Climbing Misadventures

Guides Wall

As we may have previously mentioned after our wedding we wanted to climb the Grand Teton.  In theory this was a great plan, not so much in practice.  Upon arrive to Jackson we were greeted with a very snow covered mountain range.  Hum...this may put a kink in our plans.  We made the decision when we left WA that we would not take any winter gear.  We had ice axes, that was it.  Optimistic as usual we figure maybe it would melt out enough that we would still be able to climb.  Over the next week we religiously stared up at the mountains and dropped into the Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers Station to check on conditions.  Each time we were told the same thing - Winter Conditions, crampons and tools.

We finally gave into the fact that we needed to come up with a Plan B. What to do, what to do. We had heard that Guides Wall is a great climb, we just needed to figure out how to access it. Luck would have it that we ran into one of the Climbing Rangers (Drew) while out hiking. We asked him what he would recommend and he agreed that Guides Wall would be a good option. Also, since we were all headed in that direction he hiked with us and showed us where the climbers trail is leading to the start of the 1st pitch. Alright, Plan B is set.

Hiking to the base of Guides Wall

We woke up bright and early the next morning to start our adventure. We took the ferry across Jenny Lake, while on the ferry I ran into a women that I had taken a climbing class from years earlier - small world. Once on the other side we hiked the few miles to the start of the climbers trail. This trail took us across the talus field and up to the start of the beautiful rock we intended to climb. Upon arriving at the base of the climb we learned that we were in line, 5th in line to be exact. We got all of our gear arranged, hung our packs up and got to waiting.

Waiting...

Once the last team had started the 2nd pitch I (Melissa) started up the first. It was easy 5.7 climbing and the rock was good. I made it to the belay ledge and began to set-up an anchor for Matt to follow. This is where my problems started... I am not the worlds most proficient trad climber, actually I don't have much trad experience at all. I feel confident enough in my climbing abilities that the actually climbing and placing gear isn't an issue. What is an issue is setting up an anchor for my partner to follow on. I spent a good 10 minute making a very inefficient bomb proof anchor. I fretted and fretted and finally deduced that my anchor would hold a fall and told Matt he was on belay.

Matt cruised on up the pitch and was shortly at my side. I told him about my lack of confidence in anchor building and we assessed the rest of the climb. The guide book details the last pitch as a pure crack climb, I LOVE crack climbing, however, we decided that maybe we didn't have the appropriate gear (or rather enough of the appropriate gear) to accomplish this feat. That mixed with my lack of anchor building experience lead us to make the decision to retreat.

Matt started back down placing the pieces he pulled on the way up. Once he arrived safely on the ground I tore down the anchor and down climbed taking gear as I went. I have to admit, I felt totally defeated once I set foot on the ground. I do not like not being able to do things, especially things that I feel are totally within my reach. On the other hand it was a great experience, I now know what I need to work on. If I want to be a better climber in the mountains I need to get comfortable on gear. The only way to do that is with practice, so practice I must.