Middle Teton Glacier Route

Climbed this route on June 21, 2014 with my wife, Michele. We had good snow almost the whole way, only getting sugary in spots on the last 100 feet or so. We put a rope on for the last 50 feet of snow, as little sluffs were starting to spontaneously release here and there, and it was steep! Moving right to the snow patch under the North summit was not looking like a safe option with little snow connecting over, so we moved left and climbed to the South summit. After chilling for an hour or so, we rapped off the north side to the notch (look for it, the anchor is not real obvious, and we belayed ourselves to it), and roped up for a short pitch of wet rock on the southeast corner of the North summit. More chilling ensued, as the views of the Grand and everything were awesome and plentiful. Descent was straightforward down the Southwest Couloir. We camped at the Meadows for two nights, and the whole thing took about 11 hours, including about 1.5 hours hanging out on top. Left camp at 4:30am, which was a bit later than we planned on, but it all worked out. Jun 24, 2014

This was the steepest snow I have climbed so far. I felt slightly anxious about the route after reading some horror stories online. I was delighted when the conditions were about perfect other than we could have been at the summit block a titch earlier to avoid the constant sloughing from the steep summit slopes & hearing boulders pitch down Teepee gully, which was a bit nerve racking. It was fun being the only ones to summit the Middle the first day of summer 2014! I made a slideshow with a few more pics from our trip: John & Michele Middle Teton Glacier 6/21/2014 Jun 24, 2014

Conditions of the glacier and upper section above the Black Dike Col will vary depending on the time of year. It seems like in June it is a snow climb and ski objective. In July it becomes firm snow and rock/mixed. August/September it becomes ice and rock/mixed. Be prepared with the proper pro and you'll be good! Jul 22, 2016