Grand Teton Ascent - Almost

Made an attempt up the Grand Teton yesterday. Looking at the weather forecast on Friday, the idea was to get an early start Saturday morning to beat the thunderstorms that were predicted for that afternoon. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to outsmart the weather... the weather wins.

MikeE and I left Lupine Meadows at 4:30am.

2 hours later at 10,000ft above Garnet Canyon Meadows looking at the wispy clouds billowing over the Middle Teton. No cause for alarm.

Around 7:30am looking up at the Lower Saddle. All systems go.



Upon reaching the saddle at 11,500ft, we caught our first glimpse of the building dark grey storm cell moving towards us from the SW corner of Teton Valley, ID. All we needed was 2 more hours.

Our ascent to the Upper Saddle at 13,200ft was highlighted by deterioring weather conditions that began with a few tiny flecks of snow towards the bottom and ended with a full scale blast of stinging 40mph sleet/snow and a close-range bombardment of lightning and thunder. We were in the thick of it with visibility down to 50 yards at times. By the time the lightning and thunder began, we were already on our way down from the Upper Saddle having already made the decision to not go past the Belly Roll (pictured above) and on to the Crawl and the much more exposed portions of the upper peak. Climbing wet rock in a lightning storm on the exposed summit was not part of our agenda.

Leaving the upper Saddle.

Eye of the Needle

Once back on the Lower Saddle, the storm system passed and the mountain opened up again, but it was now coated with a nice sheen of water and sleet. We could have turned around and headed back up now that the weather was better, but I feared the damage had already been done. It would take time for the rock to dry off and with more intense weather forecasted later in the day and on through the weekend, I figured it wouldn't be worth it. We got turned away, but there were two things that satisfied our minds: 1. We still got in a pretty dang cool climb up to 13,200ft on the Grand Teton. And 2. We'll live to try again another day.

A "situation" waiting to happen a couple hundred feet above the Moraine camping area below the Lower Saddle.

Descending the rock band that separates the Moraine from the Lower Saddle via the fixed ropes set up by the climbing guides.

We got back to the car around 1:00pm in warm sunshine and headed towards Jackson where we encountered a severe thunderstorm that had enveloped the entire region with hundreds of lightning strikes, pounding rain, and high winds. I'm sure things were more than just a little sketchy high up on the peaks and I hope everyone who was up there was staying smart and safe.

MikeE and I are planning another attempt on Labor Day when the conditions are more favorable.