Journeys: The Grand Teton

It is 4:00 a.m., I am asleep in the back of my truck just outside Grand Teton National Park, and my alarm is screaming at me to wake up. It is too early. Ah, the beautiful broken record of my summer. My good friend, Doctor Matt, texted me yesterday from his job in Salt Lake City with a spontaneous proposition. Have time for a one day car to car ascent of the the Grand on Thursday? Of course I had time!

We carpooled from the Moose Junction visitor's center to the Lupine Meadows trail head where we ate breakfast. It was a late 5:45 a.m. when we hit the trail, but we were confident that the weather would be clear all day and that we would be moving fast. We were carrying light packs with food, water, one half rope, and a very light alpine rack. Our chosen route was the Owen Spaulding and we did not anticipate placing much gear.

We shot up Lupine Meadows trail then through the switchbacks to the first boulder field. We hardly slowed through the Meadows, Caves, and Moraine and crested the headwall into the lower saddle in three hours. We took a break in the howling wind of the lower saddle to eat a snack and put layers back on. Upon leaving the lower saddle for the upper we would enter the shade of the Grand and temperatures would plummet.

Doctor Matt stops in the Meadow to squash the sun.

We slowed through the boulders and blocks on our path to the upper saddle. We reached the upper saddle feeling the cold seep into our bones. A guide and client passed us on their descent after a successful summit. The guide had a laugh at my shorts saying that he was wearing long underwear under his long pants. Doctor Matt and I continued up and finally reached the Belly Roll, the start of the Owen Spaulding.

We roped up and quickly passed the Bell Roll, a large block jamming the passage to the Belly Crawl. We reached the Belly Crawl and I led on climbing with my hands on the top of the A-frame feature and my feet on the outward sloping slab. The crawl pinched down to a 10 foot hand traverse then ended at the second chimney where I placed a cam and belayed Doctor Matt.

At the end of the Belly Crawl.

We continued up through the second chimney to the base of the Owen Chimney. Fun easy climbing through the Owen Chimney brought us to Sargent's Chimney. We climbed straight up Sargent's Chimney avoiding ice and snow in the left slot. As I belayed Doctor Matt my legs did start to get cold. I pulled my socks up as high as they would go and looked forward to sunlight on the summit.

After Doctor Matt was through Sargent's Chimney we scrambled on easy ledges following a faint climber's trail to the summit. The summit sunlight immediately warmed us, but the wind howled and forced us to find a small alcove on the east face of the summit pyramid for shelter. We enjoyed a mostly hazy view while eating lunch. Matt declared that any additionally climbing (i.e. north east ridge of the Middle Teton) was out of the question because he had to be at work at 6:00 a.m. the next morning and did not want to be completely wiped out.

Matt on the summit of the Grand Teton.

We hesitantly left the sunlight for the shade of the descent back to the upper saddle. Because we had only one 60m half rope we were forced into the slung horn rappel over the south side of the standard rappel ledge. Admittedly, I was nervous about the rappel and used an auto bloc prusik for once. My nervousness was turned to frustration when I found the rope hung up in a crack and had to use both hands to get it out. When the rope was out I could see it drop cleanly to the ground with about two feet of slack on the ground. Relieved, I finished the rappel then fireman's belayed Matt.

The technical climbing was behind us and we made a relaxed descent back through Garnet Canyon and down the maintained trail. We pulled into the trail head just after 5 p.m. - 11 hours on the day. It seemed as quickly as it had started it was over. After a victory dinner at Dornan's, Doctor Matt would return to reality in Salt Lake City and I would escape back to the woods of Montana.