I was climbing on the Valhalla Traverse on the Enclosure/Grand Teton when my climbing partner, Michelle Smith, slipped and fell on the challenging terrain. After tumbling 30 feet down the mountain, the rope came taut and she stopped. It was then that she looked down at her misshapen leg and realized the severity of the situation. This is the story of our adventure on the Enclosure and the ensuing rescue by the Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers.
Shattered from getungrounded on Vimeo.
Help support StephenKoch.com by picking up a sweet Contour HD Video Camera and a pair of Petzl Sarken Crampons from Backcountry.com to help keep your friends up to date and you attached to the ice on your next ice climb.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Michelle // Sep 8, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Well put Stephen….maybe I should buy a pair of those brand new razor sharp crampons!
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2 Rocky Vertone // Sep 9, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Wow… You two were amazingly calm and super positive throughout the whole thing. Props to you and the people that were involved in the rescue.
-Rocky
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3 Stephen Koch // Sep 16, 2010 at 12:11 am
It is wonderful when a challenging situation turns out well, as this did! Thanks to the Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers and Grand Teton National Park for doing great work! Michelle, your toughness and strength throughout our ordeal was most impressive. I look forward to getting out with you for some powder turns this winter!
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4 Ed Doody // Sep 25, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Knowing those Rangers got my back has me considering a climbing trIp to the Tetons next summer.
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5 phil // Oct 5, 2010 at 7:00 pm
One toughh cookie, kudos to you. Glad your off safe.
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6 Daniel Dunn // Oct 26, 2010 at 8:57 am
Awesome, awesome, awesome. I do volunteer Search and Rescue in Summit County, CO and this video brought a tear to my eye. Absolutely ridiculous calmness displayed by everyone, which is a huge key to everything going well. I’m blown away, really, by this story and the on the spot, live, reporting. Incredible.
Michelle, you are a tough SOB and I’m so happy you are still around. Great piece of mind Stephen to run the camera. And Michelle, thank you for letting him do it, I can only imagine how tough that was to get through that situation.
We just got our big snowfall of the season, and I want to go out and help someone! Not that I want anyone to get hurt or lost, but it feels good to help!
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