Adventure Doesn't Find You
11:30 PM After grabbing a late burrito dinner in town at Abuelitos, we finally entered Grand Teton National Park. The plan was to catch a couple hours of sleep next to the truck before heading out. I can remember getting into my sleeping bag with a cool breeze rolling down from the mountainside across my face. I fell asleep immediately. That is, until the moon rose up and lit up the entire sky.
This photo captures a moment. A moment on this climb, when things were just about to get real. We just made the lower saddle at sunrise, took a quick break, and were moving up the ridge towards the Black Dike picture in the middle of the frame. In all the research and beta I could find, most notably on Wyoming Whiskey’s page which outlines, in detail, all the route options up the Grand, there was no mention of how difficult this section would be. A 1,544′ scramble separates the upper saddle from the lower saddle, in just over a half-mile. …
Here are 10 things that they don’t tell you about before you climb the Grand Teton via Owen Spalding Route: