The Raven Crack, across from the Snaz Buttress in Death Canyon, Grand Teton National Park, WY, was finally climbed this winter by Sam Magro, a strong and genial 27 year old from Bozeman, MT, and me last Wednesday. It was my fourth attempt on the route. The line is a thing of beauty and had inspired me to spend many hours to crack her challenges. The route offers the most demanding mixed climbing I have experienced in GTNP, up to M7+. The sustained steepness, directness of line, rock and ice quality and short approach all added up to lure me in for this beautiful line.
The route climbs Raven (Prospector’s) Falls, then the steep climbing begins after a 300′ or so scramble to the business above. Seven steep, exciting and challenging pitches bring one to the ridge.
The difficulty of the pitches are as follows:
Pitch 1 – M6, Pitch 2 – M6+, Pitch 3 – M7+, Pitch 4 – M7, Pitch 5 – M6, Pitch 6 – M6 R/X, Pitch 7 – M4/5.
Sam and I completed the route in 23 hours car to car after only a few hours of sleep before heading out.
I highly recommend this route to anyone who is up for a big mixed climbing challenge in GTNP.
Following are a few images:
Photo - Stephen Koch
