On a day with a marginal weather forecast and no climbing
partner, I set out to climb the somewhat classic east ridge of buck, one of the
last major teton summits I hadn’t yet climbed.
The climber’s trail up stewart draw was well established and easy to
follow.
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| early glimpse of buck on the approach |
I reached the still frozen
timberline lake in 2 hours before starting up the approach couloir to gain the
east ridge. Having carried microspikes,
I put them to good use climbing snow all the way to the ridge, rather than
exiting L onto rock mid-way up. The
scrambling on the ridge was awesome.
Solid rock, nice exposure, and a fun mix of 3rd-4th
class with optional low 5th sections as well.
 |
| approach couloir |
 |
| E ridge scrambling |
Rather than do the customary out-and-back, I opted to make
it a loop by descending the SE ridge and coming down the death canyon
switchbacks. Downclimbing the SE ridge
was straightforward 3rd-4th class to gain the prominent
notch north of the tower. From here,
couloirs drop E (towards timberline lake) and W (towards the no wood
basin). I descended the W couloir til it
cliffed out towards the bottom. I
traversed skier’s R, linking together a series of exposed and often loose, low
5th class ledges and steps til I reached the talus slopes
below.
 |
| the SW side of buck from the trail |
I then trended S to gain the trail
and made the short climb and descent to static divide. Through here I encountered a number of
backpackers and day hikers that oftentimes had no clue how to properly hold or
use their ice axe while traversing the remaining and often exposed patches of
snow. This was a little comical at times
but also frightening. From the divide I
ran down the enjoyable switchbacks to the cabin and then out to the trailhead
(with a quick detour to jump in phelps lake to keep the heat at bay). All in all a great little half-day outing
with a good mix of hiking, scrambling and running.
 |
| looking north from the summit |
Stats: about 13mi/6k vert in 6 hrs
Rose: exposed 4th and low 5th
scrambling on the ridge
Thorn: getting cliffed out on the couloir descent and the
resulting downclimbing
Bud: the skiing down the N couloirs looks awesome
Thoughts: while I would recommend this loop to others, I think
descending the E couloir from the notch in the SE ridge to bypass the tower on
the E side and then climbing up to the buck-static saddle and descending to the
trail would be a much better route
