Adventure Magazine April 2020

"Nothing quite prepares
you for the Grand Tetons...
For me, it is the USA's
most scenic mountain
range.”
We found this out first hand on
a recent trip to the States. We were
on our way to Yellowstone National
Park and decided to go via the Grand
Tetons access route. Having very little
idea what to expect we didn’t plan on
stopping, but that all changed as soon
as we got there.
The Grand Tetons literally jump out
from nowhere. One moment you are
driving along through a forest and the
next there is a staggering wall of snowcovered
mountains bearing down on
you. There seems to be no landscape
pre-warning that around the next bend
is the most majestic and awe-inspiring
range of mountain in America.
We arrived at the Grand Tetons
from the Eastern Entrance, and it was
one of those places that although I had
heard lots about, I really didn’t know
what it was all about. The days before
we arrived the weather had been
scorching hot followed by plummeting
temperatures and a bitter wind. We
woke to fine weather but also warnings
that snow had fallen on the Togwotee
Pass, the pass that provides the most
direct access to the Grand Tetons.
The road was open, but we were
advised to be aware of ice and sliding
conditions. Going from the golden
tundra of Lander to the red rocks of
Dubois, the snowy peaks of Togwotee
Pass were something special. As we
dropped out of the snow cloud layer,
we were greeted by the Grand Tetons
in the distance.
Nothing quite prepares you for the
sight of the Grand Tetons. As someone
once said, “it is the USA’s most scenic
mountain range” and they are not
wrong. What makes the Grand Tetons
so impressive is their lack of foothills,
they seem to rise straight from the
golden plains below them.
Up close with the Grand Tetons