Predator

A worthwhile adventure up a proud line on the dark side of Death Canyon.  The scale and complexity of approach and decent, as well as the raw condition of the route will keep this one obscure.  However, the excellent position and fun, interesting, generally well-protected climbing make for a great day in the Tetons for the right folks.   Climbed in the 80’s by some regional legends, the route for us in 2022 showed no sign of passage.  By any standard, the climbing is good.  By modern standards, it is dirty.  

*We did not climb the few upper pitches but climbed enough to feel it deserves an entry here.

Access:  Head over to the Apocalypse Couloir talus cone and choose a way up to the route.  The Alien Wall FA group romped up somewhere left of the waterfall.  The Jackson-Ortenburger guide heads right up the ski couloir then “back left on a 3rd class ledge” at some point to bypass the waterfall.  We chose the latter and bumbled about in 5th class & bushes but made it eventually.  Scramble up the vegetated gully through a final, short steep pitch on dark rock.  Immediately to the left starts an upwards left-trending crack/ramp system.  This is it.

P1: Above you can see the large sweeping corner feature that is Raven Crack, and on the prow to the left an overhanging yellow right-facing corner.  Head up the left-trending moderate ramp, past the Raven Crack entry onto steepening terrain out left with a couple hard, steep bulges.   Belay on the nice little grassy ledge with a lone 8’ tree near the base of the yellow corner.  60m, 5.10+.

P2: Crux corner, great pitch.  Thoughtful moves, decent protection, not very sustained.  Man, if it were clean…         Belay either at the midway ledge in the corner, or head up to a sloping hanging belay below the roof.  30m, 5.11-.

P3:  Hard, steep climbing up an especially dirt-filled crack to the blocky roof.  The FA boys A2’d the dirt, but some cleaning and determination got us through free.  Bypass the roof to the right, continuing right and up the path of least resistance to a stance below a short, vertical open book.  The roof blocks look terrible but are decently solid.  Linking P2 & 3 would make for a logical, awesome 55m pitch, but would require a triple set in the mid ranges.  20m, 5.11+ effort given the condition, or 5.10 A2 (?).

P4:   Straight up the terribly dirty looking short, steep open book capped with a small roof, which climbed 10x better than it looked.  Hard left turn across a very cool featured face to a small tree; then up past the tree to a large, grassy, forested ledge breaking the wall. 35m, 5.9.

P5-7:  Above the ledge the angle eases and the route appears much less defined.  Many ways to go through which the book describes three 5.8 pitches to reach the top of the formation.  We did not get to do these.

Descent:  Many options.   The book describes the FA team doing a 10-rappel quest down the wall skiers right of the route.  The Alien Wall team describes some rappels over there as well.   We rappelled the route directly from the top of P4 with 2x 60m ropes, which worked decently well using blocks, trees, and one fixed anchor at the top of P3.  Raven Crack would also offer a rappel with some fixed anchors left over the years.  Walk-off options include a summer descent of the Son of Apocalypse Couloir ski run (?!) or a long hike east down to the Open Canyon trail.

Predator generally climbs the arete/prow left of Raven Crack, which is the major weakness/dihedral line that breaks the center of the wall.  The real pitched climbing for both routes starts at the top of the vegetated gully that drains to the waterfall below (Prospector Falls ice climb).  Access can be an entire mission unto itself and, regardless of route taken, involves ~600' of 3rd to low 5th climbing.  See Alien Wall route for more info.

We had a standard double rack BD .3 to #1 with single .2, 2 & 3; with the addition of nuts and some small/medium offset cams this worked well.