Rockfall changes world-famous Teton skyline forever svinews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from svinews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A 'big chunk of the mountain' fell off last fall, altering the profile of the Grand’s East Ridge so drastically that people can see the difference from the valley floor.
Jim Woodmencey is the long-standing meteorological sage of Jackson Hole. Since the 1990s his website, Mountain Weather, has carried tailor-made forecasts for both the valley and the Tetons â and, he hopes, has kept many a recreationist safe and warm.
There was a time, though, when he didnât know a cirrus cloud from a cumulonimbus. What happens when a mass of air rides a sloping mountainside up to 13,000 feet? Teenage Woodmencey hadnât a clue. But after enough weather-induced misadventures, he chose to learn such things and, eventually, to package his knowledge into a service for his community.
Woodmencey grew up in San Mateo, California, a few hours from the Sierra Nevada, where his father introduced him to the wilderness and its climatic mood swings. After high school, for lack of any better ideas, he went to Yosemite.
A storm bashed against the pillar of rock and ice projecting from the South Face of Mount Bradley in Alaska, a barrage of snow in its swirling gusts. Mark and I dove into our tent, placed on the only ledge we’d found for hundreds of feet. We had planned to spend a single night on the route. This was our third. We were 3,000 feet up, with 1,000 feet of climbing still to go.
Between us we assembled a small pile: two energy bars, a half can of gas and a single freeze-dried meal.
“We’re going to need these for tomorrow,” Mark said quietly, and packed the bars into a stuff sack. I looked at the nutritional information on the meal packet: 400 calories each for dinner.