Ella Climbs the Grand

“Two beers please Jake,” Ella said to the bartender while holding up two fingers to make her order clear in case he couldn’t quite hear her over the din in the bar.

“Hey girlie, what you doing in here?” asked the man sitting on the stool next to where she stood while his two friends looked on.

“Drinking beers just like you and your friends.”

“You let girls in here Jake?” the young man asked the bartender.

“They tell me I have to, now that they’re getting the right to vote.” Jake said to the man, then turning to the woman and smiling said, “Isn’t that right Miss Ella.”

“Don’t go giving these boys fool ideas Jake, you know you always have let us in.”

Jake smiles, then turns away to go help another customer.  Ella leans back on the bar, tilting her head back slightly so that her thick brown mane flows down to her shoulders.  “What are you boys doing here?”

“We’re fortifying ourselves for climbing the Grand Teton,” added the middle friend while lifting up his mug.

”You think you have what it takes to climb that mountain?” Ella asked, then before any of them could respond she added, “This girlie is not so sure,” picked up her beers and walked over to the table to meet her friend.

She hands a beer to Julie and sits down.  “You must have gotten those boys all in a lather because they cannot stop looking at you, cannot stop talking about you.”

“I give it maybe one minute till they make their way over here, then you and I will challenge them.” They clinked their mugs together conspiratorially and laughed.

“They are kind of cute.  Here they come.”

“We got what it takes.  We’re plenty tough.  We fought together in the Great War.”  Said the one who had been sitting next to Ella at the bar.

“But do you know how to climb?”

“We were stationed in the French Alps.  We climbed plenty of peaks all while fighting Jerrys.”

“Well, well.  Then maybe you’re not the wet behind the ears boys I was expecting.”

“I’m Lowell, said the guy who had been doing the talking, and these are my buddies, Mark and Doug.  May we sit down?”

“I’m Ella, this is Julie,” then added, “that depends.  If you sit down, you have to be respectful talking to us, and you might have to add me to your party for climbing the Grand.”  Then Ella motioned to the guys to sit down.  Doug grabbed a chair from a different table and squeezed in between the other guys.

“You, a girl, climbing with us.  Whatever put the silly idea that you could do that in your head?” Lowell couldn’t help but blurt out.

“Women are soft, and smell nice, but they aren’t mountain climbers.” Doug chimed in.

“Is that so?”  Julie asked.  “Maybe Ella here is smarter and tougher than all of you.” 

“Maybe she sews and cooks better,” Mark said with a smirk, “but that don’t make it so she can climb a mountain like the Grand.”

“I said that you boys need to be respectful if you are going to sit here.”

“Mark don’t mean nothing by that, do you Mark?”  Lowell asked, then added, “You don’t really think you could climb the Grand?  Do you?”

“There’s more of that disrespect.  These boys need to be taught a lesson, don’t they Julie?”

“I do believe that you are right.”

“Here’s the deal Lowell.  You and me arm wrestle.  If you win, we’re done here.  If I win, I join your climb of the Grand.”

“Not so fast.  If I win, you go out on a date with me when we come down from the Grand.”

“Deal,” and Ella held out her hand for Lowell to shake it.

Lowell looked at her hand, shook it.  “I’d rather kiss you, but I guess this will do till we get back.”  And with that, Lowell sat across from Ella, unbuttoned his cuff, rolled up his sleeve and put his elbow on the table. 

Ella’s small hand gripped Lowell’s meaty paw.  “Jules, will you do the honors?”

“Okay folks.  I’ll count to three.  One …, two,” On two Ella jumped up, kissed Lowell, “three.”  Ella pegged Lowell’s arm to the table.  Lowell was stunned. 

Ella stood up.  “Where and what time are we meeting in the morning?”

“What?  It has to be fair and square.”  Lowell said as he pounded his fingers into the table.

Some local guys had gathered around to watch the action.  “Was that fair-and-square boys?”

Doug and Mark stood up ready for a fight.

The locals agreed with Ella.  Lowell said they didn’t want no trouble, and he motioned to Mark and Doug to sit back down.  Lowell looked down and quietly said, “Caught me off guard, that’s all.  We’ll meet you at the end of the road by Wilson, 7 am.”

“Do you boys have horses?” Ella asked, feeling a little smug at her and Julie’s coup.

“No, we are planning to hike in from there?”

“Do you know the way?”

“We can see the mountain from the valley.  We figured we’d just aim for it.  Can’t be that hard to find the way.”

“Do y’all ride?”

“Sure, we had to ride in the army.”

“Okay then.  See you at 7.”  And with that Ella and Julie got up to leave.  As they walked away, they could hear the boys arguing.  Mark and Doug were not happy with bringing a girl along on their trip.  They didn’t hear Lowell raise his voice, but that didn’t mean he was happy with the outcome either.

As they stepped outside, Julie asked Ella, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

Ella stood for a moment, looking uncomfortable.  “No, I’m not sure.  But I want to get up that mountain and I need partners.  I need this; I think it will help me get beyond the haunting visions that have been swirling around in my head."

* * *

Lowell, Mark and Doug were at the end of the road assembling their packs the next morning when Ella and two guys came riding up on horseback, with seven more horses and mules in tow.  “Good morning boys.  This here’s my dad, Robert, and Lew here is one of our hired men.”  Handshakes were pressed all around, but the boys looked warily at Ella, her dad and Lew.  It seemed clear that they had been arguing.  Ella continued, “I got a riding horse and a pack mule for each of you.  This way we can make it to the high meadow and set up a climbers camp by tonight.  Any questions?”

Doug got flustered.  He looked at Lowell.  “She tricked you last night.  Now this girlie wants to mess with our trip.  Are you going to let her?”

Lowell just looked at Ella and smiled, “As long as she has good ideas, I believe that we will take her assistance.  Isn’t that right Mark?”

Mark wasn’t sure how to react, but after a moment's hesitation he walked over to a beautiful brown and white Appaloosa, started talking to it and running his hand along its mane.  Working with horses in the Army had given him an appreciation for their capabilities.  “Can I ride this one?”

“Okay then,” Robert began, “Lew, Ella and I will help you load the mules and we’ll ride with you up to just shy of the climbers camp.”  And with that they all got busy moving Lowell, Mark and Doug’s gear into boxes affixed to the mules.  Doug was the cameraman on the trip and hovered over Lew as he packed his 5x7 view camera, lens and film sheets. 

Once they got started, Lowell rode up alongside Ella.  “I take it you’ve been up here before.”

“I have.”

“Have you climbed the Grand?”

“Not to the top.  With the reconnaissance I’ve done, I figured out the best place to set up base camp, a good place to set up a high camp, and I have a good idea of the route to where the technical climbing starts.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this last night?”

“Why didn’t you ask?”  Ella responded curtly, tugged her horses reins and dropped back.

Robert saw the perplexed look on Lowell’s face and rode up alongside him.  “She’s a pistol that one, isn’t she.  I’ve got one other girl who is happy with her role in life.  Not Ella.  She wants to experience everything.”

“Yes sir,” Lowell said as he turned to look back at Ella.  “I have never met a girl like her.”

“Did she tell you that she was a nurse in the Great War?”

“No.  Was she in Europe?”

“Right up there, just behind the front lines, patching up the boys that got shot or blown up.  Spent two years at the front.  Wouldn’t leave till the war was over.”

Lowell turned around again to look at Ella.  This time he caught her eye.  She smiled.  He tipped his hat.  He was intrigued.

She dropped back next to Doug, “I don’t know anything about photography, can you teach me a bit about it?”

Doug was unsure of himself when talking to Ella, “Photography is complicated, I’m not sure you’d be interested.”

“Oh, but I am interested.”  Then Ella rode alongside Doug quietly for a while until he finally found the confidence to start talking.  “I use a 4x5 view camera.  I have 20 film plates with me, which means that we can take up to 20 photographs.  I brought a tripod, but I’ll likely shoot photos hand held as we climb.” He mostly looked straight ahead while he talked, but occasionally he looked over at her to see if she was still listening.

As Ella listened, she considered that these solders had had little interaction with women in the past few years.  They were uncomfortable around her.  She didn’t mean to make them uncomfortable, but she expected that it wasn’t her, any woman outside of their families would likely make them feel awkward.

They rode up the valley for a few miles, then Ella took the lead as they turned from the grasslands of the valley and headed through pine forests up into the mountains.  Robert, Lew and her had rifles holstered on their horses.  As they entered the forest, they unholstered the rifles and rode with them across their laps.  Grizzlies were a real threat out here they told the guys.  Lowell, Mark and Doug were from the east.  They hadn’t expected to have to be concerned about bear attacks.

“I can take that if you’d like,” Lowell said pointing at Ella’s rifle.

“Thanks, but it’s okay, I’m used to riding like this.”

They were now making their way steadily uphill and the terrain was getting steeper.  Lowell caught up with Ella.  “You ride out here by yourself a lot?”

“Not so much.  I usually drag Lew or one of our other hands or my dad with me.  I’ve had my eye on the Grand for a while now.”

“You mean since you got back.”

“Oh, so my dad told you that I was over in Europe.”

“Yeah.  If you’ve been wanting to climb it so badly, why didn’t you find a local guy to climb it with.”

“The war took many of our young men.  Many of the ones that did make it back are injured.  I work at the hospital trying to get as many of them as possible back on their feet.  Being out here and figuring out how to climb this chunk of rock has been therapeutic.  We’ve all been through a lot.  Having it to focus on helps me deal with my memories.  Besides, I only got back last fall and climbing season is just getting under way.  You were the first climbers I’ve run into since I’ve been back.”

They rode together in silence for a bit then Lowell started, “We’ve all seen a lot of things we can’t unsee.  The three of us have all been having difficulty adjusting back to our lives.  That’s why we decided to do this trip.  Three ex-soldiers out exploring, having fun together, getting to enjoy nature’s beauty without having to think about killing or being killed by anything.”

“As long as we don’t run into any grizzlies.”

“Yeah, there’s that.”

“We’ll be moving above the forests shortly and into sagebrush and grasslands, then it’s just rock.  It’s unlikely they’ll be up that high.  There’s plenty for them to eat in the forest.” 

They zig-zagged through the forest for a while, then up a slope on a route that only Ella knew. She finally stopped and announced, “Everyone dismount.  We’re here; this is the end of where the horses can take us.  We need to unload the mules and hike from here.  We’ll setup basecamp on the other side of these boulders.”

In front of them was a field of massive boulders.  Doug got angry.  “Why the hell did you bring us here?  I knew we should never had let this girlie lead us,” he said in a mocking tone while facing Ella.

Robert cut in.  “Doug, if Ella says this is the way to go, then you’d best trust her.”

Doug was thrown, he had momentarily forgotten that Ella’s dad was with them.  He turned quietly to his pack mule and starting unloading his photo gear. 

As they assembled their gear, Ella turned to Lowell.  I figure we’re going to make our way up to high camp tomorrow, climb the next day, then one day to get back to basecamp, and then we can have my dad bring the horses back up in four days.  How’s that sound?”

“They’re not staying?”

“No, as you can see, there’s nowhere to keep the horses and there’s little forage.”

“Can we get up and down it in three days?”

“I think so.  We’ll leave the heaviest gear at basecamp.  Carry only what we need to the high camp, and then just bring climbing gear for the climb.”

“Agreed,” Lowell said, “as long as Doug’s camera and film make it with us.  We have to document our climb,” he said with a smile.  Then he added, “Are you okay?” then looking over at Robert, “Is your dad okay with you being up here alone with us?”

Ella smiled.  “I’ve been on my own surrounded by men for the past two years.  My dad knows I can take care of myself.  Besides," she said while looking Lowell over, "I’m getting more confident that I can trust you.”

The four climbers plus Lew shouldered packs and began working their way through the boulder field; 30 minutes of careful foot placements later the boulders petered out and opened to a high-altitude meadow.

“Lowell stepped over to Doug and patted him on the shoulder as they dropped their packs.  “See, we can trust Ella.”

They set up camp; one big army surplus tent for the three guys, a small one for Ella.  They gathered wood and built a fire.  “What’d you guys bring for dinner?”

“Just some army surplus meals.”

“Can I interest you boys in some steaks?” Ella asked as she opened the box that Lew had shouldered across the boulders.

While dinner was cooking Doug set up his tripod and camera.  “Photography,” Lowell said to Ella out of earshot of Doug, “is how Doug finds peace and beauty after experiencing the horrors of war.”

As their bellies filled with juicy steaks and baked potatoes, the last concerns about bringing a woman along faded.  While they passed around a flask of whiskey Ella inquired where they were from and what they did for work?”

“There’s not much to tell there.  We’re all from Kingston, New York, a little town along the Hudson River at the base of the Catskills.  Not much opportunity there,” Lowell started.

“Lowell and me been working as car mechanics,” Mark added.  “You saw that car we left at the trailhead, having the skills we need to keep it going gave us the confidence to drive that jalopy across country.”

“We loaded it with extra wheels, tires, axles and engine parts before we left New York.  They’re mostly gone now,” Lowell said with a laugh.

“We got stuck out in the middle of nowhere in Iowa with a broken axle,” Doug said.  “I didn’t think we’d ever get out of there, but these two got it fixed and got us moving again.  I got two pictures of them wrestling with the axle with a grain elevator in the background.  I can’t wait till I can make it into a photograph.”

“What do you need for that?” Ella asked.

“I have chemicals and paper in the truck.  I just need a darkroom to turn my negatives into prints.”

“We have a root cellar on the ranch.  If that doesn’t work, my dad or I can likely get the local newspaper to let you use their photo equipment to print your pictures.”

Doug was beaming.  “That would be amazing!  Thank you!”

With Doug relaxed, Ella saw her opening.  “What about you?  What did you do for work?”

“I’ve been working for the local newspaper doing odd jobs and getting to do some reporting, but I really want to be a photographer.  I’m hoping the pictures from this trip will get me started.”  A gas pocket in a log on the fire suddenly made a loud Pop!  Doug jumped off the log yelling “Get Down!” while he covered his head with his arms and curled up into a ball.  Lowell and Mark were by his side in an instant. 

"It’s okay big guy," Lowell said.  "There's no war here, only friends."  Doug relaxed, sat up, looked around, then sat back down on the log but then started rocking and hugging himself, and he seemed to be struggling to breathe.  The other boys stayed with him.

Mark started in a gentle voice.  “We got you Doug.  Your photos are going to let people see beauty they’d otherwise never get to see.

Then Lowell pointed to Ella and let them know, “She is one of us.  She spent two years as a nurse just behind the front lines in France.”

Doug looked up at her, wiped the tears from his eyes and started to calm down.  “So you know what we are going through.”

“I do.  I too have seen things I can’t unsee.  I too struggle to breathe sometimes.  I guess we all need the therapy these mountains can provide,” Ella said in a soothing voice.  Then she walked over to her supply box picked up a deck of cards, and said, “Any interest in a few hands of poker before it gets dark?”

“You know how to play poker too?”

“You don’t grow up on a ranch and not learn to play cards.”

They discussed plans for the morning as they played.  Start at first light.  They’d reach the ice sheets before they got to the lower saddle, if the temps are warm enough to kick steps, they should be able to ascend that high without ropes.  The lower saddle would have bare spots where they could assemble their tents. 

They retired to their tents as darkness settled over the land.  Ella thought about these boys while she fell asleep.  She had seen as much psychological damage as physical injuries during the war.  She had spent many an hour just hugging young men who were coming apart at the seams.  Things they had seen, things they had done that were inconsistent with what they were taught, with who they were inside.  War sweeps them all up, the strong and tough, the soft and gentle, the quiet and meek; it drains them all of their personhood to turn them into fighters.  Those who survive, have to try and find their way back to become an older, hopefully wiser, version who they once were.  She didn’t yet know these guys well; she didn’t know if they’d eventually be okay, but at least they had each other, and they were trying to build new memories that might help dim the old ones.

Mark awoke screaming at 3:30 am!  Ella woke with a start, and rushed into their tent.  Lowell and Doug were already trying to sooth him.  He had his hands over his ears, his eyes looked crazed.  But upon seeing Ella, maybe he realized that he wasn’t at war and started calming down.  After a minute of kneeling in the tent entrance, and seeing Mark continue to gather himself, she said, “Mark, that was one hell of an alarm.  You okay?”  Mark was still struggling, but the others looked up at her and nodded.  “In that case I’ll go start some coffee.”

Mark apologized to Ella when he got up.  She handed him a cup of coffee and a thick slice of bread.  “No need for an apology.  The war is over on the battlefield, but we all keep fighting it in our heads.  The horrors stay with us long after the bullets stop flying.”

They began trekking upward.  They reached the first icefield in mid-morning and made their way up to the lower saddle by early afternoon.  They put their loads down.  Even leaving what they could behind, they still had tents, sleeping bags, and climbing equipment.  It was slow going.

Doug took a picture of Ella sitting in a contemplative moment on the saddle.  It was a beautiful, if inhospitable place; the Middle Teton was directly to their south, and the Grand rose up to their north.  “I’ve only made it a short way above the lower saddle.  From what I’ve been told, it’s non-technical all the way to the upper saddle, if all the snow has melted, but that we will need to rope up if there are icy sections.”

There was no wood up there to make a fire, so it was bread slices with butter and beef jerky for dinner.  There was no water on the saddle, but water flowed from the edge of the icefields not too far below.  They setup a fixed line; Mark dropped down with a gallon metal jug and some skins.  Lowell and Doug hoisted the water back up.  They had brought up a coffee pot.  They filled it with coffee and cold water, and mixed cold water in their bowls with oats.  It would be cold food and coffee in the morning, but they'd all had worse. 

It was cold on the saddle, so they settled into their tents early.  As she lay in her sleeping bag, Ella had the sense that today was a good day.  They were getting used to her presence, and maybe they were feeling more at peace.  The higher they went, the further they got from the world and the war.

They started up the next morning, each with a small rucksack and with climbing gear.  Doug’s film plates were shared among the group.  They used their route-finding skills to move slowly up toward the upper saddle.  It wasn’t far, but they were at an altitude none of them were used to: breath was getting short, headaches were blooming.  They roped up when they reached ice about halfway to the upper saddle.  All four of them were on a single rope.  Mark was in the lead.  He would climb until the rope became taught, then sink his ice axe to its head, wrap the rope around it and sit in the snow next to it.  Each climber would follow and do the same once they reached him.  When three of them had assembled at the higher point, Mark would move higher; the other two would wait for the fourth climber to arrive.  In this way, they climbed the last stretch to the upper saddle in short bursts with lots of waiting.  It was slow going. 

They reached the upper saddle around noon and discussed how to proceed from there.  Cracks and blocks directly in front of them didn’t appear to difficult to climb, so Mark started up.  He would lead climb, pounding in pitons for safety as he went, everyone else would go up on top rope.  This would hopefully be faster than their slow process thus far.  Once up, he anchored himself, then brought Doug up.  Ella and Lowell chatted while Doug was working up to Mark’s position.  Ella noted, “Have you noticed a change in Mark?”  Lowell looked at her questioningly.  “He seems to be brimming with confidence now that is in the lead.”

“Yeah.  With his attention fully engaged in the climb, his mind isn’t drifting off to nightmares.”

Ella turned to Lowell, “Why haven’t I seen you fighting old battles like Mark and Doug?”

He turned his attention from Doug’s climb to Ella.  “Let’s just say that something has captured my attention that has pushed those nightmares away.”  Ella blushed.

Doug crested the climb.  “Who’s next?”

Lowell called up, “Ella.”  He checked her knots and told her to stay calm, stay focused. 

“Don’t worry, I got this,” and with that she moved steadily upward until she reached Mark and Doug. 

Mark was smiling as they helped her step up on the top of the cliff.  “You’re a natural.”

Ella smiled and then looked down and asked, “How do we get back down?”

Mark and Doug laughed.  “We sprout wings, of course.”

Ella got in on the joke.  They were treating her like part of the team. 

While Doug was top roping Lowell, Mark went to start checking out what was next.  The others followed as soon as Lowell was up.  “It’s just this chimney, then hopefully that’s it.”

He flaked the rope, then Mark started up.  “This is shorter and easier than the last section.”  When he reached the top he gave out a “Woo Hoo! I do believe this is the last technical piece.”  He anchored the top rope and yelled down, “Come on up everyone!”

It was about 3 PM when the four of them stood on the peak.  There was a minute of broad smiles and excitement, but then Lowell reached into his pack and pulled out a flag on a short metal post, and things got somber.  Ella looked carefully at it. “I’ve seen those before.  What does that flag represent?”

“It’s the flag for our division.  The names scrawled on it are friends of ours who died in the war.”  They planted the flag in a rock cairn that had been built by previous climbers.  They took off their wool caps, put their hands over their hearts and Doug started singing the chorus to Over There.

Over there, over there,

Send the word, send the word over there—

That the Yanks are coming,

The Yanks are coming,

The drums rum-tumming

Ev’rywhere.

So prepare, say a pray’r,

Send the word, send the word to beware.

We’ll be over, we’re coming over,

And we won’t come back till it’s over

Over there.

He wasn’t halfway through when Lowell started to cry, followed shortly by Mark.  Doug made it to the end with tears in his eyes.  Ella went around on their small perch on the top of the world and with tears in her eyes, and hugged each one of them, thanked them for letting her come along.  “Wait, do you admit that you didn’t beat me fair-and-square?”  Ella laughed through her tears.  “That means you owe me a date when we get down.”

They didn’t have much time at the top.  Doug took a picture of the three of them, then Ella insisted on being shown to use the camera so that she could shoot a picture of the three boys.

She looked back at the flag as they turned to start down and thought that maybe that act of compassion for their fallen brothers would be cathartic and provide some closure on that chapter of these boys’ lives.  Maybe being part of it, would provide her some closure as well.

* * *

Mark showed Ella how to rappel off the two technical sections going down and Doug made sure to get a picture of her in action.  They worked their way down to the upper saddle then steadily made progress dropping to the lower saddle.  They reached camp just before nightfall. 

“Ella, got anymore steaks down below?” Doug asked. 

“I’m not telling you.  That would ruin the surprise.”

With that statement they all considered dropping off the lower saddle and racing down to the meadow in the dark to see what Ella had hidden away.  But they knew they had to wait.  Maybe steak was on the menu for lunch.

Robert and Lew arrived early in the afternoon the following day with the horses and mules just as the group finished crossing the boulder field with all their gear.  Ella ran up and hugged her dad as he dismounted.  “Did you make it?”  He asked, but Ella’s ear-to-ear grin told him that they had. 

As they rode down, Robert rode next to Lowell for a spell.  They watched as Ella chatted up both Mark and Doug.  “You know, I haven’t seen her this happy since she’s been back.  She seems lighter, less troubled.”  He looked at Lowell, “How about we have you all over for dinner so that I can give the three of you a proper thank you for taking good care of my girl.” 

“I’d be honored sir, but you know, she took care of us at least as much as we took care of her.”

“I’ll bet she did.”

* * *

They arrived at the ranch in the late afternoon and announced to Ella’s mom and sister, Claire, that there would be a few more mouths to feed.  Julie was there as she had stopped over to ask Ella how it went, but it was obvious that it went well.  Over dinner Robert told everyone that there was talk of Grand Teton being made into a national park.  Ella noted that there’s been talk for years, but Robert thought this time was different.  If it got made into a park, tourists would fill the valley, their autos would need repair and they’d want to have photographs to bring home.  The boys all smiled. 

Maybe they had found a new home.  Maybe they could finally leave the war behind them.

* * *

The genesis of this story: Terry and I stayed in a hotel in Jackson, WY a few weeks back. One hallway in the hotel had a plaque calling it the "Hall of Firsts." On one side of the hallway were framed photos of climbers atop the Grand Teton from as early as 1898 through the 1920s. Each photo listed the names of the climbers on a plaque just below. The other side of the hallway had the three photos of a woman climber included in the story above. But the photos had no name or date attached. I asked the front desk folks who she was. They didn't know. I found the photos in this hallway and others around the lobby to be enchanting. The more I looked at the photos, the more I wanted to know who this woman was. I finally decided if her story was unknown that I would create one for her.

After drafting the story I emailed the photos to History Jackson Hole and was told that the woman in the middle photograph is Eleanor Davis. She was the first woman to summit the Grand (August 27, 1923) and a physical education teacher and alpinist from Colorado. It's not obvious whether the other two photos are of the same woman. The nose of the woman in the first picture looks a little different, but it also might be Eleanor wearing different clothes.

I hope what I wrote is worthy of this young woman--these two young women--from 100 years ago.

One of my readers did research and found this article on Eleanor Davis:

Eleanor Davis