Adventure Journal Rewrites:

Irenes Arete

Adventure date: August 19 2018

Adapted from Journal written: September 2nd, 2023

After graduating high school in 2018 I made a partially forced decision to take a gap year before attending college. The summer directly after graduation I got a job working for the Jackson hole ski resort as a liffty at the bike park. It was an awesome opportunity with cheap housing and just a half hour away from world class climbing and mountaineering in Grand Teton National Park.

I was absolutely hooked with climbing during this period. Me a green new climber with only about 3 months of total climbing experience and only about a month of trad climbing experience was excited to really start building up my tick list.

In retrospect the Tetons probably weren’t the best place for an inexperienced naïve kid to learn to climb. The Tetons climbs required long approaches at altitude, routes were all traditional climbing with bolts few and far between, grades were stiff, and the expansive nature of the park presents challenges for when things don’t go according to plan. Despite this I was able to really get some good adventures in and my lack of insight into the true challenges of the Tetons led to some my greatest climbing experiences.

My first climb in the Tetons would be Irenes arete, a classic 6 pitch 5.8 in Garnet Canyon that overlooks some of the highest peaks of the Teton range. As I didn’t know anyone up there at the time I was using mountain project to find climbing partners. My partner would be Terry, an experienced climber in his late 60s. I did find his age a little concerning especially given the 5-mile tough approach to the base of Irene’s. But he had the experience I lacked and previously completed the climb several years ago. This would be my first long multipitch climb where I did any of the leading.

Me and Terry met at the parking lot at 5am to start the hike out. It was still dark and quite chilly. Terry was pleasant which helped settle the nerves. While hiking we chatted about climbing experiences and past adventures. It was probably clear to Terry that I was in a little over my head, but he never seemed to mention it or be even remotely swayed that maybe this wasn’t the best climb for me. The first 4.5 miles of the hike were on a good trail, uphill and steep in parts, but as I was in good shape I handled it quite well. Terry was a little slower but was quite impressive for his age.

For about the last half mile we veered off the main trail to a small poorly maintained climber’s “trail”. The trail quickly became steep with loose talus and significant exposure. I was quite nervous here as the exposure combined with how loose the terrain was gave potential for a fall and a slide with significant injury potential. About 50 ft below stood a steep cliff that didn’t make me feel any better. Terry was quite calm and used to this kind of terrain and I would come to learn this is typical for a climbing approach.

We gained significant vertical since the beginning of the hike and we could see a tremendous view of the canyon below. Even in middle of summer a few significant snow fields remained between the upper peaks of Teton range. Me and Terry reached a point where it seemed to get really steep and difficult to continue hiking. Looking around we could see the base of the climb about 50 ft below us, but there was no easy clear way to get there. We decided we could instead start the climb from there if we were to rope up and traverse left to get to the start. I would lead the traverse to the base.

The beginning traverse was on steep, but easy terrain and it was nice to be on a rope as a fall here would result in a quick 400 ft ride to the valley floor. We were officially rock climbing now. The slick high-altitude granite was new to me being used to the grippy sandstone and volcanic tuff that can be found throughout Southern California. The short traverse required minimal gear and was a nice warmup. I found nice big tree at the base belayed Terry. Now for the real climbing. I would lead the first pitch a 5.8.

I get all of my gear situated and Terry puts me on belay. I begin climbing placing a generous amount of gear as I progress upwards. The climbing felt difficult for 5.8, but not above my level. I felt challenged and focused using finesse to lead through the sparsely featured granite. I reach a ledge and belay up Terry.

He would lead pitch 2 graded at 5.7. It is clear Terry is a good climber as he handles the pitch quite well until it steepens into a vertical hand crank. He takes his time here clearly struggling, but is able to get through the section without falling. Terry sets a anchor and puts me on belay.

Most of the 2nd pitch goes smoothly, until I get stuck at the same vertical crack that Terry struggled with. I take a small fall here, my limited crack climbing really shows here. Luckly I was following here so the fall was of little consequence. I was able to get it on the second try using a lot of strength to ungracefully pull through the section. At this point I am starting to realize that this climb might be a little above my current capacity, but all I could do at this point was to continue on. (After consulting the guidebook several years later, I believe we were actually on the 5.9 variation instead of the original 5.7 pitch).

Next pitch was my lead at 5.7, following a broken crack system that veers left. The climbing here eases compared to the previous pitches. There are few moves that require some thought and commitment but the climbing protects well. I make it up the crack system to a large belay ledge. The ledge provides a great view of the valley and so far the climbing has been going well, but we are making slow progress with still a fair amount of climbing to go. I belay Terry up and he takes the next pitch.

Terry sets up to lead the next pitch which traverses right off the ledge and then eventually heads up. Terry starts the traverse but struggles to find the way up. He couldn’t remember where the traverse leads to and returns back to the belay ledge.

I decided I would to give it a try, so we swap places and I start climbing. The traverse has large black knubs sticking out of the wall making the climbing easy, however the knubs seem to lack structural security providing little confidence which along with the sparse protection leads to some uncertainty on the long traverse. I struggle to find a safe way up and see only two options: To continue on the long-unprotected travers until maybe an easier option opens up or to take the difficult looking thin finger crack that looked clearly above either of our climbing abilities.

Me and Terry talk over our options, and it is clear we are also running out of daylight. We collectively decide our best option is to try and bail from the ledge we are on as we see that there is potential to hike/scramble down to a gully on the left. Possibly allowing the opportunity to hike or set up a few rappels to get us back down to the trail safely.

We scramble across the gully unroped. The terrain is a little loose but feels safe and not too difficult, equating to about 3rd class. The terrain starts to steepen, but we luckly find a sling with a rap rings we are able to rappel off of. It is comforting that we were not the only ones who have ever been in this situation.

The sling and rap rings look to be in good shape, so me and Terry thread the rope through and set our rappel. I go first rapping to steady ground in the gully below. From here it looks hikeable with the prospect of eventually meeting up with the main trail. Terry follows behind me as the sun starts to approach the horizon. It is clear that this adventure will soon require headlamps.

We hike down the gully a fair ways and everything is starting to look like we might be getting back to the trail soon until we reach a steep cliff with no way down. We decided to traverse to climbers left to see if we could find an alternate route. We find small areas that allow us to make downward progress towards the valley but most options cliff out and our progression is slow. At this point it is now fully dark, the reduced visibility makes scouting for alternative routes nearly impossible. We continued traversing along until we find a tree with a sling and rap rings.

In the dark we don’t know where this rappel leads or even if our rope is long enough to reach the ground below. We are far out in the mountains here and these rap stations are rarely defined in guide books or even for actual routes. It was likely set by bailing climbing just like ourselves. At this point we have been wandering around aimlessly and are becoming desperate. We question if rapping here would even put us in a better situation than we currently are in.

We ultimately decide that mindlessly hiking in the dark would probably yield worse results than a rappel. We begin to set up a rap being careful to tie knots in the end of the rope in case the rope does not make it to the ground. We are know on ground that has at least been traveled before.

This was certainly a risk, but we had plenty of cord if more raps were needed and we figured that we would be able to work something out if need be. Terry goes first and makes it to the ground. I follow. We are now in another gully that looks like it goes for a while. We continue hiking until we reach a yet another cliff. We see another rap station and again decide this is our best option. After the rap we find ourselves in another gully, this one substantially steep than before.

With the dark we have no idea where we are and how close we are to the vally. However, with the rappels we do know that we have made significant downward progress, yet we still can’t see the valley below. We hike down this steep gully, and as we hike we do hear a stream. We decide to look for the stream as we are out of water, and we know that this stream will flow downwards eventually meeting up with the ponds in the valley below. The main question is if the stream follows through navigable terrain.

We hike towards the stream traversing sideways. When we reach the stream we see a small trail which even in the dark look reminiscent to stream saw when we hiked up to get to the base of Irenes. Terry confirms my suspicion. We refill out bottles and take the trail that goes downwards. At this point we are almost certain we are on the right track. We know that the night is far from over as even if this is the right path we still have about 4 miles back to the trailhead.

The trail eventually leads to the valley, meaning we are certainly heading home. Just about 3 miles to go. We finished the hike back very tired from being on our feet all day. We arrived at the car at 4am finishing our almost 24-hour adventure. What a way to start my multipitch climbing career. It was a experience that definitely led to me have a greater respect for Climbing in the Tetons, but also made me excited for future climbing adventures.

JM 1/13/2026