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Sep 09, 2022 — Buck Mountain is a a big peak just south of the Grand Teton massif, and its proximity to the Grand means excellent views. Static Peak is a more minor summit just south of Buck Mountain, a peak that can be reached via a popular trail. The issue we foresaw would be getting from Buck Mountain to Static Peak, since the only info we were aware of would either require a Class 5 traverse, or a snow climb up to the saddle separating the two peaks. Though with some luck and hope, we set out to attempt it and later located another option that worked out much better, allowing us to link the peaks and form a great loop that visits some gorgeous scenery in Grand Teton National Park.
We set out from the Death Canyon Trailhead, the very popular hike lulling us to the west, tricking us into thinking it would continue in this manner to Timberline Lake. Of course not being the case, we had to backtrack a bit to locate a far less obvious social trail leading off to the north. While the trail was certainly still quite good, we had already become complacent within the first half mile of the hike and groaned dramatically. Minimal deadfall through the forest and barely-encroaching sagebrush through a meadow led us up into Stewart Draw. The granitic spires above starting coming into view and the creek was flowing nicely. Often the trail climbed steeply up various slopes, but we we had no issues following it until about 9600' when we entered a talus field. Here the trail petered out and we did our best to stick to eroded portions within the talus as we made our way toward Timberline Lake. The last few hundred feet followed tundra and talus and reached an overlook of the lake.
Buck Mountain was just ahead of us now, but we still had 1600 vertical gain or so to gain the summit. A social trail popped in again when we reached the base of the ascent route, the only clear option for getting around the cliff bands around Buck Mountain's base. We were presented with two options. The first led up a Class 2+ gully, while the second kept left of the gully and ascended grassy ledges. Both met up and continued through a talus field, making an ascending traverse toward Buck's summit to the west. The lower portion of the talus field is wide, but on both the acent and descent we were eventually pushed toward a wide, key gully (Class 2). There's certainly no one correct way to reach the summit since we pretty much all took slightly different routes from one another and then also on the way back, but it generaly sticks to Class 2/3 terrain with the occasional Class 3 move. If you aren't paying attention, a random cliff may present Class 4 or harder, so just keep plotting a few hundred feet ahead.
After inhaling the incredible summit views, we scoped our proposed route to Static Peak to the south. We didn't even toy with the idea of taking the Class 5 traverse from the summit of Buck, and our inspection of the extraordinarily steep-looking saddle had us laughing, but Chris pointed out that Static's east ridge looked reasonable. Once we reached the base of Buck Mountain, Jon and Matt decided they were content for the day and turned back, leaving me and Chris alone to traverse the light Class 2 talus field leading to Static Peak's east ridge. We were excited about potential salvation from an out-and-back hike. After some clawing at a very loose Class 2/3 slope to gain the ridge, we were thrilled to learn the ridge seemed to continue in Class 2/3 fashion for at least a little while. Keeping below the ridge and its initial cliffy terrain led to one Class 3 steppy move on somewhat loose terrain, followed by Class 2/3 on more loose stuff to get back to the ridgeline. From here was light Class 2 to the summit. The views were excellent toward Buck Mountain the whole way up, and we got a cool perspective of Static Peak's sheer northern cliff.
Now on the unofficial Static Peak Trail, we descended to its junction with the Alaska Basin Trail, which led to the base of Albright Peak. This is a minor summit with a steep social trail leading to its summit (Class 2). Its slightly lower southern summit offered great views into Death Canyon far below and back toward Static Peak and Grand Teton in the distance. Us nerds made a few too many jokes about how the peak was more than just "albright". Now it was just a matter of hiking the long Alaska Basin Trail down using its many switchbacks to join the Death Canyon Trail. Along the way, the views into the canyon were spectacular and we even saw a bear asleep in a tree just off the trail. There's a historic cabin at the junction with the Death Canyon Trail, now used as a patrol cabin. Death Canyon's sheer walls looming above led us out toward Phelps Lake on the nice trail. Once out of the canyon, the trail headed away from Phelps Lake and ascended to the east for a few hundred feet in order to get us back to the trailhead.
Upon our return, we were greeted by Matt and Jon who had lovingly brought us iced coffees and beer, but also by a couple of bears lingering in the parking lot who calmly refused to let us pass to reach our friends and their goodies. The bears used the road since it was the path of least resistance, uncaring that we were also there. We backed away. They approached. We backed away more. Clearly these bears were not going to charge us, but I'm a simple desert dweller accustomed to predictable rattlesnakes and jumping cholla, so I wasn't willing to risk a serious encounter with one of these foreign, furry beasts.
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