Over December and January I climbed and equipped two new or seldom visited routes in the South Fork of Teton Canyon that may be “Rusty’s Smears”, with three different partners.
While climbing the Left Ghost with Liam Wylie and Bobbi Clemmer this November, we spotted an intriguing emerald green blob oozing over a forested cliff on the north wall of Teton Canyon’s South Fork. Only about 10 feet of ice is visible from the finest viewpoint, and it doesn’t look particularly enticing. The Teton Ice guidebook mentions a collection of “west facing” climbs, “about one mile” up-canyon, called Rusty’s Smears, and offered the generic grade of WI3. Our objective faced south and was surely closer than one mile to the lot, but guidebooks have been lax on descriptions before, especially for non-significant routes. Questioning whether this was an established route, or whether we would even find a desirable climb, only added to the sense of adventure.
Fast forward one month to Green Pea. The same crew got a few hot laps in, and entered the market for more climbing. We ventured to the mysterious green blob, located about 0.7 miles east of the South Fork trailhead (0.35 miles west of Landslide), and 600 vertical feet above the canyon floor. A punishing breakable bootpack through dense forest gave way to a secluded cliff-band with not one, but two ice climbs! The left-most was 60 foot smear too thin for leading, but the rightmost was a full value 80 foot WI4. Liam took the first lead, braving a thin couple body lengths before gaining a fatter but short lived vertical curtain, which rolled into 30 feet of eloping WI2 to the forest above. Much to our surprise, he found no fixed anchor. I led the route afterwards, fixed a fresh anchor, then Bobbi followed free. We all thought it was a lovely route, with an interesting mix of climbing connecting three distinctly different features. We vowed to return for the smear soon.
Approximately one month later I wrangled Chase Krumholz to attempt the elusive smear. To this point I still wondered whether or not both of these routes were first ascents. Neither Bobbi nor Liam were available, and the possibility of a “pseudo first ascent” had me energized. I came armed with a full kit of thin ice regalia, including 7cm screws, screamers, and razor sharp picks, but what we found was anything but a smear. Over the past month the route had swelled to a generous WI3. Nature is amazing! While I had hoped for a slightly more engaging challenge, brittle ice conditions following a few nights as low as -40 degrees fahrenheit kept matters engaging to the final moves. One of these days I’ll find a graceful way to overcome widespread dinner plating and spider webbing – every ice climber’s worst nightmare – but not today. Again, no fixed anchor was present above the climb, so we left a fresh one.
Whether or not these flows are “Rusty’s Smears” is largely irrelevant. I know of at least one person who has climbed the rightmost of the two routes, and the likelihood of finding a first ascent so close to the trailhead is nil. Why nobody left an anchor above either climb is beyond me, but stranger things have happened. I added both routes to Mountain Project as Unnamed Ice #1 (WI3) and Unnamed Ice #2 (WI4-). While neither flow justifies the approach on its own, the combination of both makes for a fine, secluded, and moderate day of ice climbing in the diverse mecca that is Teton Canyon.
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DISCLAIMER
Ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing and all other forms of mountain recreation are inherently dangerous. Should you decide to attempt anything you read about in this article, you are doing so at your own risk! This article is written to the best possible level of accuracy and detail, but I am only human – information could be presented wrong. Furthermore, conditions in the mountains are subject to change at any time. Ten Thousand Too Far and Brandon Wanthal are not liable for any actions or repercussions acted upon or suffered from the result of this article’s reading.
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