On Monday, February 16th, I took a solo jaunt across Jackson Lake with an open itinerary. I ended up skiing the beautiful Southeast Face of Peak 10,686.
This winter has been weird… really weird. Last week two consecutive storms ended our month long January drought. With them hatched a dangerous mid-winter persistent slab problem involving buried near surface facets on shaded aspects, and a stout melt-freeze crust on solar aspects. I triggered a 150 foot wide R2D2 soft slab on a WNW aspect in Teton Canyon on the 14th, nothing overly egregious, but enough to inspire hesitancy in steep terrain moving forward. I took the 15th off to intellectualize the incident and study the touchy Teton snowpack. After a solid month of “green light skiing”, it was time to step back.
On the 16th I dusted off my trepidation and headed for a long, simple and civilized solo outing in the north end of Grand Teton National Park. I do at least a few tours north of Mount Moran every season, but somehow I instantly forget just how excellent and unique the terrain out there is. My goal for the day was simple: to bank some exercise and avoid north facing aspects entirely, on an objective with plenty of terrain flexibility. Peak 10,686, also known as Barechester Mountain, fit that criteria in spades. Not only does 10,686 have a broad east and south face with several attractive moderate ski lines, but a forested low angle ridge provides access to the broad summit with minimal exposure to avalanche terrain, acting as both a conservative approach and back-up descent. Bonus points: the rarely skied Peak 10,716 is connected to Peak 10,686 via a short and non-technical westward ridge walk. 10,716 lacks enough vertical relief to be a singular objective in it’s own, but it’s 500 foot east face offers an intriguing descent for the peak bagger, and could be easily combined with a climb back up 10,686 for an extended outing. Someday I would love to ski every Teton peak. Therefor, the unassuming 10,716 is on my list. Snowpack allowing, this would be my objective.
The drive from Teton Valley to Colter Bay is sneaky long, nearly two hours given winter road conditions. I once again got detoured by a low motivation Americano stop at Cowboy Coffee. Quite frankly, I’m embarrassed by my lack of ski drive this season. I had exactly zero inspiration from the second I opened my eyes at 5:00AM, dragging myself to Jackson Lake under penalty of insanity. I launched at 8:00AM sharp with every intention to skate across the lake, but wind drifted snow quickly forced me to skins. Within the hour I dispatched the three mile lake crossing and started up the southeast ridge. Much like seemingly every damn day this winter, the sun broke with unforecasted tenacity. By mid-morning I was trail breaking through two feet of wet snow, with hundred pound skis. Where were the mid-twenty degree temps, light clouds and high winds that were supposed to keep snow surfaces cool? I guess they took another day off. On February 16th, Peak 10,686 felt like Cabo. Including stops to dig three hasty hand pits on various aspects, I dragged my sorry ass to the summit just under four hours.
Given how severely and unexpectedly solar aspects warmed, the 35 degree east face of 10,716 was off the table – bummer, because it looked cooler than expected. The combination of warming, visible wind loading and a spatially variable persistent slab problem was just too tall an order for solo skiing, especially after the avalanche scare. Instead, I tucked tail and headed for the Southeast Face, a 3,500 foot avalanche path reminiscent of the Banana Couloir. The gut and skier’s left wall was undesirably crusty, but the slightly northeast tilted skier’s right wall harbored just dry enough snow for a pretty damn good rip. Around 9,000 feet I transitioned to the ascent ridge, avoiding exposure to sheltered slopes consistent with the persistent slab issue. I was able to weave a neat line down the gladed ridge with mostly soft turns, and several open shots, to the lake.
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Gliding back to the car I reflected on the magic of Peak 10,686. With an amazing buffet of multi-thousand-foot ski lines on three aspects, a rarity for the Tetons, it’s a true skier’s peak. The south, southeast and east face offer long and open fall line bowl skiing, as well as pleasant old growth ridges. The north face has an epic couloir (North Face Couloir) on par with classic descents in the core range. The remote location far north of Mount Moran, including the three mile Jackson Lake crossing and almost certainly no skin track, repels crowds. Views are spectacular. On 10,686, skiers have a remarkable choice of ski terrain suited to all abilities and snowpack conditions, accented by a wilderness feel reminiscent of Southwest Montana or Central Idaho. Alongside Albright Peak, 25 Short and Peak 10,333 (Leeks Peak), 10,686 is one of the great front-country ski venues of the Teton Range.
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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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