Journeys: Grand Teton National Park - Day 4

Summit day. 5 a.m. I wake up. Wide awake. Mentally ready to go. I look past my feet and cannot see down the canyon. I cannot see the Middle Teton to my right. I cannot see the Grand Teton to my left. The fog is too dense! I know the sun will not be up for hours to burn the fog away. I wake Nico. We look at each other and know all we can do is wait. None of have been here before. None of has seen the route. The weather is forecasted to be clear. Wait until the fog is chased away and start late.

We start at 9:30 a.m. I had almost descended straight to the parking lot instead of climbing. I had a commitment in Bozeman I was intent on keeping.

The guidebook led us out of the saddle and up past the large black dike to another smaller black dike that we followed up and to the right. We took the chimney alternative and crested the rock rib. I saw Wall Street for the first time. From my vantage point it looked terrifying. There were four climbers standing on Wall Street roping up. We crossed the gully and were soon standing with the four climbers.

We were in a traffic jam for an hour. It was cold in the shade. Anna led up to the boulder traverse at the end of the ledge and set some anchors, but Nico and I still had to wait until the party ahead of us moved on. Nico and I stomped our feet and rubbed our arms to keep the blood flowing and to stay warm. The Lower Saddle was in the sun. How many more hours would Wall Street be in the freezing shade?

"I see Sponge Bob!" Nico declared. He pointed down at the saddle.

Sure enough Sponge Bob smiled back up at us from the front of our rock cave. A square of yellow pinned down by a few heavy rocks.

Finally the party ahead of us cleared the belay and Nico and I followed up to Anna. I still had my gloves on because my hands were cold. As I tried to make the traverse the ledge suddenly became inches wide and I reached up to balance with my hands. The only problem was that I had no grip with my gloves and my hands kept sliding back off the smooth rock. Sure enough I took both gloves off and stuffed them in my mouth so that I could use my hands to make the move.

Now we were at the bottom of the Golden Step. Knobby. Golden. Golden Step. Anna continued leading and we were able to pass the party of four in front of us just before the Wind Tunnel. We scrambled up through the wind tunnel and to the top of a gully. We were not sure where we were. We climbed a pitch higher.

Was this the start of the friction pitch? Hm. Maybe. Anna led on. She did not think it looked like the friction pitch she had seen in photos. We reached a ledge at the top of the pitch. Above we could see the striking and dramatic V Pitch hanging out to the left against the blue sky. We checked the topo. We had just climbed the friction pitch. We scrambled a few hundred feet up easy terrain to the bottom of the V Pitch.

Anna on the V Pitch.

I think this was the best pitch of the climb. Quality asthetic for photos too. We finished the V Pitch and started up a steep ramp past a tower. Anna led on.

We were scrambling the crest of the ridge and could see the summit pyramid. We traversed the top of the Ford Couloir and I started to get excited. I knew the summit was a short scramble up. Reaching the summit was a thought that had been lingering since last August when my sister and I had skipped an attempt due to a heavy snow year. We joined a group of three on the summit and shook hands. A broad smile stretched across my face. It was breathtaking.

Then I unclipped my hair brush from my harness.

Anna's final yoga pose.

Hairbrush shenanigans continue.

It was getting to be late in the afternoon. There was no bad weather on the horizon, but practically ran down the mountain to our cave at the Lower Saddle. We folded up Sponge Bob and packed him away then hustled toward the trailhead parking lot. After two and a half hours of downhill hiking we reached the parking lot. It was 9:30 p.m.

I made it home at 12:45 a.m. I was exhausted.