The Grand Teton

14-Aug-55

By: Parker Severson

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Vacation time is over and I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I did mine. I was one of the 111 people who made the Sierra Club High Trip through the back country of Grand Teton National Park during August. On the way out, nine members of the party, including myself, made an ascent of the Grand Teton (13,766'). Our climbing party was led by Ranger Dick Emerson and Hervey Voge. We backpacked from the main camp in the S. Fork of Cascade Canyon, over a steep ridge, and made camp in a glaciated basin at the western base of the peak. Thunderstorms caused a day' s delay in the climb. The morning of the 14th looked promising, so we set out early for the peak. We followed the Exum Route to the summit, which involves some 1500 feet of rope work over steep, exposed pitches. Our group stayed almost an hour on the summit resting and enjoying the spectacular alpine views through the clouds which were sweeping over the pinnacles. An interesting rappel of over a hundred feet was made to the saddle on the west side, on the way down. The Grand is one of the truly magnificent peaks of this continent and deserves to be placed along side the Matterhorn in Switzerland for sheer alpine grandeur.

On the way home, I added another fine desert peak to my collection--Wheeler Peak (13,061') in Lehman Caves National Monument, near Ely, Nevada.


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