COVID canceled our foreign expedition plans in 2020, so Justin Bowen lassoed me into one of his dream projects: a new route on the north face of the Grand Teton. A Jackson Hole local, Bowen had been researching the Grand for a number of years and had identified a 2,000’ unclimbed line left of Simpleton’s Pillar but right of Grand North Couloir.

On the morning of August 16, after a bivy on the Teton Glacier, we surmounted the bergschrund at the base of the Northeast Couloir. We swapped our approach shoes and crampons for rock shoes, then scrambled about five pitches of fourth- and easy fifth-class rock, diagonaling right to reach the beginning of the North Buttress. We roped up here. The best pitches were in the beginning of the technical climbing: fingers and fists in clean rock, finishing with a protectionless, balls-shrinking crux through a blank section that Justin led with equanimity. These fun pitches were followed by a dozen rope lengths of 5.7 to 5.9 to reach the East Ridge, then some cramponing up sun-cupped snow to the summit.

We topped out at 6:30 p.m., 14 hours after leaving our camp, completing the North Buttress Direct (ca 2,000’, 5.10+ R). It was a gorgeous line with a good friend—doesn’t get any better than that. (Minus the interminably long stumble in the dark back to the car.)            

— Mark Jenkins