This video takes about three minutes to watch. The climb depicted, up the Upper Exum Ridge of the Grand Teton, and down the Owen Spalding route, took about 340 times that. We moseyed up that mountain, socializing, dawdling, detouring, and snacking the entire way.

Basically, I’m convinced that climbing the Grand Teton is the second most enjoyable thing you can do while breathing hard.

BTW, the climber in the video who says “Shwing!” is Ken Jern, who, several years ago, slipped on ice (right where he’s standing in the vid) and tumbled about 50 feet down the pitch below him, breaking several ribs. “It made for an interesting, painful day,” he recalled with a smile.