Monday, September 13,1944. 1 P.M. Fred Brown was just in. I'm to try the Grand, Friday and Saturday of this week with a party of 3 other inexperienced climbers. Fee: $15 each, everything but food included.
Mary is currently (yesterday and today) working for Harrison Crandall at his Jenny Lake store. Don't know for how long and I'm more or less batching. Yesterday after supper, Pete Linn's boy Ted and I hitched up to Jenny Lake and Harrison took us, Mary and Pete in his delivery truck up to Jackson Lake Lodge, which MGM has taken over for the summer. They were putting on a movie and the Indians were special guests.
Picture- National Velvet with Mickey Rooney (so- so) and Elizabeth Taylor (I think this is her name, a splendid child actress). Story of a young girl who won the Grand National Steeplechase, had all the tear jerking cliches and the old soap about the loveable but screwy family (a la Life with Father) and yet managed to be very good of kind. Technicolor was lovely.
Wednesday, September 12, 1944. All arrangements were made for the Teton climb and Thursday evening, I drove up to Bob Turner's Skyline Ranch for the final check, since Fred phoned me to say he hadn't heard from T. and didn't know when we would go. Allyn let me run up in the park pickup truck and after some fast talk, broke-up a proposed postponement until Saturday-Sunday. I was afraid the predicted good weather might break, as well as out of sympathy with any delay.
Well, to make a long story short, finally at 2:30P.M. Friday, Bob Turner of the Teton Skyline Ranch, two of his dudes, Cyril Famy (vice-president of Wurlitzer musical instrument company, address RFO, St. Charles, Illinois) and his 17 or so year old boy Kit, Bob Brown and I started out on horseback (Bob's idea to make up for our late start), me riding Man O' War, for Garnet Canyon.
Reached mouth at 4:30. Dismounted, horses going back with several other Skyline dudes who went this far with us, and started for Lower Saddle. Quickly through the Boulderfield, through which Fred knew a sort of path. Up past Petzoldt's* cave and over a hump, along the moraine to the wall (I believe it's called).
There Fred had fixed a rope. Last year I did it without a rope and so, didn't use it this year. Over the top and up to the final slope to the saddle, a few minutes later = 8P.M. None of us was tired, though we had ascended 5,000 feet from valley, 3,000 feet on foot.
After much trouble, heated some soup and cocoa, etc. on a Coleman gasoline stove (wouldn't work well and cold and wind made it worse). Had a sweet dark German bread with butter and sausage for a sandwich, and other goodies. Petzoldt had left some down sleeping bags up there and we laid there side to side for warmth, adding some tarpaulin and other bits of cloth for additional warmth. The view was remarkable.
To be continued next week.
*Armand would have loved this! I found a 1931 film footage of Petzoldt and others climbing the Tetons. It's a silent video! It gives you a sense of what the climb was like for Armand.
Photo by Ansel Adams: Light and Pixels