Grand Teton Trip

This past weekend i went to Teton National Park in Wyoming with two great girlfriends, Katie and Joy. Joy's parents live in Jackson so we had a lovely breakfast with them saturday morning and then a really nice hike in to our camp. sunday morning we woke up early and climbed Irene's Arete, a classic 5.8 alpine route up Garnet Canyon. You can pretty much see the Grand Teton the whole time. it was a beautiful day and a perefct climb. we thought we might get rained on at one point, but the clouds passed and we got to finish our route. the next morning (labor day) we woke up extremely early (3 am!!) and climbed the Grand Teton. I've always wanted to climb that chunk of rock! it was a very tiring experience- a long hike (15 miles total that day) and a lot of elevation gain/loss (5-7,000ft). it is a technical climb, rated at around 5.6, with 1,500 feet of vertical climbing invovled. we made it go a lot faster by not roping up. a slightly terrifying experience at times. again, we had a perfect day with not a cloud in the sky. we summited by 9:30am and then hiked all the way back out to our car. Then katie and i still had to drive 5 hours home... i got home at 11:30 pm and had to be at work by 7 the next morning.... i got worked!! but we had an absolutely fantastic time, great weather, and even better fellowship. what a wonderful experience with two awesome women!!


All the pictures:
Grand Teton Trip on PicasaWeb

Rotated Images:

4th pitch of Irene's Arete, 5.8 Teton National Park


4th pitch, look, Blue sky!! that's a happy climber!


Rock fall on the Grand. What you can't see here is the actual Grand Teton -it's behind that dirt cloud! There was some massive rock fall down one of the popular gullies on the Grand. Luckily no one was hurt, although the rocks did destroy some people's tent camping on the moraine. pretty scary! this was the day before our summit of the Grand. our route was not affected.


Joy, Katie, and I on top of the Grand Teton!!!


Katie and I practicing our yoga at a belay ledge on Irene's Arete while waiting out some clouds. we are attempting to salute the sun.


Katie and I climbing towards the summit of the Grand.


Joy, Katie, and I on the top of Irene's Arete. Nez Perce in the background.


Joy finding the way on the Grand.


Joy, Katie and I on the start of the trip- the 4.5 mile hike in.


Katie starting the last pitch of Irene's Arete.



I'm off to Devil's Tower Wyoming this weekend to do some more great climbing!!! Pictures to follow for that too.