Climbing the Grand Teton!! July 2012

We got to Jackson Hole the day before and decided after 14 hours of driving that we deserved a night to camp out and just chiiiiilllllll.

We visited some gear shops for some beta on the Owen-Spalding route up the Grand, and perused some of the better breweries before hitting the camp site at Curtis Canyon just to the East of town for the night. On the way up we found and met a wonderful couple of ladies, Leigh and Lisa who were parasailers and just happened to be in the campsite adjacent to us, so one thing led to another and half a bottle of Jagermeister and many stories later we settled in for the night.

 Next day saw us at the Lupine Meadows trailhead and on we went! We got a late start and decided to head for the Morraine campsite, at 11,000 ft because of the rough terrain from the Morraine up to Lower and Upper Saddles. We made it up and up.....and up........ Through the boulder fields, through the Alpine Meadow, up The Stairs (capitalized for reasons of sounding justifiably ominous!) For those who haven't done the climb with 60 pounds of climbing gear on their backs, there's no way to describe just how long and how steep this hike is up to the high camps. Think a vertical marathon with an eight year old clinging to you piggy-back style the whole way and you have an idea of what goes through your mind through that rocky trudge. About 40 minutes into The Stairs, Lori mentions her knee is troubling her. "Not too bad yet, but we'll keep an eye on it." Uh oh.... Foreshadowing aside, we made the rest of the hike up to camp with nary a complaint, and pitched the tent in the company of two fellow Southerners, Floridians in fact, who had decided to leave their vertically-challenged state for a vacation in high country.

The wind whipped up ferociously through the night and between the tent noise and a suspiciously marmot-like munching sound coming from the vestibules we didn't sleep very well. The next day brought hail and rain until midday, and unfortunately the summit window requires an exit from camp at about 7 or 8 in the morning to be off for the summit comfortably. At this time Lori stated that her knee was in pretty bad shape.... Our minds were made. Right after we decided to bail, the weather cleared up and the rest of the hike down at least was totally bluebird. It wasn't too bitter a decision to turn down off a major climbing objective when the love of your life is visibly in pain. Normal climbing partners can "Suck it up, dude, we came all this way, spent all this time, money, blah blah blah" but it's different when you see the person you share a home and bed with every night gritting her teeth against pain she obviously tries to hide. The descent was a sweet one. I taped her knee, and (against her will) shouldered her pack for part of the boulderfields. Down we came and off we went! Missoula-bound! Climb on!