Sunday, Climb Day 1

I actually wrote this post from the Saddle Hut on Sunday night on my iPhone.

Holy crap.

8 miles today, 5000 vertical feet. Which sounds pretty bad by itself, but to be honest, the hike/climb wasn't that awful. What was awful was the 60 mph gusts off the mountain that kept trying to blow us back down the couloir or shower us with pebbles and scree. I'm writing this from the "shelter" of the Lower Saddle hut (actually a canvas structure on iron rods that sounds like the steady 40 mph winds from Idaho will pick it up and throw it down the mountain.

This is much different from Rainier. We can see the Grand's summit from the Saddle. It feels so close, like you could climb it this afternoon and then get back to the hut before night. That's not actually possible, but it feels like it.

The wind is supposed to die down tonight in time for our summit attempt, but if this keeps up it will be in jeopardy. Time for dinner and then bed, at 11,600 feet.

I added the following after getting back

In case you were wondering, here is our route from today:

It was a long hike, to say the least. The first four miles got us to Lupine Meadows, which is where most of the melt from the glacier turns into a strong stream. That was about 2.5 hours. The rest was a slog up the glacier's snowfields in 40 mph winds with 60-65 mph gusts that threatened to knock us over. We had to help a solo climber pin his tent to the ground with rocks (the next day we found out the wind tore one side of his tent off and threw it over the Saddle into Idaho). As our guide noted in guide verbage, it was "nukin'".

Shot of Lupine Meadows from the Middle Teton glacier.

This dark chimney behind Paul and Christian on the Middle Teton is called "The Black Dike." And it won't be the last Black Dike we see, once again proving political correctness has not arrived in Wyoming yet.

The Lower Saddle is in sight here (in front of the sun).

Paul and me at the Lower Saddle Hut. The climbing route is in yellow behind us (I drew it on there, obviously). That black line of Ignatius rock behind us is the other Black Dike.