courtesy Luc
Peter Grimaces (zoomed)
Time now snaps back to normal speed. A million thoughts are running through my head... which rapidly converge on one thought: get to Ewart, determine if he is conscious. Caroline and I are closest and start over to where Ewart has come to a stop.
With a feeling of relief I see Ewart immediately sit back up, although his movements seem slow. Within tens of seconds Caroline and I and, surprisingly, one of the other climbers who were near us, reach Ewart. First order of business... is conciousness: "Ewart, how are you?".
courtesy Luc
197. Rapid First Aid
We get an immediate reply... Whew, thank God. We ask him if he's been awake the whole time and he replies yes. And he seems coherent, although very shook up, and very slow to move.
We tell him not to move... just to remain where he is and stay still. A quick survey reveals a smallish gash on his right lower back, near his butt. Caroline gets out her excellent first aid kit and gets out material for us to use as a compress against his wound. I continue to ask Ewart some questions while attempting to give him a quick body survey to see if has any other wounds which we haven't discovered yet. Apart from scrapes here and there, there do not seem to be any additional external wounds.
courtesy Luc
Helping out Ewart
While doing all of this the climber introduces himself as an off-duty Park Service climbing ranger, and can he offer his help. Turns out that the party of climbers going past us contained several off-duty rangers. We are in luck (in this regard, anyway)!
We relinquish first-aid and incident authority to the ranger (who introduces himself as Andy Anderson). At this point a flood of thoughts regarding cause, mechanism, and the impact of this accident enter my conciousness. I sort through the day, looking back for clues.
courtesy Luc
The Thumbs Up
It doesn't take long for the obvious to become apparent to me: Insufficient experience and training on this type of terrain; Lack of heeding of warning signs; Failure to render assistance to those having a difficult time with the terrain. In my mind I play back the day.... occassional slips in the snow by several in the group, a couple of slides with successful arrests, Ewart being uncomfortable and choosing the rock over the snow on the top snowfield earlier in the day. All of these point to a lack of sufficient training. I feel pretty down - because of the enthusiasm to tackle this mountain, the difficulty that the two small snowfields posed to several members of the group has been overlooked (perhaps a better term is glossed-over).
courtesy Markus
Scene of mishap
Furthermore, upon seeing these signs, it would have been prudent to have stayed close to those members having difficulty, perhaps even used our rope and set up some sort of belay to help get them over the snow. There is, however, one thing that I am glad of, and that is the fact that we did this peak with helmets on over the entire technical portion. While he slid down, Ewart's head smashed into rocks I don't know how many times...... I firmly believe that the helmet has saved him from even more serious injury.
courtesy Markus
Ewart's Path
The climbing ranger is checking over Ewart more thoroughly now... testing for signs of head and spinal injury, which would be the most serious kind of problem Ewart could have. Fortunately Ewart passes all of these tests well... he shows no signs of head or spinal injury. Furthermore, it seems that he has no signs of having broken anything at all. I am completely amazed. And grateful. Welshman are tough bastards, that's for sure. I thank Ewart profusely for being a tough old fart (well, maybe not so old, but a tough fart, for sure).
We try and make Ewart more comfortable. The climbing rangers have two-way radios which they use to exchange messages with the Park Service down below, informing them of the accident. Ewart is extremely weak and unable to move much. He suffers occasional muscle cramps in his fingers and in other locations, probably due to the extreme muscular exertion he probably automatically went through as he attempted to grip his ice ax and self arrest with it. He becomes pale and lethargic... and there is probably risk of shock at this point. As a group, we make him a bit more comfortable and get him to drink and eat some high energy food. The rangers try and get Ewart to stand but he is sore and unable to. One leg in particular is sore and a bit numb. It starts to become apparent that Ewart is going no where soon. It is getting towards late afternoon at this point.
Location of Ewart's slide on the mountain
Everyone else in our group is looking a bit dazed or numb or extremely disconcerted by this turn of events. Peter has hurt his knee in the process of getting out of Ewart's way. I feel pretty bad about this whole turn of events, because in some ways I am convinced that this whole incident could have been avoided. I briefly think about what this means to the trip. I am completely and utterly devoted to getting Ewart better at this point - and I am ready at a moment's notice to wrap up the trip and drive straight home to Ottawa. I have no drive and no motivation to continue anyway - and besides, who's going to want to climb anything after this?
Well... in any case, the first order of business is right here, right now, with Ewart. The food and drink has revived Ewart somewhat, and he is still his old self : gracious, self-effacing, downplaying the incident, and thankful for his helmet. He immediately offers to spend the night right where he is and that everyone else can go down and we'll meet him tomorrow at the bottom. Yeah, right, Ewart.
The rangers have a back-and-forth discussion on the radio with an emergency doctor in Jackson, and they try various things out with Ewart. Given his leg/hip pain, they think that a fracture _may_ be possible. It does look like Ewart will have to spend the night (but WITH company). As all of this is happening, the rest of us are charged with ferrying our packs over to the end of the snowfield, and with bringing over anything Ewart might need (warm clothes, more water, etc). So there are many treks back and forth over the annoying stretch of talus between the accident scene and the start of the trailed section. Strange how what would normally be a quick 1 minute hop over some boulders has now become this huge gulf over which it seems impossible that Ewart will be able to traverse.
courtesy Luc
Ewart and Andy
Eventually it is decided that we should at least try and get Ewart over to a more flat section of the talus. With many spotters all around him, Ewart moves slowly at first. When we get to that 'more flat' section, we continue a bit farther. Ewart, although moving along in a sort of sideways bent-over hobble, is managing to move fairly quickly over the tricky terrain. A hand-line has been set up with our rope and Ewart actually manages to get completely over the talus. A relief for all of us... since this probably means that Ewart doesn't have any fractures.
The rangers are now talking about a bivy site right underneath the Worshipper and Idol. They want all of us to head down and to leave Ewart here with a couple of climbing rangers who are being sent up from below with a bunch of overnight equipment and food. I flatly refuse to not spend the night with Ewart - I caused this whole mess and I'm thinking the least I can do is give him some companionship. This tug-of-war of wills between the rangers and I continues after everyone else (i.e. PG, Caroline, Markus and Luc) has gone down and until the realization on my part that me staying up here with Ewart is going to place an extra burden on the resources (food, clothing, bedding) that the climbing rangers are bringing up to the bivy site. The logic of that is unavoidable, so with a climbing ranger named Micah I head down the trail after everyone else, feeling miserable but also relieved that the decision-making is over. I have a final private word with Ewart, expressing my extreme apologies, and with he offering many positive words of reassurement. I give him a fully charged communicator and say that he is welcome to contact us at any time in the A.M. - we'll be listening. It occurs to me that I am massively hungry and tired. It is now maybe less than 1 hour from sunset.
Well... adventure we wanted and adventure we got. Not the kind I wanted, however! On the way down I discuss my analysis of the event with Micah and he agrees with some of my points. He does say that in many ways we are much more of a prepared group than many he has seen, and so I take some solace in that. Soon we catch up to and pass Markus and Peter, who are looking a bit ragged. Twilight is upon us and by the time we are down in the bushes near the start of the trail it is almost dark. Caroline and Luc were a bit faster and were already at the van, waiting for us.
We're supposed to find the "climbing cache" to report the accident, but our directions are screwed up and somehow and we do not find it in the dark. Turns out that this was a request from the rangers designed to verify that we all made it out (which we did anyway), so this wasn't a big deal.
Gloomy moods
Tired, dirty and depressed, we drive back to the campsite. All of us are very hungry and some of us suggest driving into Jackson for some fast food - no one feels like making a camp dinner right now. Markus frets and after a short angry exchange he decides to just crash without any dinner at all. Which is fine by us. So the four of us (me, Luc, Caroline and PG) head into town for what turns out to be the most "un"happy-meal I've had at McDonald's. I have thoughts in my mind of getting up early in the morning and hiking back up the mountain to where Ewart and the rangers are camped so I can offer my assistence. I feel that it is the least I can do.
Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - Teewinot Climb - Click link below to expand
Hike Data - Teewinot East Face Climb
Start Time:
3:16a.m.
End Time:
9:59p.m.
Duration:
18h42m
Distance:
10.78 km
(6.7 mi)
Average Speed:
0.6 km/hr
(0.4 mph)
Start Elevation:
6658ft
(2029m)
*
Max Elevation:
12347ft
(3763m)
*
Min Elevation:
6658ft
(2029m)
*
End Elevation:
6912ft
(2107m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
5636ft
(1718m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
5409ft
(1649m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
[the next morning]
We've been told that the Jenny Lake ranger station, which opens at 8am, will have information for us on the situation and the plan (and perhaps how Ewart will be getting down the mountain). On the short walk to the ranger station, however, my radio crackles to life with Ewart's welsh lilt. Great! Turns out that he and the rangers have already packed up and they have already started hiking down the mountain. I am flabbergasted. How Ewart has managed to start hiking down a very steep trail after he could barely move 2 feet the day before is beyond me. But happily, he has.
I relay the good news to the others and redouble my efforts to get ready so that we can get over to the trailhead and start up to meet Ewart at least partway up. Somehow, I guess, we want to show Ewart that we hadn't abandoned him, that we desperately wanted to help (at least that's how I viewed my reasons, I suppose). And that perhaps in some small way we could help and thank the rangers by taking some of their load.
Happy reunion
All of us were keen for the hike back up, so we started off as soon as possible (which I think was about 9am-ish). We set a breakneck pace, wanting to get as high as possible so as to offer our help as soon as possible. Markus found the pace a bit too stiff and decided to return to the van to wait, while the rest of us continued onwards.
Hiking down with Ewart to the trailhead.
We were past the open brush and starting into the trees when we came across Andy (ranger), Helen (ranger) and Ewart, who was looking remarkably chipper. I give him a hearty handshake and clap on the back and thank him again for being who he is (i.e a tough 'ol Welshman!). We all offer to take whatever load we can and then start down. Ewart is moving remarkably well... in fact he is almost going at his normal hiking pace, and it is no time at all before we are back at the parking lot.
courtesy Markus
Teewinot Descent Picture Locator
The National
Park service later included a section in one of their news releases
(as they do for most situations where they provide aid) about this
whole affair. I've in-lined the relevant text from the bulletin
here:
[...]
The second rescue began on Wednesday afternoon, July 23, at 4:30 p.m., when Ewart Tempest, a 40-year-old male from Ottawa, Ontario, slid roughly 150-200 feet on snow then tumbled 50-80 feet through rocks while descending from the summit of Teewinot, which he had reached earlier that day along with several friends. Tempest slipped on the steep snowfield near the Worshipper and the Idol and landed in the rocks below, incurring injuries to his hip. Although he did have anice axe, he was unable to self-arrest. An off-duty ranger witnessed the accident and was the firstto make contact with the injured hiker. Two Jenny Lake climbing rangers hiked up to assist Tempest, spent the night on the mountain with him, and helped him hike out Thursday morning."
[...]
(excerpt from the
Grand Teton National Park news release for Aug
25, 2003. Original file [.PDF] is available
here)
Next stop is the rescue cache / ranger station where Ewart gets another once-over by the staff, and his wound re-dressed. We are advised that we can stop at the clinic in the Colter Bay section of the park for a more detailed exam. Ewart insists that we continue with the trip itinerary... I am less sure, but for now that seems a reasonable plan and so we pack up our Jenny Lake campsite and head north.
courtesy Markus
At the Colter Bay clinic, Ewart goes through a more thorough check, and receives a tetanus shot and some antibiotics. There is no X-ray machine at this clinic, but the doctor there doesn't really feel it is necessary anyway. It seems that all Ewart has is his cut, some scrapes, and one severely bruised left butt cheek. Based on our recollection of the accident and this fact, it would seem that Ewart's left butt absorbed most of the energy involved in stopping him as he hit the rocks at the bottom of the snow slope. All hail a well-padded butt!
So, what can be learned from this unfortunate affair? My take on it is that I need to take more care in seeing the difficulty of terrain from each participant's perspective. I already try to do this to some extent, but perhaps not enough. Boring repetitive practice may seem like a complete and utterly useless activity when it is conducted in the safe confines of a backyard in Ottawa, or on a simple ski slope. Or from a participant who is absolutely convinced that a particular danger doesn't apply to him or her and so training and practice is not required. A participant who is comfortable and confident in whatever skills are required results in a huge increase in safety. In any case, I am very grateful that I was able to escape this "lesson" without anyone hurt too badly in the process. And once again, thank you, Ewart, for being so tough.
(For Maps and Graphs of
the Teewinot climb, click
here.
For the GPS tracklogs from the climb, click
here)
In Their Own Words...
Peter: "After leaving yellowstone we headed for the Tetons. We grabbed a campsite for one night and much needed showers for many of us. Next morning we get camp sites at Jenny Lake, right under a glorious view of Teewinot. We took many pictures while going to get the new camp site. We then spent the rest of the day getting ready for our climb of Teewinot. This included a trip into town looking for gear, where I snapped pictures of old gear on the wall of the outdoor gear store.
[going up]
We got up at 2AM, ate some breakfast (noodles + oatmeal for me) and made our final preparation, we were at the trailhead by 3:15 AM. We made great initial progress. It was turning into an interesting scrambly climb. Sometime after it got scrambly, I started to bonk badly (despite breakfast and constant calorie intake) and had to stop to eat a most of my remaining food and some of Andrew's.
The rest of the climb was beautiful and challenging. With a lot of easy rock climbing/scrambling and some snowfield crossing. One rock section was fairly challenging and quite a bit beyond my comfort zone, but once I committed going back seemed worse. I put everything into getting around that section. Once the Adrenaline wore off I was bonking again (no energy + the shakes). We still had to get Caroline and Ewart around this section, so they put on harnesses while Andrew set up a belay. I just tossed them the rope which is all I could manage at this time. Soon we were back together and scrambling onward. The rest of the way up I had periods of normalcy mixed with blood sugar crashes. On attaining the summit area, I was pretty weak and light headed and the summit was very exposed so I made no attempt to do anything demanding. I simply put my hand on the true summit and returned to a less exposed place to sit.
The summit area views were Spectacular! Jagged craggy rock surrounded us, an alpine feast for the eyes. This was the best summit view that had ever awaited me. I shot pictures with abandon. After soaking in the scenery and a Dare cookie or two we began to descend.
[going down]
I was quite depleted after reaching the summit and pretty much out of food. Also food didn't seem to help much. I am very wary of decents, as I usually am out of gas completely and mistakes come much easier. I was hoping for a swift safe decent out of any areas of potential danger. Unfortunately this was not to be.
The trip down was going fine. We did a cool single rope rappel (with Luc gathering the gear and downclimbing). This got us past any of the tricky down climbing. I was feeling much less anxious as we only really had a last snowfield to descend before it turned into a hike out.
[the INCIDENT]
While decending the snow slope near Worshipper and Idol, I was second last in line and Ewart was last and far behind. He was having trouble with the snow all day, and clearly didn't like being on it. It half entered my mind to go see if I could help, but I was spent at this point and figured he would be ok, if he was going slow, he was probably going safely.
Moments later looking downslope, I could see Caroline falling. People were yelling instructions "Use your ice axe...", but from my vantage point I could see that she had lost her axe, but she was controlling her descent somewhat. When she plowed into the rocks it seemed in slow motion. By the amount of rocks moved, I thought the impact might have been greater than the speed first appeared. But she was up and saying she was ok quite soon. Luc started heading over to retrieve her axe which wasn't far from him. I was still wondering if she was really ok, when I heard a shout that Ewart was falling. Glancing up, it looked like he was heading right at me. Instinctively I dove for cover and wrenched my knee in a moat near some rocks. I then witnessed Ewart fly by me in a spray of snow, flailing and tumbling out of control, I instantly had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach watching him fly by and then be tossed into the air like a rag doll when he hit the first outcropping of rocks and then crashing hard in a heap, into the rocks below, not far from Caroline. I had once witnessed a fall of similar violence and that person just barely survived. At this point I was very shaken. I could see people converging on Ewart. All I could manage was to slowly make my way down the mountain. Driving my axe in deeply and holding onto it with a death grip at each step.
When I arrived, much to my relief, Ewart was speaking. He was soon talking about resting for the night where he was and walking out in the morning. I thought this was nonsense. I expected several fractures and he was not near any level ground to rest on. Painstakingly over the next hours Ewart crawled, walked, was belayed across snow, supported and dragged to a place where he could really rest for the night.
Climbing rangers were bringing additional supplies to spend the night with Ewart, and we were ushered off the mountiain. On the way down, I spent much of the time by myself as my knee needed support of an ice axe and would still occasionally collapse painfully on me (this slowed me down). Reunited at the vehicle we headed into town for a very somber meal about 10:30pm. A fitful night's sleep awaited most of us.
Fairly early in the morning, we had word that Ewart was walking out! We were overjoyed. We quickly made plans to meet him on the trail. Somehow Ewart had escaped more serious injury, through the foresight of wearing a helmet and the luck of taking most of the impact on his Butt. Overall he was VERY Lucky.
After we were re-united we stopped at the ranger rescue station where the rangers further checked him out and then we went to a local clinic for further checks."
Caroline: "Teewinot. I have no expectation whatsoever of how the climb is going to be like. The day before, I asked Andrew who has hiked with me before if he thinks I'll be able to do this. He says yes and that's enough for me. In my mind, the goal is now achievable and one way or another, I'll reach the summit.
The climb itself is not too bad. The altitude makes it harder and harder as we gain altitude. The vista is breathtaking (literally). There are a few dicey spots where I ask to be belayed. I know the others before me did it without the belay but the rope gives me confidence.
Once on the summit, I only dare touch the summit with one hand. Then I sit a few feet below for the proverbial picture. I have to admire Luc who is so comfortable in this environnement. He is the only one who dared to stand on the summit. I definitely think he was a mountain goat in a previous life.
What goes up...
I had really enjoyed the snow travel on our way up. On the way down, maybe I felt a little over confident, and I am sure the fatigue made us all - to various degrees - a little careless. As I was coming down on the snow, I slipped, self belayed successfully, but my mistake was to think that I was out of the woods. I slipped again and this time, I lost my ice axe. It's funny when something like this happen how time and speed become relative. As I read the others' account, I don't remember slowing down or almost stopping. I felt my speed was increasing all the time. I also felt I slipped for a long time but it must have been seconds only. I could hear the others shouting to me to use my axe. All my concentration is on stopping as I tried to dig my fingers in the snow. When I realise this was not working, I turned my head to see where I was headed. I saw the pile of rocks coming straight at me. I actually felt relieved. I thought: this is where I stop. I may hurt myself, but I will not die. Peter said later that a lot of rocks were moved... I don't remember that. I got up, shaking, nothing broken, a lesson learned.
Just after I got up, I hear Andrew and Luc yell at Ewart. Something is not right above but I can't see what because the sun gets in my eyes. Then I see Ewart start to fall, head over heels, like a rag doll... He passes very close to me. From my view point, I see clearly the bruises and cut on his back. I start running toward him as he finally stops and tries to sit up. I hate myself for feeling so powerless. It seems to me that it took for ever for me to start running. We were lucky those guys from the Park Services happened to be there. The rest is history. Ewart's account says it all.
When all was decided, Luc, Markus, Peter and I began to hike back. Luc flew like the wind and I couldn't keep up. On the other hand, Peter with his injured knee and Markus' energy level being so low, were going too slow for me. I had left my headlamp with Ewart and all I wanted was to reach the parking lot before dark. This is bear country, remember? I ended up running almost the whole way. Whenever I stopped to catch my breath, I felt my legs shaking. I was also dehydrated. I finally reached the van by 10 pm, 5 minutes behind Luc.
The late diner was quiet and gloomy, the night was restless for me. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see people falling from cliffs. I just laid there with my eyes open...
[the next morning]
I am relieved that Ewart looks better than the day before. He looks chipper too but I'm sure that the pain is horrible. Ewart never complained about that."
Ewart:
[the fall]
"Whilst descending the snowfield, I was purposefully ensuring that my ice axe was as firmly embedded within the snow as possible at all times - I weigh a lot! The next thing I know is that I have slipped, and am starting to descend the mountain at an increasing rate of knots. There is no time to grab the bottom of the ice axe - it has already popped out of the snow. I grab the ice axe and try to get into the self-arrest position, only to hit some rocks, be thrown into the air, hit the snow again, followed by some more rocks. Fully conscious the whole time, I am aware that had it not been for my helmet and backpack, I would surely have been dead, my head having bashed into rocks on two occasions. When I finally come to a rest, I know that nothing major is broken - I still have movement in all my arms and legs. But I am dazed, and very grateful to still be alive.
I try to get up, but no sooner than I try to do so, Caroline arrives on the scene and tells me not to move. I have no problems obeying her orders! She immediately starts to attend to a gash above my right buttock. As she does this, rangers Mikal and Andy are on the scene - they were descending at the same time, and saw the whole incident. They soon take charge, checking me out very thoroughly. They ask if I can walk, but it is hopeless - I am getting continual muscle spasms in my arms and legs, and I cannot put any pressure on my left leg (during my descent, it was the left side of my body, as well as my backside, that took the brunt of the knocks). I ask how my Nikon FM2 fared - it was in my backpack wrapped in my fleece and goretex jackets, and otherwise unprotected (I find out the following day that the lens was damaged, but the main body appears to be OK).
I am quite happy to stay up here overnight right where I am - after living in the Ottawa region for the past 30 months or so in a tent, spending a night 4,000ft [more like 10,000ft - JAL] up on a mountainside with a wonderful view and ice-cold melt-water to drink is no hardship, but a real treat. I know that what I am suffering from is trauma, and there is no way that I will be able to make it down the mountain under my own steam today. Everybody is being really helpful - from getting me water, to giving me remaining energy bars/food stuffs, to distributing the contents of my pack so that it can be taken down to the trail head. The decision is finally taken to have me camp out in a sheltered spot a short distance diagonally across the slope, although "short" in my condition seemed like infinity (it took about 3 hours from the time the incident occurred to me reaching my spot for the night).
I can tell that Andrew is visibly upset by what has happened, so ask Andy to leave me for a while so that I can have a quiet chat with Andrew alone.
Andy/Mikal have arranged for two wardens, Brandon & Helen, to come and stay with me overnight, and to escort me out in the morning if at all possible. Andrew wants to stay behind with me overnight, but I decline the offer and request that he descend with Andy and the others, get some decent food inside of him, not to mention a good night's sleep - I will be in my element up here, and I know that I will be in good hands.
My friends leave me with a pile of fleece and goretex gear to keep me warm/use as bedding, as well as a communicator. I arrange to give Andrew a call around 8.00am the following morning to let him know what is happening. Mikal stays with me until Brandon & Helen arrive, and the necessary medical information has been exchanged. They have brought up for me some food, a foam pad, a sleeping bag and a bivy sack, not to mention a more complete first aid kit.
The first question Brandon asks is why I think I will be able to walk out in the morning, as there is a helicopter on standby ready to air-lift me out now. I tell him that during the past three hours there had been visible mobility improvements, and that I would prefer to defer any air-lift decision until the morning - I also could not claim to have climbed Teewinot if I were unceremoniously helicoptered off. We decide to see how I am in the morning - provided that I can limp/hobble then we'll walk out. The helicopter is stood down, and Helen takes to performing a further medical assessment.
By this stage, I really want to go for a pee, not having done one since 3.00am (the body was in water conservation mode during the ascent), but the rest of my body just wants to shut down - I manage to hold off until the morning. Brandon supplies me with some anti-inflammatory drugs before I finally nod off, and again in the morning.
Morning rise is at 5.30am, forced by my need to have a pee more than anything else. I no longer have any muscle spasms, and am in a position to walk, albeit slowly. Yet more 'bar' food is all that is on the menu for breakfast, which I am starting to get rather tired of, but beggers cannot be choosers. Brandon has brought up a pair of hiking poles, which really helps. I tell him that I have a hiking pole of my own which I hid amongst some rocks just a short way down the trail on the ascent, as I knew that it would be of limited use for the rest of the climb. When we get to it, the webbing and foam gripping has been completely mauled by marmots - I don't particularly care, as I never had much affinity for "hi-tech" hiking poles that either collapse unexpectedly at the most inopportune times, or fail to collapse when you want them to.
As 8.00am approaches, I radio Andrew to let him know that we are heading down, and that we have just entered the tree line - I estimate that we will be down by 10.00am. About 1,500ft above the trail-head, we meet up with Andrew, Luc, Caroline & Peter who have hiked up the trail to meet us - this was a much appreciated gesture! We arrive at the trail head around 11.00am, at which point there are some poses for photographs with Brandon & Helen before we are escorted to the ranger station at Jenny Lake to be cleaned up before I go and see the doctor at Jackson Lake Lodge.
All of us had been really bowled over by the support provided by the Grand Teton climbing rangers - I for one was very humbled by the whole experience. Brandon & Helen were not open to receiving any money. However, they indicated that beer would be acceptable, so we popped in at Colter Bay, bought three large boxes (at some extortionate price), and dropped them off at the ranger station in Colter Bay requesting that they be forwarded to Jenny Lake. Then followed a visit to the medical centre at Jackson Lake Lodge, our last stop before proceeding North to Glacier National Park via Old Faithful in Yellowstone.
Dr. Chuck Harris gives me a tetanus jab, as well as a supply of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs. Decides not to stitch the gash as it is starting to heal by itself, but re-dresses it and gives me a supply of spare dressings to cover me for the remainder of the trip.
It is now around 1.00pm, and time to start heading north. Fortunately I am still able to travel sitting upright in the van."
