Those are the Tetons, once again. Pretty self-explanatory. Last gratuitous mountain shot of this range, promise.Several high quality climbs are accessed by taking a boat across Jenny Lake. This is the lake from aboard the first morning boat at 7AM:
After the boat ride, we had to deal with this ascent:
Our climb for the day, Baxter's Pinnacle, is above Clark's head. The scramble to the base of the climb took us a little less than an hour; it turns out this is one of the shortest approaches in the range. Teton approaches are blood-suckingly brutal: they are long, steep, start at high altitude, end at even higher altitude, and then you have to actually climb. Longtime Teton climbers describe the experience in creative, non-blog-appropriate combinations of four-letter words.Climbing on Baxter's Pinnacle:
Waiting for Clark at the belay:
View from the summit:
We also made a trip to Yellowstone during a rest day. This steaming-hole-in-the-middle-of-an-otherwise-fairly-normal-looking-landscape summarizes most of the attractions:
The teeming masses of humanity in Yellowstone were an unpleasant shock after the relative solitude in Grand Teton. Our first stop was Old Faithful; the parking lot reminded me of a county fair, with rows of RVs punctuated by the odd rental car alarm going off. I'll spare you the aural and photographic evidence.It's a testament to the park, that, after the traffic jams and Disneyland-ification, it still retains the power to awe. Some of the geologic formations are right out of science fiction:
And, all joking aside, I really liked the Post Office:
Lastly, I'd like to thank Clark for being an excellent climbing, camping, and suffering partner... and in particular for not dropping me on belay.I'm off this weekend to a wedding in deep Louisiana and then back in the Tetons for a week and a half to take a Wilderness First Responder course. Look forward to mobile updates of alligators and gumbo....
Your man in the Bayou,
Jay
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