|
We are on top of this magnificent mountain as our graduation from the American School of Alpine Mountaineering, personally encouraged by Glenn Exum, who had shortly before our climb led the climb on the fiftieth anniversary of his original ascent up Exum Ridge. We got there after the 3:00 AM wake-up in our tent at the base camp in the saddle to launch the climb in the moonlight. It is eerie, trudging almost silently upward in the silvery moonshadows around very steep precipices, roping up on technical pitches. "Flow up the rock" Glenn Exum had said, getting stronger as the pitches get steeper.
There are several boilerplate turns of phrase which tell you what you need to know in technical rock climbing--see if any of these that I remember can be useful to you: Use bone; not muscle. Butt out. Put more rubber on the rock. Rest every possible minute, while thinking of your next move.
One of the caveats that I have violated often, is religiously followed by some: Do not look down. Why not, I figured? On the laybacks over very high exposure, I would prop myself in a chimney and look below my boots--into 3,000 feet of very thin air, watching a golden eagle soaring a thousand feet below. Oh, now I see why not!
Michael was a trooper this particular August morning, since he did the climb with the pounding headache of acute mountain sickness which made him less capable of enjoying the triumph of the summitting, although the thrill of a 150 foot free rappelling off the north face on return helped him through rapid descent. We could look back from the valley of Jackson Hole at "our mountain" after it was over, and we even have the diploma that says:
WE DID IT!
Photo: Summit Certificate The Grand Teton