Slideshow TR: Skiing The Enclosure

Randosteve watches Reed make his final few steps to the summit of the Enclosure. Photo: Jason Kartchner, from the Owen/Spalding Route of the Grand Teton.

On Saturday, I got out with Reed to ski the Enclosure…which is the peak/shoulder to the west of the Grand Teton. I’ve never been on top of the Enclosure before and I’ll tell you…summiting is worth the wait. The views from the top are amazing, especially of the west side of the Grand, and seeing the exposure below the Owen/Spalding route makes me rethink soloing it.

The Enclosure is named as such because of a rock like structure found near the summit, which can be seen on the right hand side of the above photo and also in at least one of the photos in the slideshow. It was discovered in 1872 and believed to have been made by either Paul Michaud, on a previous attempt to climb the Grand Teton, or by Native Americans, and used as part of a visionquest. I like to think the Native American history is more accurate as we felt the power of the mountains while we were on mountain.

The skiing was pretty exciting, steep and exposed in some places where a fall would bee the end of everything. We were pretty early, so we waited for a while on top for the sun to hit the slope and soften up the snow. While we waited, we watched climbers ascend the Grand via the OS. It was like watching a movie. I guess we skied the South Couloir, until it cliffed-out and then cut skier’s left into what technically is referred to as part of the Owen/Spalding Route…but really more of just the approach IMHO.

Anyway, I put together this slideshow. It’s a .gif file and has 36 pictures at 2 second intervals. It moves quickly and repeats automatically. Enjoy!