The Relentless Quest

Hoyas in the Tetons

[ 1 ] August 18, 2011 | meesh

By JSmith

Back in the day, I went to school at PennState, where I simultaneously ran track competitively, picked up a degree, and got tossed from many a Nittany Lion alehouse. After undergrad at PSU, the wild country of the west was calling loudly, but I felt I needed to keep running for awhile longer after a solid senior year. I managed to snag a graduate assistant gig at James Madison working for Pat Henner, a mid-distance/distance coach who had already cultivated a crop of standout speedsters after just a few years in the biz.

Coach Henner - gettin it done on the GT

After some success, but ready for a literal change of pace, I left James Madison two years later in ’98 , scarcely a few months before my now wife and (much later) Ungrounded’s founder, Michelle “Darth Meesh” Smith arrived there as a freshman; recruited by Henner to rock the painful long distances races.

V Pitch - Henner and JSmith

Henner coached Darth for a year before he got grabbed up by Georgetown to command the celebrated Hoya track team. Now, 13 years later, Henner is Georgetown’s Director of Track and Field and is one of the top collegiate distance minds in the country. Thanks to the miracles of social networking, I found out a few months ago that he has also gotten seriously into trad climbing over the past few years, exploring mid-Atlantic crags on rare off weekends and spending big chunks of every summer getting after it in Cali.

JSmith, Mike Krisch and Pat Henner atop the GT

Over Facebook chats, I find out that Henner had yet to climb the Grand Teton….and before you know it, we are plotting enthusiastically over the phone after which he immediately books a Dulles to JH flight for the coming week. Literally hours before the trip, Henner also invites NYC-based Mike Krisch to join us on the mission. Mike has little more than a few minutes to grab a few clothes and basic climbing stuff before racing to make a flight. A 2010 Hoya graduate who now works for Columbia University Law School, Mike was a 10k track and cross-country All-American under Henner’s tutelage. Somehow, he is also an improbably strong climber considering he lives in the hood and has spent so much time running over recent years.

These guys arrived late last Thursday from sea level and we decided right away that Friday was the ideal weather window to punch it car to car to the top of the Grand Teton via the Upper Exum Ridge. At 12:30am, it was go-time. We rallied from the MOtel 6er in Jackson for the Lupine Meadows Trailhead.

I wanted to throw down this photo gallery of our day on the GT and outro session on Baxter’s Pinnacle, not only because it was an uncommonly awesome weekend with these guys, but because I’m inspired by the camaraderie, technical skill, pain tolerance and relentless athleticism that they demonstrated charging right up from urban sea level to the loftiest reaches of the Tetons.

Way to crush guys….you personify the Ungrounded spirit. Get back out here soon!