The Snaz

I've been wanting to climb the Snaz for quite some time. It's a 9 pitch 5.10 on Cathedral Buttress, a major cragging area in the Tetons. Phil, Jess, and I cruised up there this morning to give it a go. We weren't the only ones...three other parties had the same plan.

The climb was awesome. We did the Snazzette variation, which include one pitch of splitter fingers to thin hands. Phil did a great job of leading it...it was a bit testy.

For some weird reason, his uvula got real swollen on the climb and he started dry heaving. He said it felt like a golf ball in his throat.
On the way down I slipped on snow and slid 35 feet before wracking my shoulder into a big rock.
I was pissed, and it hurt bad.

But the Snaz was Scralptown, Bro.

Teton Valley Weekend

Jess came up this weekend to visit the Teton Valley, the place we'd both be calling home for the summer. The Teton Valley sits on the west side of the Tetons, opposite Jackson Hole (the jay-hole), Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Park. It is a broad valley nestled between the Tetons on the West, the Big Hole Mountains on the East, and the Snake River Mountains to the South. Bear, moose, and marmo

I'm already installed in the Valley, staying near Victor at a friend's house. Right now I'm sharing the house with Scott Christy, Bruce Smithhammer, and Kat Smithhammer. I've been working for NOLS as a program supervisor, getting courses ready to leave for the field and managing instructors.

The Teton Valley was awakening from the most severe winter in two decades, and on Wednesday old man Winter put the exclamation point on the end of the season with four inches of snow in the Valley...on June 10th! But Thursday brought sunny skies and warm temperatures, and Jess showed up that evening. We went for a short hike in Teton Canyon, one of the several canyons that rise to the east from the Valley floor.


Friday I had to work most of the day, but took a long lunch. Jess and Gus and I went for a run up Teton Canyon, alongside the North Fork of the Teton River.

Saturday we went for a mountain bike ride in the Big Hole Mountains. The trailhead is only 2.5 miles from the house. Gus got really hot but we found a watering hole to cool him down in.


Sunday we went for a run up Death Canyon in Teton National Park. I scouted out several climbs on Cathedral Peak, a large granitic buttress the north side of the canyon. The buttress is home to several climbs I'd like to do, including Sunshine Daydream, Aerial Boundaries, the Snaz, and Caveat Emptor. We saw a black bear chillin' in a meadow on the way home.


It was a wonderful weekend. Jess left at 6 p.m. Tiana White showed up at 8...she and I had beers at the Knotty Pine, a local watering hole in Victor, before she left for the branch to begin a NOLS course the following day.

I love my wife and am looking forward to the summer.

Redneck Hotdogs, Inner City Hicks, and Routes at the City of Rocks

This weekend I (Nate) took a break from Driggs and cruised to the City of Rocks with Phil and Jess. Phil is the issue room manager at NOLS. His wifer, Jess, works for Mountain Khakis in Jackson. Their two dogs don't work much, but if they had to, I'm sure they'd do a good job.

On Friday night we ate hot dogs at Grumpy's Goathouse in Victor. The interior of the goathouse is covered with half-naked women; well-read playboy magazines fill the shelves. Red neck weirdos come in with their sons and talk about how the price of gas is going to skyrocket if Obama is elected. Weird scene.

But the City was pretty sick! We climbed a few routes on Saturday; Thin Slice (.10a), Just Another Pretty Face (.10d), Retail (.11a), and Rye Crisp (.8). Phil had a little single pitch epic on a burly .10d that was loose, messed up, burly, and horrible. It was cold.


After beers and meat on Saturday night, we climbed Sabbatical (.10c), an .11b left of Sabbatical, and a .10b on Parking Lot Rock. We ran into one of the most classic hicks of all time in the inner city--this gap-toothed, cope chewin, bud-drinkin', airborne veteran who carried two buck knives on his belt. He said he could identify climbers a mile away because they have canoes on top of their cars and bloody shins.

It was fun climbing with Phil and Jess. They're both great folks, even if they are from the South. They like dogs and climbing and beer and hanging out, which is cool, cuz those things are good things to like.

Brutarella Wedding

This weekend Jess and I headed to the Heart Six Ranch, just outside Grand Teton National Park. Steven Brutger and Sarah Annarella were getting married! So pumped for them. They are great individuals who are great together.