Lamar Valley, Yellowstone
About this photograph
Before Mount Moran became a reflection to admire, it was a summit that seemed to defy anyone who approached it. In 1918, an account in Scientific American predicted that its towering walls would probably never be climbed.
In 1915 s party of John Shive, his daughter Carrie, Tom Tracy, and Marguerite Clark, were forced to turn back about 600 feet below the summit. In 1919, a lone climber by the name of LeRoy Jeffers fought through a sleet storm and reached the lower north summit at nine that night. The highest summit remained beyond him.
In 1922, LeGrand Hardy, Ben Rich, and Bennet McNulty took on the challenge. Their route followed Skillet Glacier, the steep ribbon of snow and ice visible on the mountain’s face. Having no ice axes, they climbed using only sturdy sticks and two small automobile shovels and were the first ever to reach the summit! They set a record Scientific America said could not be done.
This is Mount Moran reflected in the Snake River at Oxbow Bend, in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. The mountain stands quiet and peaceful. But that peaceful view holds a story of people who faced an immense obstacle and found a way through.
