On our first trip to the Grand in 1973 there were no trails above the caves and we mistakenly climbed the Smith-Otter Body instead of the Exum. Underestimating the time a climb would take on a mountain of this scale, we spent the night without any biv gear at 13,000'. In the morning we down climbed the Exum and were told by a ranger that it was the only ascent of the Smith that he knew of in almost 20 years.
I know it sounds a bit sappy but you could identify with Langford and Stevenson in the late 1800s. They thought they were on route to the summit and it's widely believed they climbed the Enclosure rather than the Grand summit as they thought and later claimed.
They missed out on the bivy however! I'm sure you were not the first group nor will you be the last to spend an unplanned night on the Grand. Makes for a great story.
That is gnarly man. I have had a couple nights without any bivy gear after underestimating the grand. I feel your pain. Survival blankets are not warm at all.
Randall, I love this page, having spent some of my formative years around the Tetons. My first time up the Grand was a little like yours, only we had summit fever a little worse than you and so didn't turn back. Rapping to the upper saddle at sunset is awesome; descending from there in darkness, not so much.
Could I persuade you to fix one nit in your first paragraph? I have a geologist daughter, so I'm hypersensitive. The Tetons were not really volcanically formed. The rock is igneous, yes, but it's plutonic--its from magma that cooled very slowly and deep, deep (miles) underground. As mountains, the Tetons came up much more recently as fault-block mountains. Here's a picture.
I love the informal peer review with SummitPost, so I'm happy to fix the error, especially since you were so kind in the way you handled your comment.
Nice to hear others took all day to make the ascent on a first try. It seems like most everyone was way faster than our group.
After finding the rap anchors we discussed heading up anyway. If Judge had been feeling better we would have done a night descent since the weather was stellar. However, the weather can change so fast and we were all concerned if we had to bivy, it would not be the best situation with one in our group nursing a respiratory infection. Better safe than sorry.
reboyles - Nov 14, 2014 6:07 am - Voted 10/10
Great Article!On our first trip to the Grand in 1973 there were no trails above the caves and we mistakenly climbed the Smith-Otter Body instead of the Exum. Underestimating the time a climb would take on a mountain of this scale, we spent the night without any biv gear at 13,000'. In the morning we down climbed the Exum and were told by a ranger that it was the only ascent of the Smith that he knew of in almost 20 years.
Bob
JRB - Nov 14, 2014 11:23 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Great Article!I know it sounds a bit sappy but you could identify with Langford and Stevenson in the late 1800s. They thought they were on route to the summit and it's widely believed they climbed the Enclosure rather than the Grand summit as they thought and later claimed.
They missed out on the bivy however! I'm sure you were not the first group nor will you be the last to spend an unplanned night on the Grand. Makes for a great story.
Thanks for sharing your memory,
Randall
PanamaRed - Dec 7, 2014 9:01 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Great Article!That is gnarly man. I have had a couple nights without any bivy gear after underestimating the grand. I feel your pain. Survival blankets are not warm at all.
chugach mtn boy - Nov 15, 2014 12:54 pm - Voted 10/10
Nice JobRandall, I love this page, having spent some of my formative years around the Tetons. My first time up the Grand was a little like yours, only we had summit fever a little worse than you and so didn't turn back. Rapping to the upper saddle at sunset is awesome; descending from there in darkness, not so much.
Could I persuade you to fix one nit in your first paragraph? I have a geologist daughter, so I'm hypersensitive. The Tetons were not really volcanically formed. The rock is igneous, yes, but it's plutonic--its from magma that cooled very slowly and deep, deep (miles) underground. As mountains, the Tetons came up much more recently as fault-block mountains. Here's a picture.
Cheers,
Chris
JRB - Nov 15, 2014 2:14 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Nice JobThanks much Chris.
I love the informal peer review with SummitPost, so I'm happy to fix the error, especially since you were so kind in the way you handled your comment.
Nice to hear others took all day to make the ascent on a first try. It seems like most everyone was way faster than our group.
After finding the rap anchors we discussed heading up anyway. If Judge had been feeling better we would have done a night descent since the weather was stellar. However, the weather can change so fast and we were all concerned if we had to bivy, it would not be the best situation with one in our group nursing a respiratory infection. Better safe than sorry.
Randall