Nate, Phil, and I headed to Grand Teton National Park early yesterday morning to do our first ascent of the Snaz. After a gorgeous hike into Death Canyon, it is 9 pitches varying from 5.7 to 5.10- with considerable exposure and a creek turned roaring whitewater due to the snow run off.
I must say this is the most fun I have had multi pitching with three people. We moved fairly quickly, and every belay was thankfully quite comfy. This is a popular climb, and we did have parties in front and behind us, but we truly never had to wait to climb. Nate and Phil did great jobs leading everything. I feel like I need to get a little more comfortable in the Alpine setting before I put my leader hat on, but I had a blast. The descent was of course long, harrowing, and um, interesting. But, I had a small triumph in that I stayed much calmer on this descent than on the Royal Arches descent last year in Yosemite. I won't describe either too much to keep the non-climbers from fretting!
Anyways, aside from Phil's bizarre dry heaves and Nate's tumble down a snow field, it was a truly incredible day and we were seriously whooped by the end. We treated ourselves to enormous burgers at Victor's Knotty Pine and fell asleep exhausted but happy. Hopefully the first of many climbs in this incredible park!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment