2008, by powderjunky

Grand Teton on the Right, Middle Teton on the left.

Despite plenty of snow around for backcountry skiing, we left the skis at home and headed for the summit of the Grand Teton. Heading in to the hills without skis I felt like an acne covered pre-teen at a school dance, awkward, but nevertheless, it did not stop us from having a beautiful trip to the Teton’s tallest via the Upper Exum Ridge.

Our campsite, thanks to Black Diamond's Megamid.

It is very common for people to make speed ascents on the Grand. The effort is quite impressive and is always a good ego boost. However, when I am racing up a route I usually have so much sweat in my eyes and can’t see around the switchback let alone the spectacular views the Tetons are famous for. I feel like I get robbed of what I really came to seek. I enjoy taking the time to go break up the trip by camping at the meadows and really just soaking in all the Teton goodness that endlessly abounds.

Crawling through the Eye of the Needle.

There is still a ridiculous amount of snow up there in those mountains and most of the trip from Garnet Canyon to the Lower Saddle is snow. It makes the hike even extra enjoyable by walking over all the scree and boulder fields instead of through them. I know my knees prefer the snow!

Heading over to the Wall Street ledge.

We camped by a raging creek at the Meadows Camp Ground and did not hear our alarm go off in the morning because of all the white noise from Niagara Falls outside our tent. We woke and realized we had slept in two hours late! It turned out to be no big deal as we ended up waiting for the sun to hit the route later on.

Although there is snow up to the lower saddle, the climb up from there is surprisingly dry where you need it to be. One of the nicest surprises was the Eye of the Needle was not plugged with ice! With slug-like agility we squished our way through the narrow slot on firm slick ice which acted like an unfriendly lube to facilitate the gawky passage. Finally through the needle, we had to cross a little snow field to Wall Street and that is where our climb really began!

Stay tuned for part 2 later in the week!

The Dog Skis Jackson Peak

Tetons on Crack