For many, climbing the Grand Teton is an adventure of a lifetime. But getting to the top of the second-tallest mountain in Wyoming is no easy feat – it involves navigating through challenging alpine terrain, rock climbing, technical rappelling and a serious amount of steep uphill hiking.
The Teton Climbers’ Coalition (TCC) wants to make that experience a little more accessible to adventurous women for decades to come.
The Jackson-based nonprofit recently created the Women’s Grand Scholarship Fund, which aims to continue to provide a needs-based scholarship each year to support a participant on an all-women, fully-guided trip up the iconic peak, in perpetuity.
Back in 2023, a crew of all-female climbers and guides headed into the mountains to celebrate the legacy of Eleanor Davis, the first widely-documented woman to summit the peak back in 1923.
Tag along on the inaugural all-women’s climb of the Grand Teton in this Modern West podcast episode!
A group of organizations got together to create the first Grand Scholarship for that centennial trip, and the community has continued to support participants each summer since.
TCC Board Chair Sheila Walsh Reddy proposed the idea of the original scholarship for that initial centennial climb, stemming from reflections on her own journey as an outdoor adventurer.
“ I had a really great experience as I was growing as a climber: I got a grant from the American Alpine Club, an aspiring alpinist award,” she said. “It really gave me this vote of confidence that I could do this and people believed in me, and also literally gave me money and support to get out there.”
Walsh Reddy said the beauty of the new scholarship fund is its ability to create sustainable change over a long-lasting period of time.
“ It may seem like each summer, just supporting one woman might not be a lot, but what we've seen is that there's this massive ripple effect through hearing about it that inspires other people,” she said.
Jacksonite Dawn Rucker was part of the 2023 centennial climb and joined again the following year, when she successfully summited the Grand. Inspired by her experiences, she initiated the creation of the new long-term scholarship fund with a substantial personal donation.
The goal is to reach $115,000 for the fund, which would make it possible for the annual scholarship to continue permanently. Between Rucker’s contribution and donations from Four Pines Physical Therapy and Women in the Tetons, the TCC is already a third of the way there. The hope is to cross the finish line in conjunction with the annual all-women’s climb this August.
“For me, training for and climbing the Grand as part of a team of women was powerful and unique,” Rucker wrote in a TCC announcement about the fund. “There’s nothing more beautiful and empowering than when you prove to yourself just how strong and brave you are. Yet women are far less likely to be encouraged to take risks—from childhood onward. I wanted to help change that by creating more opportunities, more role models, and more women exercising their courage muscle in the mountains.”
TCC Board Member Alice Pang has also played a big role in making the Grand scholarship happen and credits her own start in the mountains to these kinds of opportunities.
“ When I got started, the Grand Teton was actually how I got into climbing and I was not very good at all,” she said. “I wouldn't be a climber today without the support of women who believed in me and similar scholarships to this, from Climbing for Change and Women in the Tetons.”
Past scholarship recipients have gone on to set their sights on climbing Denali, North America’s tallest peak in Alaska, and have also volunteered with Coombs Outdoors to help Latino community members get outside and helped support BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] Climb Nights at the local gym.
For Pang, her hope is that everyone can feel like they belong in the mountains. In addition to the scholarship fund, she sees the TCC’s community climb nights as another helpful pathway for bringing people into the sport and developing their skills and competence.
“ It's been so inspiring to see people get on the wall for the very first time, and then get their belay certification and now they're leading outdoors,” she said. “It's so cool getting to see people grow.”
For Walsh Reddy, the climbing community can be a space of inclusion, support, mentorship and connection that spans across identities, abilities and generations.
“ We're the Equality State, the first state to have the vote for women. [Jackson] had an all-women’s town council. There's this amazing history of really powerful, interesting, dynamic women in the West,” she said. “I hope in a small part that the Women's Grand Scholarship and having it funded in perpetuity helps connect us to that strength as women in the Tetons.”
