Teton Adventures

• Fight or Flight Traverse (FA 2016)

• Perception Traverse (FA 2015)

• Around the Clock Triathlon (FA 2015)

• Picnic (Grand Teton Triathlon- (PR 11:25)

• Hole Enchilanda (FA 2018)

• Grand Teton Bullseye (FA 2018)

• Wydaho Connection (FA 2018)

• Teton Crest Trail- Winter Day Ascent (FA 2019)

• Grand Teton Round Trip (PR 3:35)

Fight or Flight Traverse:

Traverse Background: After completing the Perception Traverse, which runs from Mount Moran to Albright Peak, the next logical step was to extend it on both ends—creating a complete traverse of the entire Teton Range. At first, it felt like an overly ambitious goal, but after a few reconnaissance missions into corners of the park I had never explored, the dots began to connect. The traverse isn’t overly technical; I would only need a rope and partner for the Cathedral Traverse of Teewinot, Mount Owen, and the North Ridge of the Grand Teton. Still, I knew the endless scree-filled gullies and massive vertical gain and loss would make it a serious challenge.

The motivation to finally give it a try didn’t come until a year after the death of my good friend and mountaineering mentor, Jarad Spackman, who had been killed in an avalanche the previous spring. I wanted to accomplish something that would have made him proud. Honoring him through this traverse felt like the best way to stay connected and to process the loss. I carried some of his ashes with me and spread them on every major peak. The Tetons were his playground, and he had inspired me endlessly to push my limits in the mountains.

Jarad was an accomplished snowboard mountaineer, logging multiple first descents in the Tetons, while climbing prolifically throughout the range and beyond. The name of the traverse is, in many ways, a tribute to his spirit—he was always the first to tie in and give something a try. He remained calm and composed in precarious situations, and in many ways, he was the man I always aspired to become. I loved him for everything he ignited in me. He was a great friend and a priceless mentor.

For me, this traverse will always stand as the pinnacle of my mountaineering career. It represents years of patience and the slow assembly of countless puzzle pieces. When it was finally complete, it felt as though I had explored so many hidden corners of my home range. Now, when I look up at the Teton skyline, I feel a deep sense of pride knowing I’ve experienced the entire horizon in one continuous effort.

This traverse is my tribute—to the Tetons themselves, and to Jarad. They are forever intertwined in my mind, and I hope this journey reflects the profound respect and gratitude I hold for them both.

Traverse Itinerary

Day One: East Face of Peak 10,333, Marmot Point, Ranger Peak, Peak 11,300, Peak 11,200, Doane Peak, Anniversary Peak, Eagles Rest
Day Two: Bivouac Peak, South Summit Mt. Moran, North Summit Mt. Moran, Drizzlepuss
Day Three: Mt. Woodring, Rockchuck Peak, Mt. St. John, Symmetry Spire, Ice Point, Storm Point.
Day Four: Teewinot, Peak 11,660, East Prong, Mt. Owen, Grand Teton (north ridge), Enclosure,
Day Five: Middle Teton, South Teton, Ice cream Cone, Gilkeys Tower, Spaulding Peak, Unnamed Blob, Cloudveil, Nez Perce
Day Six: Mt. Wister, Peak 10,696, Buck Mtn, Static Peak, Albright Peak
Day Seven: Prospectors Peak, Peak 10,989, Peak, 10,200, Mt. Hunt, Peak 10,425, Cody Peak, No Name Peak, Rendezvous Peak, Peak 10,400, Peak 9815, Peak 9734, Great White Hump, Mt. Glory.

Route notes: The hardest part of this route isn’t the technical climbing—it’s having the grit to keep going day after day. Most competent mountaineers could complete any single section of the route within a day, but the cumulative grind of covering so many miles over slow, uneven terrain is what makes this traverse truly difficult.

A solid seven-day weather window is essential, though often hard to coordinate. I completed the traverse during the third week of August, which typically offers the best chance for the Cathedral Traverse to be ice-free. In preparation, I found it helpful to put in several big days in the Tetons beforehand to get my ankles used to the constant impact and uneven footing.

While there are countless beautiful moments along the way, you should also be ready for long stretches of scree and loose terrain. Knowing each section of the route helps tremendously, though it isn’t strictly necessary. Before my attempt, I scouted every area rated 5.4 and above, and I’d recommend others do the same—it increases both speed and confidence. When fatigue sets in, it’s easy to drift off route.

I truly hope someone feels inspired to make a second ascent of this traverse. Experiencing the full sweep of the Teton Range in such an intimate way is one of the greatest gifts a mountaineer could hope for.

The Fight or Flight Traverse was featured in Men’s Journal Magazine and the Wyofile publication.

Windwalker Traverse

Traverse Background: After finishing the Fight or Flight Traverse in 2017, I started looking to other ranges that might offer a similar experience. I had heard through the grapevive that Szu-ting Yi and Dave Anderson were going to attempt a North-South traverse of the Wind River Range along its central spine and it spiked my interest. I contacted Dave And Szu-Ting about joining their attempt, but understandably they declined, never having meet me before and the upcoming start date was fast approaching. Later that Fall I read about their attempt in the Alpinist Magazine, although they stopped three-fourths of the way to their ultimate goal at the Cirque Traverse due to weather, it was an inspiring journey. I then contacted the pair to see if the were likely to go for another attempt, they replied they were not. I then asked if it was acceptable to them if I gave it a go. They were receptive to the idea and wished me luck.

That summer I had also met my future wife Elise Sterck, who is always up for an adventure. Within two months of our dating, she agreed to attempt the 15 day traverse with no signs of hesitancy. Truth be told, neither of us truly knew what we were in for, but both of us looked forward to the time together. With the car shuttle complete, we started our adventure at Union pass and made our way towards Downs Mountain. The first day went splendidly, the second night however was one of the worst nights I can remember in the outdoors. Brutal winds, camping at 13,000 feet, turned into a sleepless night and Elise dry-vomiting due to the altitude on repeat for hours on end. Our tent poles were rendered ineffective so we just wrapped the tent lining around our shivering bodies as we awaited daybreak. Once sunlight arrived, we checked the late August forecast only to heavy snow predicted for the upcoming night. Our luck running out fast, we descended to below Gannett Peak, curled up in our sleeping bags, and spent the next day and night swapping eye contact wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Thinking our traverse had come to an end the weight of the trip actually started to ease, ultimately our day trapped in the tend turned into quite a good time as we learned more about each other and let optimism for our relationship grow.

Surprisingly, we woke the next day to bluebird skies and an easy ascent of Gannett Peak. A climb completed with wet shoes, due to a foot of fresh snow, and the unattractive prospect of having to move fast to make up for our unplanned “rest day.” but overall it was a day worth remembering.

Continuing onward, we trudged through the central part of our traverse making easy non technical ascents of many summits along the continental divide, seeing the core of the Wind River Range that most people don’t get to see. Upon reflection, it was during this time wandering up on the high plateaus of the Wind River Range where on relationship fell into place. Discussing the twist and turns of our prior lives and imagining what might come next, felt safe and satisfying, like putting down your backpack after a long day. During this stretch of the traverse, we decided to move in with each other and make efforts to take the following year off to travel the world climbing. Having only each other to communicate and connect with, showed us the plain truth, that all we needed to be happy was just the presence of the other.

When we finally reached the Cirque of the Towers, we were feeling confident as the end felt in sight. Little did we know, the roped climbing portion of our trip would be harder than expected, weighed down with overnight gear and eleven days of repetitive motion behind took its toll. I had done the Cirque Traverse in a long day before, so I believed splitting into two days would be a breeze. However, a fall at the crux leaving me dangling on a few small gear placements, 1000 feet above the valley floor, severely effected my confidence. At a snails pace, we finished the sketchy rappels and found ourselves ascending the last steep ice and dirt gully at nightfall, barely holding on to our sanity and lives as we navigated the last three hundred feet of disintegrating chaos.

Reaching the lip of the gully was a sublime experience and we were greeted with calm skies and a two person bivy spot that served as our resting place for the night. I have never felt so grateful to be done a day of climbing, realizing that I was not only happy for my own survival but more pleased that Elise, the woman who was quickly becoming my life partner, had made it through the day as well.

The rest of traverse just felt like a blur as we kept summiting peaks and made our way to the end of the trail. After two weeks of arduous travel, Elises calves had developed an over use injury and the threat of cutting our traverse short was a real possibility. I remember thinking that stopping short would be unfortunate, but I was still leaving this trip with the best possible outcome, a partner that accepted me fully and loved me unconditionally. However, Elise persevered as she always does and we summited the 50th peak under blue skies and celebrated with a hearty serving of burger and fries at the Lander Bar. In the end, our bodies were tired. the relationship had strengthened, and we couldn’t stop smiling.

Peaks Traversed
1) Union Peak. 11) Peak 12705 22) Peak 11584 33)Peak 12468 44)Warbonnet
2) Peak 11507 12) Pedastal Peak 23) Europe Peak 34) Mount Washaki. 45) Mitchell
3)Three Waters Peak 13) Flagstone Peak 24)Peak 11778 35) Peak 11925 46) Big Sandy
4) Shale Mountain 14) Gannett Peak 25) Peak 12230 36) Wolfs Head 47) Peak 11593
5) Peak 12399 15) Miriam Peak. 26) Halls Peak 37) Overhanging 48) Peak 12105
6) Peak 12302 16) Dinwoody Peak. 27) Odyssey Peak 38) Sharks Nose 49) Nystrom
7) Peak 12254 17) Fremont Peak 28)Kagevah Peak 39) Block Tower. 50) Peak 12103
8) Downs Mountain 18) Angel Peak 29) Walt Bailey Peak. 40) Watch Tower
9) Peak 12702 19) Peak 11286 30) Tower Peak 41) Pylon Peak
10) Yukon Peak 20) Peak 11615 31) Mt. Hooker 42)Warrior 1
11) Peak 12705 21) Peak 11580 32) Peak 11886 43) Warrior 2

Traverse Notes:

Start: Union Pass (Seven Lakes Rd. with six days worth of food: ice axe/crampons)  End: Sweetwater Gap Trailhead
Food/Gear Caches: Indian Basin (Five days worth of food) and Cirque to The Towers (trad rack, harness, shoes-4 days worth of food)
Protection: Small trad rack for cirque of the towers: Ice axe crampons for Gannett Peak

The Windwalker Traverse was featured in the Buckrail Publication.

Around the Clock Triathlon

6 mile swim around Jenny Lake, 43 mile run of Teton Crest Trail, 108 mile bike from Teton Pass to Swan Valley/Alpine and back to Teton pass. First Ascent took around 30 hours.

Triathlon Background: I had finished the Picnic Triathlon, the previous summer, with more energy in the tank and wanted to create something that felt more challenging and brought me to my ultimate limit. Since I was only going to be young once, I wanted to make sure I had tapped into my full potential and I didn’t want to leave anything up to question.

I remembered from watching a documentary on the first Ironman triathlon, that founders of the idea just took the three hardest races on the big island of Hawaii and made them into one race. I really liked that idea so I just took the hardest swimming, running, and biking objectives for the Jackson Hole area that I could think of at the time and put them together into one big day. Well, maybe not the absolute hardest objectives, but the course had to be close to each other: so swimming around Jenny Lake, running the Teton Crest trail, and biking “around the block” from Teton Pass to Alpine seemed to make the most sense.

I was working as a substance abuse counselor at the time with a restricted time window, so I lead a DUI class until noon on Saturday and had my wetsuit on and entered the water by 1:30 that afternoon. The swim was an amazing journey ezploring the underwater world of Jenny Lake. I had no idea there was so much to see down there, it was like traveling back in time to the Jurassic era, there was so much life happening among the algae covered logs and rocks. Spending six hours, alternating my view between the beauty of the sprawling peaks and the sublime nature of the underwater world was a truly surreal experience. It felt like a strange meditation were every alternating turn of my head above then below the water, showed me the dichotomy of two very different worlds that were so close, but also so far away from each other.

Triathlon Notes:

The Around the Clock Triathlon was featured in the JH News and Guide and JH Style Magazine

Perception Traverse

An amazing tour of the Teton Range, stretching over four days, 25 different peaks, 65 miles, 78,000 vert gain/loss and encompassing all of the major peaks of the Teton Range. This traverse is really an addition to the Grand Traverse by adding in the southern and northern major peaks in the park into one long adventure.

Mostly fifth class scrambling, but North Ridge of Grand comes in at 5.8 in areas.

• Day One: Mt. Moran (CMC route), Woodring Peak (SouthEast Ridge), Rockchuck Peak (East Face), Mt. St. John (North Ridge), Symmetry Spire (North Couloir), Ice Point (NW ridge), Storm Point (NW Ridge)

• Day Two: Teewinot (East Face), Peak 11.840 (East Ridge), East Prong (East Ridge), Mt. Owen (Koven Route), Grand Teton (North Ridge), Enclosure, Middle Teton (North Ridge)

• Day Three: South Teton (NW ridge), Ice Cream Cone (West Ridge), Gilkey Tower West Ridge), Spalding Peak (West Ridge), Cloudveil Peak (West Ridge), Nez Perce (NW couloirs)

• Day Four: Wister Peak (NE face), Peak 10,696 , Buck Mountain (East Face), Static Peak, Albright Peak.