Cloudveil Dome, “Nimbus,” Tetons. Steve Koch and I did a new five-pitch route on the northeast face of Cloudveil Dome, which we named “Nimbus.” The climb is a dark, wet chimney that really has no appeal except as an ice route. We have watched it come close to forming as an ice route and Ron Matous and others had made previous attempts. We found pins and rappel slings fairly high up. We climbed it in early July of this cold, wet summer. The first two pitches involved low-angle ice and rock. The third was a long mixed pitch that ended with a 50-foot vertical ice pillar and a belay from rock gear on the wall to the side. The fourth was a free-hanging icicle formed over an overhanging section. I made some rock moves to try to gain the ice, but the bottom broke off and I was forced to use some points of aid to regain the remainder of the pillar. Tricky and strenuous climbing led to the lower-angled fifth pitch. Finally, we had easy scrambling to the summit. (III, 5.10, A2 as we did it, but it would go entirely free as an ice climb in the right conditions.)

Alex Lowe