David Delap, Quin Blackburn, and Andy DePirro believed they could climb the Grand Teton in a day.
They knew little about the mountain, aside from a topographical map they had borrowed. Equipped with chocolate bars, raisins and one geologist’s hammer, the men set out on August 25th, 1923. Delap’s climbing shoes were old football cleats retrofitted steel spikes. The team didn’t carry any ropes. The ascent was daunting. Delap recounted:
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An icy wall, I guess to be 175 feet in height, with huge icicles hanging from the top and a chimney six or eight feet wide, faced us. To me it looked impossible to climb, but Blackburn and DePirro started to make a serious effort.
When they reached the top, they were surprised to discover that they were the first party to summit the mountain in twenty-five years.
Listen to David Delap describe his risky climb of the Grand Teton in the digital collection of the David F. Delap papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.