Direct Jensen Ridge

The route begins on a steep, slabby wall to the east of Templeton's Crack. The wall is about 200' wide and the right side is the bottom of the gully between Jensen & Dietschy ridges. The obvious large roof on Jensen Ridge is up and to the left.

P1 - begins in the middle of the wall, ascends on rounded holds for 40-50' (5.6) to a ledge that traverses left to a steep crack. Climb this crack (5.7) ending with a short dihedral to a belay on a slab under the big roof.

P2 - Cross the slab and downclimb a sharp flake and make some delicate moves (5.7) up a shallow groove. Then work up and left to the base of a left-facing dihedral.

P3 - Climb up to a flake, then move right and ascend to the top of the dihedral. (5.8)

P4 - Ascend double cracks (5.5) left of the arete in the left wall of a large dihedral.

P5 - Climb up through a steep slabby section through a newly cleaved area left of the crest. (5.6) Belay where the angle kicks back. The character of the climb changes here.

P6 - Ascend a heavily-featured dihedral (5.5) and stem a slot at the top. (5.7)

P7 - Climb up easy terrain slightly to the right of the crest. (5.5)

P8 - Scramble for 200' or so to a ledge where the wall steepens. (4th class - 5.2)

P9 - Ascend cracks past a couple of pins to an awkward, rotten V-slot in a roof. If you face the climb here you'll struggle. It's easiest to place a large cam back in the slot, undercling with your left hand and work right with your back laying on the rock to your right. Then reach out with your right hand to a crack, jam and swing your legs around to face the rock again. It's not an intuitive move but it works well. (5.7+) Continue on easier rock to the end of the rope and belay.

P10 - Continue on easy rock passing a roof on the right. A long pitch.

Now scramble west aiming for a notch in the SW Ridge. Rappel 75' west or continue to the summit.

There are several variations. Aaron Gams has you climb to the east of the first two pitches. P3 can be climbed by a 5.8 or 5.9 crack with a fixed pin all the way on the west side of the crest. Some wide stemming leads up from there. P4 can be climbed by a 5.7 dihedral on the right side of the crest.

This ridge forms the eastern edge of Templeton's Crack. It is reached by descending into Templton's Crack from the toe of the Durrance Ridge, crossing the gully and scrambling up the smooth slabs on the other side.

The route description in Aaron Gams' Teton Rock Climbs starts too far right and misses all the fun of the big roofs of the first 2 pitches. Definitely not "direct."

The normal descent is by the SW Couloir.

This is a much stiffer route than the SW or Durrance Ridges. It used to be rated 5.7 but is sand-bagged at that grade. Plan on a long day for tricky route-finding and a longer descent than the SW Ridge.

A standard Teton Rack. A few large Cams are useful. An ice axe would by wise in early season for the approach but at that time of the year the rock under the first roof is likely to be wet.