Static Peak - October 14th, 2007

Ok, so this is a week late. Truth be known, I haven't felt much interest in the blogging scene lately (like, since I posted my first two entries over a month ago!) and I wasn't sure whether it was something I would continue, or not. Well, sho'nuff, here I am again and I've got mo-pho-tos-yo! (Static Peak is the pointy peak on the far left of the photo. Buck Mtn, Static Peak's taller neighbor, is the taller, broader peak to it's right.)

This was a classic Teton trail route starting at the White Grass Trailhead (more commonly known as the Death Canyon Trailhead) at 6,800 ft, passing by Phelps Lake between mile 1 and 2, then climbing gradually west up Death Canyon for another 2 miles while gaining 1,000 ft before turning north for the 3,000+ ft switchbacking route up to Static Peak at 11,303 ft. Round trip: approximately 16 miles, but it felt more like 20!

Static Peak is a good late-season option to get up on a high peak due to its mostly south-facing aspect which allows most of the early snowfall to melt off or at least become more navigable in running shoes. I figured there would be snow up there for sure, but hopefully it wouldn't be so deep as to prevent a summit!

So off we went, leaving the trailhead around 12:30pm under gloriously warm sunny skies and the impression that we would be topping out in about three hours. Well, that ended up being about an hour short after encountering light snow on the trail at 9,000 ft, then having to negotiate a progressively heavier amount of snow as we stepped our way up the next 2,000 ft to the top.

Looking SW from the summit. The tallest peak in the photo is Fossil Mtn. Just below is the Death Canyon Shelf . The Teton Crest Trail follows the cliffband with the bright strip of snow running across it.

What fun trail though! The views from the top were outstanding. The air was remarkably still and relatively warm which made me somewhat reluctant to start heading down, but it was almost 5:00 and with the sun setting at 6:45, I knew we'd be cutting our daylight hours close. Good thing Mr. Headlamp was riding along comfortably in my pack! As much as I'd rather not have to use him, I'm always happy to give him a ride for precisely this reason!

Looking North at the Grand Teton past the eastern flank of Buck Mtn. Jackson Lake can be seen in the distance to the right. Timberline Lake is the dark spot in the bottom right corner.

Looking northwest from the summit. Alaska Basin is just beyond the large snow field. The South Fork of Teton Canyon follows the bottom of the dark ridge extending to the right of center and Teton Valley, ID is beyond that.

Looking south over Death Canyon with Jackson Hole and the Snake River on the left. The trail switchbacks along the shaded area of the ridge to the left then hops over to the sunny side at the saddle.

The way down was speedy, but not speedy enough to beat the darkness. The last 15 minutes we ran in the dark following the bouncing light of our headlamps and arrived back at the trailhead at 7:30, feeling good after a seven hour day playing in the Tetons.

Negotiating the "scary snow crossing" along the shaded and snowier side of the ridge

Sleeping Indian at sunset