The Start of a Grand Adventure-Day 6, The Final Day

One moment I'm clinging to this crumbling rock face and the next I'm falling. I'd fallen before but I knew this was different. I wasn't stopping. I hear a crunch, metal deformation at high speed, then a startled, "Fuck!” "Busterman" flashes into view, but only briefly. We're both falling, accelerating, visions of the world flashing around while we tumble through the air. The talus comes into view

The Start of a Grand Adventure-Day 5, Disappointment Peak

We slept in today. There was no reason to rush. We'd tagged our goal (Grand Teton), the summit we'd been dreaming about since the trip was conceived, so we slept in a little bit, had an unhurried breakfast, and started breaking down camp to move down hill to the Meadows camping zone. Our goal for today was Irene's Arete 5.8 III, A nice six pitch climb that with a little scrambling and hiking

The Start of A Grand Adventure Day 3, the Approach From Hell

My "on again, off again" sleep pattern held true until right before my alarm went off. I looked at the watch and it was almost 5:30am. We wanted to get an early start for permits but I wanted to get an even earlier start so I could catch the sunrise on the mountains. So I crawled out of my nylon cocoon and quietly exited the cabin with camera in hand. It wasn't ridiculously cold but I was just

The Start of a Grand Adventure - Day 2, The Drive

My eyes blinked open at the white, popcorn ceiling. I reached down and grabbed my phone off the wood floor; it was still half an hour before we'd agreed to wake up and start getting ready. The tiny screen flickered while I surfed the Internet. After checking my e-mail and browsing for a little while, I played some phone games until my bladder forced me to empty it. A little bit later I heard "

The Start of a Grand Adventure - Day One

"I'm going to climb the Grand!" I practically screamed into the phone. "Iowa" was not as happy that I was going to be gone but she was happy that I was finally happy. It had not been a sure thing. "Busterman" was good with his time away from home but I was worried things would fall apart with people covering for me at my jobs. The time of departure was getting closer and things came together and