Middle Teton

It seems to be a theme. Every time a birthday rolls around, I find myself on the summit of a peak in the Tetons. I absolutely love it! Erin Corbett was hoping to climb the Grand for her birthday, but due to conditions the Middle Teton seemed like a better choice.

Summer started late in Jackson Hole and the mountains were stilled caked with snow by the time Erin’s birthday arrived. The Middle Teton gets a bad rap. The rumor on the street is that it a really easy mountain to climb and should be reserved for hiking with your grandma. Well my grandma is pretty incredible, but I’m not sure she would’ve made it to the summit. No offense Grandma.

The Middle can be considered a day hike, a really long day hike. Typically, I climb it in my running shoes and day pack. This time we decided to bring crampons, ice-axes, and a short rope just in case. We used everything, but the rope. Had we not brought crampons and an axe, we would not have made it to the summit.

The meadows looked nothing like the meadows, filled to the brim with snow.

The climb to saddle was quick with the extra snow, but the south west couloir was a little spicy. The snow was extremely hard and definitely caught our attention.

It was all worth it for Erin Corbett. There is nothing like eating your birthday cake on top of a 12,804ft tall peak.

Top of Middle Teton 12,804

My goal this summer is summit all of the major peaks in the Teton range. The weather is finally getting nice in Jackson and it’s time to start bagging some peaks. I decided to start out with one of the easier peaks to summit, the Middle Teton to get myself into shape.

The Middle Teton is basically a long hike. I am accustomed to summitting in running shoes. There is still a lot of snow in the Tetons, so I brought along an ice axe just in case. And the best part of climbing up is glissading down the snow fields on the way down. I’m really glad I brought my ice axe. Without it, I would not have made the summit. In hind site, crampons would’ve been nice to have.

Eric and I summitted at 11:45 am and had the summit all to ourselves. It was beautiful up there.


The snow made it a little more difficult to go up, but made the going down a lot more fun.

Next up Teewinot…………….