Middle Teton, Dad and Mom July 1995

Middle Teton climb with Steve, Jean

This was the summer that Steve was taking the Teachers in the ward to climb in the Tetons. He wanted to go up early and check it out so we decided that Steve and Jean would climb the Middle a few weeks before. The preparation was intense, with Jean trying to get in shape and get ready for the climb as well as arrange for the kids to be tended. We bought Jean a new pair of boots, an ice ax and crampons!! And she used Christopher’s pack. (Climbing is expensive but mom learned that the equipment is worth it so that the climbers can be safe!) Joshua helped with tending kids, Johanna and Emma spent the time we were gone at Blakeley’s.

We left at 4 am and drove to Jackson, checked in at the Ranger station and began hiking at 9 am. The hike to the meadow was good, except the boulder field for mom. We ate lunch in the meadow and then hiked up to the campsite at South Fork, it was beautiful there with small blue flowers all around. Dad helped mom practice with her ice ax. The wind blew all night, with the tent flapping, so not much sleep, up at 4 am and began hiking up the snow fields with flashlights. Mom would look over her shoulder and wonder how she would get down. It was slow hiking, mostly because mom is so slow. The last coulair was rocks and snow, which was soft. It was hard going. We hiked on the rocks which was easy and hard, more scary, but not as hard as the snow. Once on top the view was breathtaking , however looking over at the Grand mom decided that she would never make it on top of that mountain!! We took a picture on top, setting the camera on a rock and setting a timer. It turned out to be kind of funny, with our faces and clear blue sky, no mountains, rocks, etc!!

Going down was scary for mom and slow because she was afraid of sliding and not being able to stop. Once we arrived at camp we packed up and headed down. Everything hurt as we went down the trail, especially mom’s feet. She was very slow but dad is so patient with her that we finally made it to the car. We went to Wendy’s and then home!