Climbing The GRAND TETON

Rashawn at the start of the tail.  The Grand is behind him.  We will be standing at the summit about 22 hours after this picture was taken.

As I look back on the experience of climbing the Grand Teton, I can not remember how the idea of climbing it in the first place ever entered my mind.  It was last October as I sat in my Jackson Hole living room enjoying the beautiful view from my big blue comfy chair when I first thought climbing the Grand was a good idea.  At that point, I had already decided to rent the house again for the summer of 2012.  Once that decision was made, I wondered what the great adventure could be for summer 2012.  Climbing the Grand popped into my head!  So without much research, I sent Rashawn a text message and said "I have decided to rent the house again next summer and will be climbing the Grand...you in?"  His response was something like this - "let me get this right, my mother is going to climb a mountain, as if I could say no and hear about it the rest of my life, I guess I am in."  From this point on, I did a bit more research and began to plan the climb.  My Jackson friends encouraged me by saying the climb would be no problem and I should book the best guide at Exum, Dave Bowers.  I called Exum Climbing Guides determined the best days of the summer to climb and booked Dave Bowers for a private group of four people.  I asked my friend and fellow lover of Jackson Hole, Vicky Johnson, for her and her husband to join the group for the climb.  Her response was a definite "you're f...ing crazy, but Kevin would love to do it."  So Vicky gave the Climb experience to Kevin and his son Tim for Christmas.  The group was now assembled.

Starting day one of climbing school

In order to climb the Grand with Dave Bowers, you must complete two days of "climbing school" with the Exum School.  Dave was our teacher guide during our two days of "climbing school.'  Rashawn, Kevin and I had no climbing experience at all.  Tim was the most experienced and the most skilled.  During the first day of school, Dave spent time teaching us all about knots and ropes and some basic climbing techniques.  From the start it was a challenging experience.  You wear special climbing shoes to climb mountains (who knew) that have a sticky rubber sole to help you stick to the rock.  Not that we did not believe Dave, but the shoes still did not seem ready to hold me up on a rock and keep me from falling on my head.  I was nervous and scared but believed in Dave and kept doing the best I could do.

Dave teaching us knots and ropes

Dave is a very experienced mountain guide and has climbed the Grand over 200 times.  I just don't think he was ready for the four of us.  He did the best he could, but we turned out the be the most challenging group he ever had.  Tim was a pro.  Rashawn was Rashawn and Kevin and I worked hard but struggled with the knots and ropes.

Dave talking ropes with Kevin and Rashawn 

Dave's main job was to teach us all we needed to know and to get us safely up and down the Grand.  I respected his level of intensity and his experience.  I also knew that I had never been a girl scout and was pretty sure that I would never be able to tie the knots, or remember the names of each knot, to a level that passed Dave's test.

Dave and Kevin on a practice climb

Kevin and Tim on a practice climb

I think Kevin is asking Tim "what the hell has she gotten us into."

Dave offering more instruction

Tim, Kevin and Rashawn

Taking a break on the rock.  Please look at how slippery this rock looks!

Rashawn on rappelling off the edge

Tim an expert on the ropes.  Rashawn happy to watch. .Kevin looking
up and wondering how the hell we are getting up there.

Climbing up with my sticky shoes.  It was best if you just never looked down.

After the first day of climbing school we were all a good athletic tired.  The day was not only physically challenging, but also mentally challenging.  It is a lot of information in a short amount of time.  Even though we were out there for at least 8 hours, Dave had attempted to pack our brains with information.  Dave has done this type of physical activity his whole life.  He has tied a lot of knots, gathered a lot of rope, climbed up a lot of mountains and rappelled down a lot of edges.  He is a pro.  The rest of us.....not so much.  During day one we faced new skills, scary challenges, rain, thunder and lightening.  We were spent but excited to face day two which we knew would continue to prepare us for the big challenge (The Grand Teton) that awaited us.


Day two got off to a rocky (no pun attended) start.  At the end of day one, we returned to the Exum office area which consist of a small cabin and four picnic tables.  We took our gear off on one of the picnic tables and Dave told us to meet "right here" the next day at 7:45am.  As good little soldiers, we arrived at our picnic table at 7:45am an waited for Dave.  At 8:15am, Dave came out of the cabin and asked "where have you guys been?"  To this question we all said "right here where you told us to meet you."  He said he was waiting for us inside the cabin because we had to sign release papers.  We told him that we signed the papers yesterday and he replied "you have to sign them every day."  As his frustration intensified, we replied "no one told us that."  This was not the best way to start day two, but we marched on with our orders and continued to follow our leader and learn what we needed to learn.

It could have just been one of those days, but from the start we were not clicking like a fine tuned machine.  Dave kept reinforcing the fact that for him to safely get us to the top of the Grand, we had to move very quickly and very efficiently.  We all understood this concept, but that did not mean we could travel at Dave's pace or flawlessly tie knots, wrap ropes and give proper commands while our hearts were pounding out of our chest after climbs and rappels.  As a coach of many years, I understood Dave's frustration, but I also knew that we were doing the best we could at the time.  We had bloody hands and bruised knees and everyone's nerves we on edge.  The rain, hail and lightening did not help things.

Kevin on the move

Rashawn rappelling down under Dave's watchful eye

Rashawn climbing

As things began to melt down on day two of the climbing school, Dave let it be known that he had his doubts about getting the four of us to the summit.  It was easy to see that his frustration was directed most at Kevin and me.  I must admit, Kevin and I could not remember all of the knots to save our own lives.  As Dave's frustration grea, so did mine.  I knew that it was important for us to know the knots, but i also knew that he had to check each of our knots every time, so why didn't he just tie the knots for us?  Rightly so, Dave's concern was speed and efficiency up and down the mountain.  It terms of speed and efficiency, wasn't it quicker and more efficient for him to correctly tie our knots for us, as opposed to stand there and watch us struggle to attempt to tie the knot it right, while telling us "it's just not that hard, you have to tie these right."  The more he showed disappointment and frustration in my knot abilities, the worse my knot was.....it was a crazy circle.  While all of this was happening, Kevin's hands were cramping and he could only take one of the two practice rappels.  The sky was growing darker and we still had much to do.  A REALLY large wall stood in front of us and Dave wanted us to climb up.  This would have been the toughest climb we had attempted in the last two days.  Kevin's hands were still cramping, so he was unable to attempt the climb.  I told Dave I would give it a try.  Dave instructed us to first tie in using a figure eight knot.  Needless to say, I could not get this knot correctly tied and Dave continued to make frustrating comments.  At this point, I knew I had reached my breaking point for the day and I said "I am out, take the boys."  In all fairness to myself, Dave taught us the figure eight knot (which I had never done) on day one in the morning.  We practiced the figure eight a few times that morning and then did not attempt another figure eight for over 24 hours.  There was no way my limited knot brain was going to remember how to tie that knot.

Rashawn climbing

At this point, with the sky continuing to grow darker, Kevin cramping, me putting the rope down, the boys looking around and trying to disappear and Dave about to explode, we sang "kumbaya" and had a pow wow.  Dave relaxed a bit and said that we still had options in an attempt to reach our goal of making it to the summit.  One option was for us to hire a second guide so that Dave could take Tim and Rashawn, who understood the knots and the ropes, and the second guide could take me and Kevin.  With two guides, if Kevin and I were moving to slowly and it looked like we would not make the summit, we could head instead to the Enclosure (second highest peak on mountain), while Dave continued at a faster pace to the summit with Tim and Rashawn.  This new plan with two guides made much more sense and gave us many options once the final climb to the summit began.  With the new plan in place, more smiles appeared all around and Dave and the boys made the final climb of day two of school.

Rashawn climbing under Tim's watchful eye.

Here we go!  Climbing school is over.  Our packs are ready and all 20 pounds of them are on our backs.  The second guide (Ann) has arrived to add help and calm the nerves.  We are ready and now we begin!

Ready to start. Monday, July 30th.
Tim, Jo Ann, Ann, Rashawn and Kevin

The official climb of the Grand Teton begins at the Lupine Meadows trail head.  On the first day of the two day climb, you hike and boulder (hike over large rocks) for 7 miles.  The trail has an elevation gain of 5000 feet.  The elevation at the trail head is about 6300 feet and the hike for the first day ends at the Lower Saddle which sits at an elevation of 11,600 feet.  You feel like you are walking 7 miles straight up hill.....could be because you are!

Rashawn and Kevin coming out of a boulder field.
They are walking on snow.

Rashawn taking a break in the boulder field.  We were still headed up.

Rashawn and Kevin

Meeting up with a group who was on their way down

Rashawn catching a breath

Kevin bouldering

Beautiful place for some water

Kevin climbing up

After hiking for 7 miles straight up, we finally arrived at the Lower Saddle.  The Lower Saddle sits at an elevation on 11,600 feet.  The air is thin and the views are simply beautiful.  We were dog tired by the time we reached the Lower Saddle and we were ready to rest our feet and bodies and take the packs off our shoulders.

Tim and Rashawn resting after having arrived at the Lower Saddle

At base camp at the Lower Saddle.  The polar bear hat was a gift from my friend Nancy Martin.

View to Idaho from the Lower Saddle

Lower Saddle base camp.  We slept in that brown hut.

After a bit of a rest at the Lower Saddle, we started to settle in for the night.  We first had to prepare our day packs for the next day.  On the climb to the summit, we would begin in the dark at 4:30am.  We would be dressed for the cold and would have a smaller day pack on our shoulders.  The day pack contained water, snacks, rain gear and rappelling gloves.  After getting our day packs ready and our sleeping area prepared, we could relax and grab some dinner.  As the sun started to fall in the sky, the temps also dropped.  It was a once in a life time dinner with beautiful views and an amazing sunset.


The addition of Ann as our second guide had drastically changed everyone's attitude and outlook.  She was exactly what the group needed.  Ann is the head field hockey coach at Trinity College in CT.  She has a wonderful temperament and an ease about communicating skills.  She was positive and encouraging and put all of us at ease.  While at base camp, she took time to walk us through what we needed to do and how the next morning would play out.  With Ann's handling of us, we all knew we would make it to the summit.  It also turned out that a 3rd guide would be taking a training trip with us to the summit.  Karen was an expert climber who was trying to be hired by Exum.  In order o be hired by Exum, she has to be a part of a certain amount of climbs with other Exum guides.  Due to a cancellation from another group, there was room for her on the mountain that day and she was going to join our group as one of her training sessions.  Karen was great!  At this point, the four of us were super motivated and feeling very positive about making the summit.  We had three guides to get us to the top and I just knew that one of them would tie my knots for me!!!

Rashawn eating some dinner and enjoying the view to Idaho from the Lower Saddle

View looking towards Wyoming with shadow of Tetons - awesome

The moon over Wyoming.  View of Wyoming from the Lower Saddle

Sun setting over Idaho.  View from Lower Saddle.
Rashawn pointing at the Grand and knowing he will make it to the summit!

Rashawn showing you where we climb in the morning.  Another 2000 feet straight up.

Sunset at the Lower Saddle

Tim and Kevin at sunset at the Lower Saddle

Sunset at the Lower Saddle.  Elevation 11,600 feet

Sunset at the Lower Saddle.  Elevation 11,600 feet

Heading to the summit

After enjoying the beautiful sunset (about 9:20pm) it was time to hit the sleeping bag in the hut.  There were 7 of us sleeping in the hut.  Six men and me.  We each had a sleeping pad and sleeping bag and attempted to get a few hours of sleep before they woke us at 3:30am to begin our attempt to summit the Grand.  It is fair to say that I got no sleep.  Between the noise of the men snoring and the guy near me who kept getting messages on his iphone, there was not much opportunity to fall into a deep sleep.  he 3:30am wake up call did not bother me as much as I thought it would because I was already awake and felt like it would be better to start than to stay in my sleeping bag and waste more time.  The Exum staff provides you with hot water, so both Rashawn and I enjoyed oatmeal as our pre-climb breakfast.  At 4:30am, wearing a few layers against the low 40 degree temps, we began our climb to the summit.  It was pitch black dark and we had to navigate a very steep trail filled with rocks that went straight up.  We were wearing helmets and head lamps, but Dave told us not to turn our head lamps on so that our eyes would adjust to the dark faster.  Dave informed us that the first part of the climb would be about a 30 minute hike and we would not stop until we reached the "point of no return."  Off we went, one step in front of the other with the mind set that we would make it.  To say that the first 30 minutes was gruelling would be an understatement.  When we reached that 30 minute "point of no return," my breathing was intense and my heart was pounding out of my chest.  Unfortunately, Tim was suffering from altitude sickness and found himself sick to the stomach and with a very bad headache.  He said that his legs were weak and shaky and he was unable to continue.  We all hated to hear this, because Tim was by far the strongest and best climber of the group.  Without the altitude sickness, Tim would have easily made it to the summit.  Sadly, Tim had to go back down to base camp and Kevin choose to go with him.  This left Rashawn and I with three guides and hours still to climb.

We had to crawl over this
without falling to our death!

Dave crawling across

Rashawn climbing - we are almost there

We MADE IT.  Sitting on the summit at 13,773 feet.  The white all over my face is sunscreen that I failed to rub in all the way.  Let's remember I was putting sunscreen on in the dark at 4:00am.

Rashawn at the summit

At the summit with polar bear hat.  I took this one for Nancy!

Dave and Karen at summit

Mr GQ at the summit

We spent about 30 minutes at the summit.  We made it from the start at base camp to the summit in 3 hours and 45 minutes.  I am pretty sure we hit the summit around 8:30am.  The views were amazing.  To the north we could see all the way to Yellowstone Lake.  We were very lucky that we had such good weather.  It is always the goal to get to the summit and back down to base camp at the Lower Saddle before 12:00.  The most dangerous aspect of the climb is getting caught in the afternoon lightening storms.  It is the danger of the lightening storms that Dave was trying to avoid when he was pushing us in training to be faster and more efficient.  After a brief rest at the summit, we started to head back down.  Going back down to the base camp was more scary for me then the climbing up.  To get back down we had a long rappel and many tricky down climbs.  Ann and Karen were awesome and continued to tie my knots and provide encouragement.  Dave was the leader and kept us safe and on the correct path down.  Dave is also a professional photographer and took a bunch of pictures.  I am looking forward to seeing his shots when he post them on his web site.

Rashawn down climbing

Jo Ann rappelling down a few hundred feet

View on way down

Rashawn smiling because we are almost down

Karen leading us down . Close to base camp at Lower Saddle.
Rashawn wants to know how we climbed up this in the dark!

Once we reached base camp, we did have an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.  At this point, my body was feeling pretty good.  It was a beautiful day and we had made it to the summit when two days before I had my doubts.  We had a chance to drink water and change clothes for the hike down.  We ate lunch and packed up for the hike down.  Our feelings of accomplishment and pleasure were quickly replaced with physical exhaustion and physical pain.  Soon after finishing lunch and refilling water containers, we had to put that 20 pound pack back on our shoulders and begin the 7 mile hike back down to the trail head from the Lower Saddle.  Hiking down is easier on your cardio system, but much harder on your feet and knees.  The hike down is very steep as you travel 7 miles and drop 5000 feet in elevation.  You legs and feet are tired and now you are putting all the pressure on your feet as you try to balance on a steep incline of rocks.  The hike down takes close to 6 or 7 hours.  My feet have never hurt so bad in my life.  For the most part, it was a quiet hike back to the trail head as we all (especially Rashawn and I) dealt with fatigue and pain.  I have to be honest and say that the last three hours were pure torture.  The saving grace at the end of the trail was Vicky and Lauren's smiling faces and the cold beer they brought for all of us.

At the end of a very long day.  Physically and mentally spent.  Rashawn exhausted.

It is very easy for both Rashawn and I to say that the two day climb to the summit of the Grand Teton is the most physically and mentally challenging thing that either of us has ever done.  We are both very glad that we did it and both agree that we have no need to do anything like it again!  Rashawn has decided that he wants to go back to the days of "family time" taking place at a beach resort!

We both want to thank Tim, Kevin, Ann, Karen, and Dave for being part of an amazing once in a life time experience.  We also apologize to Dave for causing so much frustration.  At least we know he won't ever forget us!