The Object of our Obsession
The Grand Teton. What a magnificent mountain. I just got back from a 2 day hike/climb/summit of this beautiful creation. I was invited to go on this trip and hesitated about 30 seconds before saying yes! It is one of those opportunities that you must take when it comes along.
We started on Friday August 28th at Exum Guide's office near Jenny Lake in Teton National Park. It is about 3 1/2 hours from Ennis, Mt--my home. We had a great weather forecast for sunshine and warm temps and were grateful for that. This summer has been exceptionally cold and rainy which can translate into worse weather at elevation. As a matter of fact I ran into someone on the mountain who got snowed out when it accumulated 6" while they were trying to get to the top just 3 weeks ago.
Here is the happy cast of characters. We set a relaxed pace with lunch and water breaks and spent most of Friday hiking the 7 miles up-5000 feet elevation gain-to the lower saddle where we would spend the night and prepare for the 3 AM wakeup to start our bid for the summit. BTW our heavy backpacks are not in this picture!
Watching the sunset from the lower saddle we were happy and nervous at the same time. Only a few more hours until we would continue on to the technical part of our adventure.
3AM came quickly after a sleepless night of tossing and turning in the Exum tent with 12 other restless climbers. We ate a quick breakfast and geared up. This included 3 layers of shirts and two layers on the pants, wind resistant warm jacket, helmet, harness, and headlamp.
We climbed and hiked and scrambled and climbed. The sun came up and revealed the magnificent views all around us. Did you know that you can see Old Faithful blow in Yellowstone National Park from up here? Amazing.
Then we climbed some more. Here I am after climbing a chimney with some snow and ice packed in it.
Now I am skipping ahead in the story. Part of the descent (which means we did make it to the top!) includes a 140 foot rappel. Here I am lowering myself.
I am that tiny dot at the top of that giant wall. Preparing to lower myself to the next level of rock.
Back to the Story>>>>>>>>>>>>>The Summit. August 29th, 2009 at 9:55Am. What a Grand feeling. We could see for miles in every direction. It was balmy, warm and calm.
Here is the Benchmark.....13,770 elevation. It felt good to run my hand over this.
Here is the crew at the summit. A little more tired, but just as excited and happy as when we started.One might think that this is the end of the story.....we still had to come down. Our day ended back at the car at 8PM. It was a LONG day. But we were still smiling!
We ran into so many interesting people along the way. There were climbers and hikers from many parts of the world. There were also the seasoned mountaineers/outdoorsmen who leave the parking lot at 3 AM and hike, and climb and return to their car in the same day. There was the runner who was hopping rock to rock like a billy goat with no protection... crazy. I hope he made his goal.
I am still smiling and thinking about the next time.....
More photos and video to come.
