GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK: The Grandest of the Nationals
Written: Jan 05 '01 (Updated Jan 20 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The Best NP Scenery I've found.
Cons: The crowds get bigger every year now.
The Bottom Line: Go see it. It's the stuff of dreams!
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| Ed.Williamson's Full Review: Grand Teton National Park |
A few years ago a friend and I went on a month-long camping trip across 6,000 miles of the American Northwest and the Canadian Rockies. We visited ten national parks along the way. GRAND TETON National Park was the crown jewel of that trip.
Maybe it's the mountains. The Grand Tetons look like mountains ought to look- tall and snow-capped and rugged. We camped at Jenny lake and had a great time.
A few years later I came back to the Grand Tetons--- this time to climb. I wanted to summit the Grand Teton. We camped at Jenny Lake again, a magical place of pristine alpine beauty, and I entered into my 4-day training and climb regimine with the Exum Mountaineering people. I paid my $400 fee and I was off with a group to rock-climbing school. It was fun but tough, and I had a lot of fun and exhilaration climbing 400-foot walls and rappeling down 200-foot cliffs.
Then we hiked up to climb "The Grand". You go with a guided group up into a canyon on the south side of the mountain, and then you climb steadily up to a mountain pass where there is a quonset hut. You spend part of the night there. They get you up at about 2 AM and then you begin the climb.
We took the heralded "Upper Exum" route-- a way to the top that includes about 14 roped pitches. It was steep and airy and exhilarating, but you are always on a safety rope and you have confident, experienced guides helping you. By about 11 AM we were on the summit, and you could see forever from the top of the Grand. It was a moment in life to remember forever.
Getting down was an adventure too. You drop through narrow rock "chimneys," and then you do an 80-foot rappel, a lot of which is a "free" rappel, which means you hang by a rope in the open air as you descend. Once you're off rappel, for the most part the rest of the downclimb is a piece of cake. When I stumbled into my tent that afternoon at Jenny Lake I drank about two gallons of Orange Juice and sprawled out on my sleeping bag and just slept for like 10 hours.
Could you climb the Grand Teton? Most people actually can, I think. You have to be in moderately good shape and have a positive attitude, but if you go with people like the Exum Mountaineering guides they will evaluate your ability, ok you (or not ok you) for the climb if you are ready, and give you confident help every step of the way up and back. When you come down you'll have an experience you'll take pride in for the rest of your life.
Other things are nice about the Teton area too. Jackson Hole is a great and adventurous town to be in, and there are lots of other wonderful and scenic places in and around the park. And if you climb "The Grand" -ah, well, you'll always remember that day on the summit, the world beneath your feet.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Ed.Williamson
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 - Top 200 |
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Member: Ed Williamson
Location: Way Out West, USA
Reviews written: 607
Trusted by: 315 members
About Me:
Fight 'em till Hell freezes over, then fight 'em on the ice!
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