Owen-Spalding route, the Grand Teton.

The weather forecast wasn’t good. We knew that our only shot at the summit was to get up and down before the weather rolled in. At 4:30 AM, hail, snow and rain began to crash into us, and the looming threat of a lightning storm quickly became a reality. The storm intensified as we got higher, and we found ourselves slightly unprepared to face winter conditions at the upper saddle (13,160 feet). The decision to turn around was easy and we later discovered that Exum had also pulled all of their clients off the mountain. O well. I guess we’ll just have to do it again!