rope drag to pitch six. I think the name of the game, according to the OJ topo, is to traverse broken slabs towards the middle of the face as soon as the difficult dihedral climbing relents, and belay in the center of the face. There is a nice small stance here with a crack-corner that will take a wide variety of gear (I believe this is the belay where the first picture is taken from ("the top of P5")) - however, it is quite exposed (read pitch six before considering where to put this belay), so maybe it could be better to keep it free hanging in the dihedral, just lower?
P6* (5.7R) - I threw a R on this pitch because when we rolled through it was dirty as all hell with many loose blocks, mud filled cracks and a finishing chimney/gully that was actively running with water. The first half is fun airy slabbing on solid stone, but quickly devolves into nastiness. I finished climber's left, but there seemed to be other options. There is a lot of loose rock on the angled slope above this climb and seriously great care should be taken not to shell your belayer when topping out and setting up the anchor. If you top out climber's left there is a large tree above a mostly widow-maker free slope suitable for belay. If you top out center or right it seemed like the rope would have to run through the killer mini-talus to reach a belay. These are not recommendations - just my experience and observation - you're on your own with this one.
Descent: Follow instructions listed above. It is possible, though NOT recommended, to rappel to the ground from exclusively trees on the east side (skier's left) of the buttress. We did this because we started late, ran out of light and were foolishly unequipped with headlamps. It took us four double rope (60M) rappels and a bit of fourth class down-climbing on an intermediate ledge. Other bail slings indicated similar epics/errors, but this was very time consuming and surely took longer than the recommended descent.
Rack: Standard Teton 5.9 rack to three inches. Small nuts are helpful on pitch one, and perhaps some RP's for pitch five. Jun 26, 2023