Backcountry Explorer

Embedded into the backcountry areas of Zion National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave Desert, Courtney Purcell's ramblings have also taken him all across the country and the world. From hiking, climbing and peakbagging in the Rockies, the Andes, the high volcanoes of Washington and Mexico, into the depths explored in spelunking, and the canyoneering of the Colorado Plateau, here you'll find trip reports, route beta and "stuff" relevant to the world of...

Ice Point & Storm Point

Walt looking toward Storm Point with Mount Owen hovering
After our plans to climb the CMC route on Mount Moran had been thwarted by car trouble, Walt Hutton and I started up the trail from Jenny Lake early one morning. We were headed to Symmetry Couloir, the route that would take us to our objectives, Ice Point and Storm Point.

Storm Point (left) and Ice Point, as seen on the approach
Along the way, we were fortunate enough to run across about half a dozen deer, a bunch of elk, and even two moose before we even got to the mountain.

Walt climbing Ice's Northwest Ridge
Making great time up the wildflower-choked couloir, it turned out that the climbs that day were absolutely terrific. Short and easy, but with impossibly good views of Mount Owen, Grand Teton and Teewinot. The climbing was exposed and the route-finding enjoyable...and it was all over too quickly, way before we knew it.

Some exposure on the Northwest Ridge of Ice Point
Returning to our vehicles a few hours later, seeing two more moose on the way out, Walt and I enjoyed lunch and then parted ways. It was time to drive to Salt Lake City to meet DB, and then head on to the Ruby Mountains to play around a bit before finally, and grudgingly, heading home!

CP (upper-left) descending Ice Point's terrific Northwest Ridge
TOPO

*Bottom photo courtesy of Walt Hutton

...those moments when time stands still. The catalysts are as varied as the individuals who pursue this path: a meteor shower; a night sky so star-filled that it snatches your breath; another rise of the sun over distant mountains vast and untouchable; dodging a rock careening crazily down a gully; a desperate icy struggle through whiteout and ground blizzard down to the safety of camp after an unsuccessful summit attempt; standing atop a mountain with a friend, the whole world at your feet, a blinding sun blazing out of a flawless sky, taking the time to watch that sun dip below the horizon even though camp is still many miles and many thousands of feet distant; stumbling over boulders and through brush in the darkness; watching the starlight and the storm wrest for possession of the night sky, seated on a narrow ledge beside your rope-mate with only the clothes on your back for shelter, shivering the night away, knowing that, sometime in a distant place you cannot now touch, the world will once again grow bright, the sun will rise, and you will look out on the infant day with new eyes.

-Bruce Binder

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

-Edward Abbey