Epic Failure?

August was in no uncertain terms was supposed to be an EPIC month. I had Devil's Tower, a Wisconsin trip with climbing at Devil's Lake and The Grand Teton on my agenda for the month. Because of circumstances out of my control (partner's injured foot), Devil's Tower was cancelled (or technically postponed, because it WILL happen). The Wisconsin trip happened, spent 2 weeks back home with family, and got some sick whitewater in while there as well. But Devil's Lake was a no go as well. I guess when your main climbing partner is injured, the amount of climbing happening is going to suffer.

The Grand

The worst and final disappointment was The Grand Teton. I had planned this trip for months. I had hooked up with some amazing companies and got some sweet gear to test out. Had everything taken care of. I knew the chances of summitting weren't 100%, weather is always iffy and it was a chance we were taking. When we got there, the weather was terrible. We spent the first day driving around Yellowstone in the pouring rain. The next day was perfect weather and we got our back country permit without a problem. Our plan was to hike up to the lower saddle that day and camp; wake up super early the next day and climb, get down and back to the car and head home. Nothing went as planned, we didn't even start the hike up to the lower saddle until after 3 pm. I'll stop here quick and just add that I am terrified of bears and scared of the dark. So the hike up... It's quite the hike up, long and steep. I knew I'd have a few issues, I hadn't been running much before this and had lost some endurance. And on top of that I spent a few weeks in WI, lots of cheese and wine, and was at 400' elevation vs 8000' elevation. Because of this I was moving a little slower than normal, but still moving nonetheless. My partner basically left me right from the start. I hiked the first 3 miles all alone. I was freaked out about bears since I was all alone, and freaked out about the possibility of hiking alone in the dark since we had gotten such a late start. After watching numerous groups of people pass me on their hike down laughing and talking together, I had had enough. I finally admitted that this just wasn't fun for me anymore. What is the point of it if you're not having fun?

I did what made sense to me, I turned around and hiked back to the car. I was extremely disappointed, but in hindsight, I made the right choice. The rest of the trip would've been miserable had I kept hiking. And I've already got the next attempt with a different partner who won't leave me behind in the works.

So epic failure or not, I'm moving past this.

The mountain isn't going anywhere, it will be there for me to climb again.