Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
After spending a day at Snowy Range, we drove north in our van to Grand Teton National Park. After doing some easy to moderate hikes in the first two days, I had my sight set on climbing the Middle Teton on the last full day. Middle Teton is the 3rd highest peak in the Teton Range behind Grand Teton and Mount Owen, the only one of the three with a non-technical albeit strenuous route to the summit. I started the hike from Lupine Meadows TH around 3:30am and didn’t see another person on the trail for the first few hours, which was a little spooky considering we’re in grizzly country. I did carry a bear spray just in case. I reached Garnet Canyon at daybreak, where the trail became less obvious and the hike turned into talus hopping and scree traversing with some route finding challenges. After about 5hrs I finally reached the saddle between South and Middle Teton, and decided to immediately start heading up to the summit. I put my spikes on for the last snow crossing before reaching the couloir, which was totally dry and full of loose rocks. The couloir became increasingly narrower and steeper toward the top, but the climbing never exceeded class 3. I finally reached the summit around 10:15, almost 7hrs after I left TH. I had the summit to myself for 20 mins and the views of the Grand and surrounding mountains/valleys from the top were outstanding. The descent was uneventful and I got back to TH around 3pm. Total stats: 14 miles with 6,000 elevation gain. Hope to be back in the future to hike some of the longer loops
Music:
Ethereal, by Punch Deck
Filament, by Scott Buckley
Standing in the Sun, by Punch Deck
00:00 Intro
01:48 Getting up to the Saddle
05:16 Summit Push
09:23 Summit Views
After spending a day at Snowy Range, we drove north in our van to Grand Teton National Park. After doing some easy to moderate hikes in the first two days, I had my sight set on climbing the Middle Teton on the last full day. Middle Teton is the 3rd highest peak in the Teton Range behind Grand Teton and Mount Owen, the only one of the three with a non-technical albeit strenuous route to the summit. I started the hike from Lupine Meadows TH around 3:30am and didn’t see another person on the trail for the first few hours, which was a little spooky considering we’re in grizzly country. I did carry a bear spray just in case. I reached Garnet Canyon at daybreak, where the trail became less obvious and the hike turned into talus hopping and scree traversing with some route finding challenges. After about 5hrs I finally reached the saddle between South and Middle Teton, and decided to immediately start heading up to the summit. I put my spikes on for the last snow crossing before reaching the couloir, which was totally dry and full of loose rocks. The couloir became increasingly narrower and steeper toward the top, but the climbing never exceeded class 3. I finally reached the summit around 10:15, almost 7hrs after I left TH. I had the summit to myself for 20 mins and the views of the Grand and surrounding mountains/valleys from the top were outstanding. The descent was uneventful and I got back to TH around 3pm. Total stats: 14 miles with 6,000 elevation gain. Hope to be back in the future to hike some of the longer loops
Music:
Ethereal, by Punch Deck
Filament, by Scott Buckley
Standing in the Sun, by Punch Deck
00:00 Intro
01:48 Getting up to the Saddle
05:16 Summit Push
09:23 Summit Views
