August 20th on the first day of our vacation I spent the day on a stellar climbing adventure. After leaving Baltimore (altitude 600’) and heading to Jackson WY (6,000’) I prepared for this day with a few hrs sleep. Less than 12hrs after landing (5AM) we set out on the pre-dawn trail from the String Lake trailhead (6,500’) and hiked for about 3hrs and 3,000’ in elevation gain. The hike was pretty intense as the slope was parabolic (it got steeper with every step) and the air was thin. The hike was mostly on just a climbers trail and involved some minor bushwhacking and what was probably class 5 scrambling.  At around 9:00 and 9,500’ we roped up and began our 1,000’+ climb. It took about 7 pitches and 5 hrs until we summitted. I was pretty winded and out of water so we headed down pretty shortly there after finding a route we could scramble/down climb fairly easily. We were back at the car by 6:30 and got a beer at a restaurant with a deck where we watched the sun set over the Tetons. What a day. A special thank you to John who served as my climbing partner and guide for the day and was the enabler of my adventure.

You can click on any of these pictures for the full album.

Where we are going from here (via micahcoleman)