Tunnel Route, Teewinot

Date: August 9, 2026

Location: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA

Team: Evan Flach

Field Notes: An interesting route on a steep mountain. The easiest approach to the Crooked Thumb col is to head up the standard east face route, then sidle ledges at the 11,200 foot contour level. From the col, one pitch of 5.6 leads to the Grandstand. Take the highest ledge system up the north face, which consists of low fifth class and fourth. The tunnel will be obvious. After crawling through the short tunnel, we dropped down to the obvious scree gully that leads up to two distinct notches. Take the climbers left notch, or the most northern notch. Scramble up to here, and then walk over to the summit.

Evan on the summit of Teewinot. The North Face of the Grand Teton towers above.

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Teewinot has always been a mountain that intimidated me. It’s direct, steep, and has seen plenty of accidents over the years. You can understand why. From the parking lot, you go straight up almost six thousand feet in just a few miles.

As Evan and I plodded up the face, he kept telling me how stoked I was going to be to ski it someday. My eyes darted upward.

Jesus Christ, I thought.

The face looks so steep from below that you almost wonder how people even scramble up it. Then Evan told me a story about watching a skier tomahawk down the face earlier that spring. Yeah, I was stoked...

But we weren’t there to ski. We were there to climb.

The Tunnel Route, Evan’s idea, seemed interesting enough. We had pieced together some beta from the Ortenburger/Jackson guidebook and notes from friends of Evan’s who had climbed it previously.

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  Teewinot, East Face

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  Following ledges to the Crooked Thumb Col

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  Evan following Ledges to the Crooked Thumb Col

At eight in the morning the sun was already boiling hot, and I was drenched in sweat. This summer has been brutally warm. July was the hottest month Wyoming had seen in 135 years. As I write this now, temperatures have thankfully cooled into the 60s, with a light drizzle falling outside.

Evan and I made quick work up the mountain, found the ledge system around the 11,200-foot contour, and stood at the col beside Crooked Thumb. It had taken us about three hours.

We wasted no time. The rope came out, I racked up, we did a quick gear check, and I led off.

A slightly exposed but easy first move to the east, protected by slinging a horn, put me into a straightforward crack and chimney system. The climbing went around 5.6, and in one pitch I reached the Grandstand.

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  Evan looking up to the Crooked Thumb Col

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  At the Crooked Thumb Col. North Face of Teewinot behind.

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  Looking down the 5.6 climbing from the Grandstand

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  On top of the Grandstand on Mount Teewinot

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  Looking up at the ledges on the North Face of Teewinot

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  Ledges on the N Face of Teewinot. Taken from the Grandstand.

From there, I Kiwi-coiled the rope and we started across the ledge system. This is where route-finding becomes important, and where parties can easily waste time.

We made the initial mistake of not climbing high enough right away, but caught it quickly. I built a short belay, brought Evan up an exposed section, and then we began simul-climbing along the ledges.

The key to the route is choosing the highest ledge system from the Grandstand. It should be fairly obvious—it’s the highest system running beneath the North Face.

We kept moving, wondering when the tunnel would finally appear. Along the route, we basked in the glory of the cool, shaded north face and admired the surrounding peaks. Evan dreamed about skiing Owen’s incredible Northeast Face. I dreamed about climbing the North Face of the Grand.

Then, from a distance, I spotted a dark chasm. As we got closer, we both became convinced that this had to be it. And it was.

The tunnel itself was slightly underwhelming. In my head, I had imagined headlamps on, crawling deep into the earth, fighting trolls, battling monsters—whatever. In reality, it was about a twenty-foot cave, and we could quite literally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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  The entrance to the tunnel!

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  Evan climbing the Teewinot Tunnel

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  Evan popping out of the Tunnel on Teewinot

Evan on the south aspect of Teewinot. North Face of the Grand Teton behind.

Jokes aside, it was really cool and unlike anything I had experienced before in the mountains. After some walking, crawling, and bag hauling, we made it through.

Once on the sunny south side, we had to rack our brains a bit to determine the best route to the summit. I initially started up the south ridge and quickly found myself in technical terrain. That wasn’t it. The southeast face also looked too difficult.

We dropped about twenty feet onto a broad scree slope. Looking up, we could see two obvious notches on the col. Evan suggested we try the climber’s left option—the more northern notch.

At the top, to my relief, he confirmed it was the right choice. I scrambled up and immediately felt my nervous system dial down a few notches. The summit was in sight.

Sixty seconds later, we stood on the 12,330-foot peak. The glory of Mount Owen and The Grand Teton was a thing to witness. But the glory was short-lived.

We had a snack, drank some water, and packed away our gear. Evan had wedding plans in town and was definitely going to be late. It was time to move. It was also brutally hot now that we were back on the east side, and nothing good comes from roasting in the alpine sun like a hog on a spit.

Scrambling down the east face was relatively uncomfortable. For close to an hour, we made exposed moves through no-fall terrain and occasionally had to stop and figure out the best path.

I find it difficult to spend hours moving through terrain where a mistake simply isn’t an option. Thankfully, we eventually made it back to solid footing, rehydrated, and prepared for the final four thousand feet of descent.

The North Face of the Grand Teton and the Northeast Face of Mount Owen from the summit of Mount Teewinot

I figured a brisk walk back to the trailhead would be more than sufficient. Evan had other plans. He wanted to run.

What’s funny is that I used to think I was extremely mountain-fit. Then I became friends with Evan.

Back at the car, we crushed some fizzy drinks, demolished a massive peanut butter chocolate slice, and piled our grimy bodies into my Nissan Frontier. More than anything, I was just happy to be out of the brutal sun.

The entire trip took us nine hours and made for a unique first summit experience on Teewinot.

Happy days...