Open Book, GTNP

Jeremy and I had been defeated by sleep. Now, at eleven am, we were not high on the Petzolt Ridge of the Grand Teton. Instead, we were just about to start pitch three of the route Open Book on Disappointment Peak. We sat in our harnesses, pushed ourselves away from the wall, and arched our backs to look up at three intimidating roofs in the next two pitches. It was a pretty good belay. Better, at least, than the first two. Some people will buy books and take classes and practice anchor building as if it is a worthwhile sport in it’s own right. Jeremy and I are not those people. I mean, I know a little bit. I know that anchors are supposed to by SRENE and I even know what some of those letters stand for. But mostly, we just kind of figure it out.

I won’t say that either method learning is better or worse, because I don’t want to make a moral issue out of something that isn’t. But, I will venture to say that people who put a lot of time in to learning how to make safe anchors are probably less likely to die in and anchor-failure situation. Some people may or may not see that as a good thing – again, I don’t want to make it a moral issue.

Me. Last Pitch. Photograph by Jeremy H.

We finished the route without any real incident. Had we had more water, we might have celebrated. Or felt happy. Instead, we sat down for about 2 minutes. Jeremy ate a snack but I couldn’t stand to eat anything when my mouth and insides were so dry and dusty. We glissaded down to Amphitheater Lake and my eyes drank the whole lake before we even got there. I slurped and slurped from the snow melt. I drank water directly off plants and rocks. I felt happy again.

Photograph by Jacob B.

Photograph by Jacob B.