| Grand Ascents Log (2007-06-19 -> 2007-07-09)
Leaders: Alex Cullen, Elizabeth Jackson
Students: Pearce O'Neal, Emily Carpenter, Xada Nichols, Justin Allen, Danny McGrew, Ford Rushton, John Andrews, Nathan Shepherd, Madeline Stivender, Meredith Craft, Liz Jordan, Robert French
June 19
All have arrived safely. Preperations are underway for Whitewater Rafting the Snake River.
July 1
Our first day was spent whitewater rafting 8 miles of the Snake River, and the group did an awesome job! With Robert riding at the very front, and the whole group behind him paddling together on his command, we conquered some big waves and rapids with huge smiles. It was a blast and really brought the group together to start things off.
The energy was high, and we headed straight to the Wind River Range to start our first night of camping for our backpacking section. Everyday was beautiful, with no rain and clear nights where we spotted Venus, Jupiter, and an incredible full moon, camping at 11,000 feet. Our guide's name was Mark Pearson and he was such a wise, positive addition to the team. Mark has taught us all about the geology of the Wind River and Teton Mountains. He has shared some knowledge with us about arrowheads and the Native Americans from this area, as well as earning the title "Super-Mark" by retrieving Robert's thermarest that was taken away by the wind on a hike down from one of our summits. Speaking of which, I definitely have to mention how strong our group has become at hiking and backpacking. We had three day hikes to some nearby summits from our camp at Crescent Lake and everyone did great. Pearce has become our poster boy for Moondance, and although we got some awesome shots of the whole group, Pearce has taken the prize for the most photogenic! Our theme for the trip is "unity" which has truly brought the group together to achieve our goals as a team. Sledding has been an integral part of our adventures as well. We found that our crazy creek chairs do an awesome job as a sled, so we took the quick way down every chance we got (of course, only when it was safe; the rule is safety first, fun second!) Meredith proved to be the most hard-core and fun with her body surfing down the snowy slopes in full rain gear; truly SUPERB!
Our hiking generally consisted of 3 mile days with about 1,500 feet of elevation gain up out of the valley into a world of gnarly granite peaks, snow covered mountains, giant glaciers, huge boulders, and rushing ice-melt of rivers and beautiful waterfalls. We also took a day hike to the Continental Divide where we stood on the dividing line between where rainfall flows on one side to the Pacific and on the other side to the Atlantic. We were over 12,000 feet in the air and nothing could bring us down...
We've seen big-horn sheep, mule-deer, moose, marmots, and various other beautiful creatures and wildflowers. Although we did bear-bag every night just in case, we never had any encounters and always felt protected with Mark's husky Gracie by our side at all times. We sure do miss Gracie! There were some fly-fishing opportunities with Justin, Xada, Madeline, Mark, and Ford catching all the fish. Liz fished for awhile, and we couldn't figure out why she wasn't getting anything until she reeled in her line with no fly on the end of it...ahah! It was quite the funny moment.
Another important activity for our group has become the game Mafia where Nathan has been the narrator of some quite hilarious circumstances. John, "smiley", always looks guilty, but is usually the innocent one to figure out who the guilty party really is. We have all decided that he needs to have his own TV show as he is the star of the show most of the time. Emily has proven to be an extremely strong, quiet leader, and has really helped the group become more solid.
It has been a long day, and we are anxious to get back to the group, which has definitely become our family out here. I hope all of you are doing well, and we send you our love. Take care and keep us in your thoughts as we take on the mighty, glorious Grand Teton in the next week.
Sincerely, team unity
July 9 Update
More than 7,000 vertical feet. 15 miles of hiking. The Grand Teton, the tallest mountain of the Teton range, has loomed above us for the past 3 weeks and yesterday, we stood atop her and our hearts swelled, both from the extreme physical exertion and with a sense of accomplishment and pride. We did it.
Our Grand Teton adventure was the culmination of 3 days of climbing school with Exum Mountain Guides. Our instructors were incredible. Their list of credentials would justify a small magazine, with high definition photographs. Amy Bullard has lead 2 expeditions up Everest and spends her winters guiding and teaching ice climbing around the world. Brenton Reagan has guided for Exum for 7 years and in 2001 was given a grant to climb in Kazakhstan. Mike Friedman has been guiding for Exum since 1983 and before that he worked for NOLS leading winter skiing expeditions. They are the best of the best and for 5 days, they guided our group through every step of the climbing process. Bowlines, figure eights, locking carabiners, ropes, harnesses, belaying, rappelling, leaning back, edging, jamming . . . . . we practiced on boulders and rock faces and, on our third day, hiked 3 hours up to Cube Point and then completed a multi-pitch climb to the summit. After these three days, we had a rest day - slept late, slow pancake and bacon breakfast, went for a swim in the lake, practiced our knots and belays transitions, and had nice group talk about the climb to come and final days of the trip.
The following morning we took on the Grand. We arrived at Exum at 9 am and after the guides checked our packs to make sure that everyone had everything that they needed, we drove to Lupine Meadows Trailhead and were on trail by 10:30. Up, up, up. After moving through soft forests of the lower meadows, we began to ascend towards the upper valleys through a series of switchbacks. Soon we were scrambling over car-sized boulders and gazing up at the towers peaks that appeared to grow more defined and massive with every step. We ate a late lunch by a rushing ice-melt creek and after filling our Nalgenes and dunking our heads in the water; we made our final push up to the saddle. By 5 pm we stood on the saddle between the Grand and Middle Tetons, the rest of the world fell away at our feet, wide and distant, and we breathed deep breaths of thin alpine air and smiled as the Exum guides congratulated us and poured our bowls and cups full of boiling water for ramen soup and hot chocolate.
We were up at 4 am, for "An alpine start", and we ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate (or chocolate oatmeal for some of us), put on our winter hats and gloves, and headed out into the starry night. Our headlamps lit the beginning of the path and soon we were high up on the mountain and the sun was rising and our three groups were roped in, one after the other, and we climbed and belayed and moved higher and higher and before we had time to think about how wild this adventure was, we were on top of the mountain, gazing down on everything, standing on the second highest peak in Wyoming, 13,770 feet above sea level. As they had been planning for the past 3 days, all of the kids pulled out their Snickers bar and sat down on the top of the Grand Teton and, with large smiles on their faces, ate, what might be, the most delicious candy bar they have every consumed. And that, as you know, is saying something. Pictures were taken and hugs were plentiful but we were on the top of a mountain and so after 15 minutes, the Exum guides began organizing everyone for the decent. As the guides had repeated again and again, getting to the top of the mountain is only half of the struggle. But despite the gnarly terrain and the tough down climbing, everyone's legs were strong as their minds and by 11:30 am, everyone was back at the saddle, gazing up at the mountain with smiles and laughter.
Yes, this journey, this trip, has been amazing and it is had to believe that will be over tomorrow. Our group feels like a small family and there is a connectivity and positivity among the kids that is rare and beautiful to be a part of. They treat each other with respect and kindness and we are all constantly laughing.
Our days climbing together serve as a beautiful metaphor to end this adventure. Climbing is, literally, the act of ascending, of moving upwards. But as our Exum guides said on our first day of school, "Climbing is a team sport. When you climb a mountain with someone and you are roped together, you life is in their hands and their life is in yours." Our Grand Ascents group roped up, each person tying themselves to the person in front and behind, and spent 5 days climbing. 5 days working together to move upwards toward the sky, to get to the top of the mountain and all the way back down to the van, where granola bars and music and air conditioning awaited our tired, yet fully satisfied, bodies.
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