(We actually did spend 10 nights in the canyon)
We woke up to fairly good weather in the City of Rocks the morning we left Idaho, but the forecast for the Tetons still looked questionable for the next couple days. We decided to spend the night in Jackson and rule out any alpine plans once we'd checked the forecast again and seen the weather for ourselves. After we arrived in town, ate a huge pizza dinner, drank a pitcher of beer, and hadn't seen any change in the forecast, our drive to try some soggy alpine climbs was pretty well eliminated. We were given some good beta for free camping and spent the night along the road outside the National Elk Reserve, had a leisurely but productive morning in town studying for the GRE and working on grad school applications, and continued our drive towards the limestone cliffs of Ten Sleep Canyon.
Our first afternoon, we climbed at the Mondo Beyondo wall. We started at Beer Bong, a much-recommended 5.10 that ends in a chimney (if the chimney is climbed facing away from the wall, the climber gets an incredible view of the Ten Sleep canyon for the last 10-15 feet of the route). Here we met Jochem and Irene, a couple on holiday from the Netherlands that we spent a lot of time climbing with over the next week. We then traversed to the Slavery Wall, where we both finished some other classic routes (e.g. Happiness in Slavery, 12b; Jackabite, 11d/12a; Colors of Heaven, 10d… and we highly recommend all of these!). By the end of the session we had both decided that Ten Sleep was one of our favorite sport climbing areas, and we were very excited about our time there. Then as we were leaving the cliff, another couple at the wall told us about the recent shooting at one of the free camping pull outs on the old Ten Sleep Canyon road. This put a definite damper on our excitement. After learning more about the incident and talking with the other climbers staying in the area, we found that the sheriff’s department had released that they knew of no immediate danger to the general climbing community, and that many people were staying in the established campground in the lower canyon. We were a little nervous, but decided to stay in the campground with the other groups of climbers. This decision was made even easier when we were told that the Forest Service had recently closed facilities at the campground for the season, so there was no nightly fee. This situation worked out very well for our trip – staying in the campground, we grew more friendly with the other climbing parties there during our visit, and the feeling of a community was very strong.
The next day we went back to the same area at Mondo Beyondo, where we each came tantalizingly close to our hardest onsights to date. Chelsea’s was on Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV; 12c) at the Slavery Wall and Seth’s was on the short and bouldery Great White Buffalo (11b).
Seth on Great White Buffalo
That afternoon the temperature dropped, and our climbing, including the chance to finish these exciting climbs, got shut down by freezing fingers for the next few days. We spent much of the cold snap continuing our GRE studying and grad school prep in town, where we were amazed and grateful for the high-quality public infrastructure in Ten Sleep. The city park is very well kept, with a water spigot, clean public restrooms, and a covered area with lights and electrical outlets (which Chelsea got super excited about until Seth told her that it’s a common feature for parks in Lander / other outdoor-rec-focused Wyo towns), and was a comfortable place to do work and watch for better or warmer weather up-canyon.
Once the weather warmed up we had to get back on EKV and Great White Buffalo, but once these climbs were finished we hiked down the wall and had a great time on other classic routes in the Valhalla and French Cattle Ranch sectors, where Seth onsighted his first 11a (Big Yellow Butterfly). We also met up with Jochem and Irene and climbed with them for the rest of the day, traversing to one of the newer walls fairly far up canyon. Chelsea and Jochem climbed Tangerine Fat Explosion (13a) - an enjoyable, very new / sharp route and Chelsea’s third outdoor 5.13 at this time (to her the climb felt easier than the grade, but if it’s called a 13a for now she’s psyched!!). Irene and Seth attempted a nearby 11- that turned out to be incredibly difficult. We climbed as long as the light would let us, and hiked out in the dark.
Chelsea on Great
White Behemoth, 12b, French Cattle Ranch (photo: Jochem Baselmans)
Jochem on Tangerine Fat
Explosion
Hiking out
Later in the week, we all (Chelsea, Seth, Irene, and Jochem)
decided to try a few climbs at Dry Wall in the lower canyon. That day the lower canyon was incredibly hot,
and the route that Chelsea and Jochem wanted to work on was infested by some of
the largest and scariest looking hornets we had ever seen. We were bummed and a little embarrassed to
get forced away from our climb by bugs, but the climbing at the Shinto sector
of the French Cattle Ranch later in the afternoon made up for our
disappointment. Chelsea and Jochem had a
lot of success onsighting the wall’s harder routes (12a-12c), while Irene and
Seth worked on Bovine Blitz, a pumpy 11c with a few scary clips.
Chelsea in the Shinto
Sector
Seth on Bovine Blitz
(photo: Jochem Baselmans)
We also really enjoyed the Circus Wall, where there are
five-star routes in both of our grade ranges: Circus in the Wind (5.11a) and
Circus in My Pants (5.12d). *Disclaimer:
Chelsea really enjoyed both Circus in the Wind and Circus in My Pants, which
has a much more bouldery style than other routes of the same grade in the
canyon. She assumes Seth enjoyed the
wall, because though Circus in the Wind felt much harder than other climbs of
the grade, he climbed it to the last (very insecure if super pumped) clip 6-7
times in a row – crazy impressive!!
Chelsea Hiking out of
the Circus
Overall, we were really impressed with Ten Sleep. The climbing is incredible, and the trails,
routes, and hardware are all very well-maintained. As we mentioned earlier, we greatly benefited
from the infrastructure at the city park.
The local coffee shop and bakery on 2nd Street has delicious
food and drink (we loved the corn chowder and cinnamon bread) and is a constant
hangout / work / meeting place for people in the area. The two bars in town are classic Wyoming
(this according to Seth; Chelsea doesn’t have enough Wyoming background to make
a distinction… but they are full of stuffed game heads, and gun rights
bumperstickers!). The local sheriffs
even kept a watch on the camp site in the days after the shooting, adding to our
sense of safety and general comfort in the town. It is certainly an area we will return to.
Seth’s favorite
routes:
Bikini Girls with
Machine Guns, 5.11a/b
Great White Buffalo
5.11b
Big Yellow Butterfly,
5.11a
Chelsea’s favorite
routes:
EKV, 5.12c
Esplanada, 5.12d
Circus in the Wind,
5.12d
