Avoiding Hubris in the Tetons

Darren had a four day weekend, so we decided somewhat last minute to drive to Wyoming and climb another North American Classic Climb: The Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton

On Friday we drove all day to Jackson, Wyoming.  I had always thought it was called Jackson Hole, but apparently my GPS and the welcome sign say it is Jackson.  I'm still confused.  Either way, I like the town with its abundance of art, eclectic restaurants, and Western feel.  Darren judges a town by its outdoor store and was not disappointed with Teton Mountaineering.  The guy working there gave us lots of information and pointed the way on a map to a sweet free camp site.

While we ate at the Merry Pigs Mexican Restaurant, I found out that I passed my physical therapy boards (thank you Olivia for sending me the link)!  I can not even try to explain the relief that both Darren and I felt.  I immediately texted family and friends the good news.

On Sunday, we woke up to a frosty sleeping bag, but surprisingly the temperature was warmer than I thought it would be.  It made me excited to start our Teton adventure.

On the way to the Jenny Lake Ranger station we saw wild buffalo in front of the Tetons

Mario and Luigi climb the Tetons

On our way up the mountain

The vertical dike in the background I believe is made from diabase

Good ole talus fields

Wyoming marmot...less skittish than Colorado marmots

We made it to our camp site at the Petzoldt Caves (It was one of the best camping spots I've ever had.  I believe the caves are named after the founder of NOLS whose headquarters is in Lander, Wyoming) in the early afternoon and didn't really have anything to do but enjoy the Petzoldt recliner ledge.  We probably sat gazing at the scenery and chatting with another climbing couple for more than two hours.

Getting drunk on hot cocoa and backpacker's food

Sunday we had an alpine start in hopes that we would avoid the 40% chance of showers and snow in the afternoon.  We also decided to skip the lower Exum ridge in order to get off the mountain more quickly.

We didn't exactly avoid the weather.  As one guy we met put it, "There are jellyfish all over the sky."

Starting up from the lower saddle, the wind was so fierce that I could only barely keep standing.  Added to the face numbing wind, something between snow and hail fell on us several times.

When we arrived at the bottom of Wallstreet where our technical climbing was to begin, we met two groups turning back because of the weather.  We could see the wind flipping and churning all about in crazy eddies and swirls around the peak.  The cumbre was also socked in most of the time we observed it.  We really did not want to turn around, so we waited for awhile to see if the weather would change.  Blue sky seemed to be just a little ways away, but then as the clouds and sky moved closer to the mountains, they became angry and would once again shroud the top in feathery white.  Finally we made the tough decision to turn around.  We felt good about our decision until we got back to the lower saddle.  The wind was as fierce as ever, but the peak was momentarily clear.  To make matters harder for us, a group was just starting up the mountain.  We decided to keep going down, but the whole way down to our campsite I couldn't keep from sighing.  We both began to wonder if we could have climbed the rock even in the crazy wind.  Had we made the right decision?  We had to hug each other a few times for comfort while we hiked further away from our goal.  We were disappointed.  

Threading the "eye of the needle" down the Owen-Spaulding route.  We would have done this entire route because it is easier to bail from then the Exum Ridge, but it was covered in ice and we didn't have an ice axe.  Plus, some other climbers had bailed from it after getting in a snow storm somewhere up the route.

I learned what verglas is on this trip.  It's very slippery.  

So windy you can't hear what I'm saying in this video!

Open air toilets at the lower saddle

I believe this shiny fan-like rock is called gneiss

Our campsite was perched on the mountainside near the top of this waterfall protected from the wind by pine trees.  From here we packed up our bags and continued our way down.

Darren kept leaving me peanut M&Ms along the path.  To me, they were like little love pats.

When we finally got down the mountain (it always seems so much longer hiking back down--especially the last mile!), we drove a loop around the park, and I saw my first wild moose!

After a somewhat disappointing day, we consoled ourselves in Jackson with pizza and a movie before returning to our same free campsite from two nights prior.

On Monday we had a very long nine hours back home, so we stopped along the way to play with a jackalope, eat greasy food and check out the outdoor store in Lander, and challenge each other to a game of mini-golf in Fort Collins.  Somehow during our courtship we'd never gotten around to playing.

I got a hole-in-one!  I think the natural dred I developed over the trip gave me good luck.

For further consolation, Darren stopped by the Pink Berry in Denver for supper.  Amazing!  And we really did have an overall fabulous time, and nothing could temper the happiness from my successful boards.  Plus we saw lots of beautiful animals and mountains, met some lovely people, and enjoyed fabulous camp sites.  But, we shall return next year, and this time we are going for the full ridge!