I am making my first trip to the Tetons this summer and one of the days I want to do Middle Teton. I just hike/scramble, and don't want to deal with ropes and climbing equipment, so I figure in the interest of safety Grand Teton is off the table here. It seems the easiest route up Middle Teton is from the south (southwest Couloir) by taking the south fork of the canyon, however I was curious if I could summit Middle Teton by hiking up to the Lower Saddle and then attacking it from the north face? I'm having trouble finding a lot of info about this on the web.

Thanks,

Kevin

Hi,

I climbed Middle Teton from the Lower Saddle. We climbed the NW Ice Couloir route, which required some 5.6 rock and ice up to ~ 65+ degrees. There might be an easier route from the Lower Saddle, but I think it would be hard, if at all possible, to avoid 5th class climbing.

Thanks. yeah I'd be looking to avoid anything that requires any rope or fall protection. I don't mind the 65 degrees and any tough scrambling and rock hopping but anything with exposure where I could die I probably want to avoid

I guess just wanted to see both the Lower Saddle and summit Middle Teton the same day, but seems like that would be tough timewise having to go up both sides

kebott wrote:Thanks. yeah I'd be looking to avoid anything that requires any rope or fall protection. I don't mind the 65 degrees and any tough scrambling and rock hopping but anything with exposure where I could die I probably want to avoid

I guess just wanted to see both the Lower Saddle and summit Middle Teton the same day, but seems like that would be tough timewise having to go up both sides

That 65 degrees is rock/ice....can't really scramble it. You can do the standard 3-4 class SW route and see the lower saddle in the same day, from the TH, if you're fit enough. I take it you're trying to avoid the backcountry camp permit?

WyomingSummits wrote:

kebott wrote:Thanks. yeah I'd be looking to avoid anything that requires any rope or fall protection. I don't mind the 65 degrees and any tough scrambling and rock hopping but anything with exposure where I could die I probably want to avoid

I guess just wanted to see both the Lower Saddle and summit Middle Teton the same day, but seems like that would be tough timewise having to go up both sides

That 65 degrees is rock/ice....can't really scramble it. You can do the standard 3-4 class SW route and see the lower saddle in the same day, from the TH, if you're fit enough. I take it you're trying to avoid the backcountry camp permit?

Not trying to avoiding the camping permit persay, I just don't have camping equipment and am flying in from Tampa and don't feel like dealing with all of that. Just want to get as many different hikes in as possible for the time I'm there and seemed like the Lower Saddle was a good place to go. I'll just plan on doing them both the same day. Thanks for the advice!

The Saddle between the Middle and South Tetons is also pretty impressive, and doesn't have the unpleasant Exum and Ranger huts, bathrooms and all of the people. If you want a double experience, hit the Middle and South Tetons in a day.

If you want to maximize your peaks on the same day climb, do the SW Couloir on the Middle, down-climb it and then go straight across the saddle and do the NW Couloir on the South. If you are fit, this is two of the major Teton peaks that have non-technical routes and can be done in a big day from the Lupine Meadows parking area.
The NW route on the South Teton is rated slightly more difficult than the SW on the Middle, but having done both, I thought it was easier. There is a snow field that is located on the South and it stays year-around most years. I just went around it and stayed high on the NW ridge line and avoided it.
Two other points here:
1-Weather is a huge factor to getting both of these in the same day. You will need an alpine start and move quickly in order to minimize risk to afternoon thunderstorms common in the Tetons.
2-The later in the summer that you do this, (mid-Aug to mid-Sep), the better it is for non-technical climbing/hiking. The snow has pretty well melted out from these routes, and the thunderstorms tend to be less pervasive during that time frame.