Teewinot: A Year in the Teton Range

by Jack Turner

Jack Turner grew up with an image of the Tetons engraved in his mind. As a young man, he climbed the peaks of this singular range with basic climbing gear friends. Later in life, he led treks in India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Tibet, and Peru, but he always returned to the mountains of his youth. He continues to climb the Tetons as a guide for Exum Mountain, Guides, the oldest and most prestigious guide service in America. Teewinot is his ode to forty years in the mountains that he loves.

Like Thoreau and Muir, Turner has contemplated the essential nature of a landscape. Teewinot is a book about a mountain range, its austere temper, its seasons, its flora and fauna, a few of its climbs, its weather, and the glory of the wildness. It is also about a small group of guides and rangers, nomads who inhabit the range each summer and know the mountains as intimately as they will ever be known. It is also a remarkable account of what it is like to live and work in a national park. Teewinot has something for spellbinding accounts of classic climbs, awe at the beauty of nature, and passion for some of the environmental issues facing America today. In this series of recollections, one of America's most beautiful national parks comes alive with beauty, mystery, and power.

The beauty, mystery, and power of the Grand Tetons come alive in Jack Turner's memoir of a year on America's most beautiful mountain range.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Mountaineering, Environment, Nature

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2000

Reviews

[Bryan Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teewinot is a gorgeous book, one to savor. It reminds the reader of how to better perceive the natural world. Jack Turner is an American mountain hermit in the classical Chinese style.

The book is structured to follow the author through most of a year in the Grand Tetons. This narrative describes what Jack Turner sees and does there, while arcing back into his memories and also exploring the natural history of the area.

What Turner sees and does involves lots of moving around the mountains. Teewinot is filled with climbing, hiking, paddling, a little driving, and a lot more climbing. This vigorous activity balances the author's practice of meditating, along with reflections on wilderness policies and the philosophy of nature. This might sound cumbersome, but works brilliantly. Each strand leads nicely to the next, often by association. The meditative aspects complement the athletics neatly.

What Turner remembers is his life in the mountains, especially concerning the fellow guides and Teton-lovers he's spent time with. So we read a mix of autobiography and group history. We see his childhood interest in these then-mysterious mountains become a lifelong passion. We learn of his fellow climbers, their personalities and fates.

Teewinot is a pleasure to read, partly because of Turner's voice. He offers miniature portraits of fellow mountaineers:

When he died, Willi was fifty-three years old, a white-haired professor of philosophy, and for some people, a prophet. He had earned his wisdom. Willi's daughter, Nanda Devi, died on the mountain he named her after. He had no toes; he limped. He was in constant pain. And still he wandered the mountains, seeking. (130)

Turner's prose is both muscular and celebrates physical prowess:

Toby and Lane [have] lived most of their lives in Jackson Hole and are happy to be in the mountains. They're both fit as SEALs. I once watched Toby hang by his knees from a rope ladder set at forty-five degrees and do sit-ups for so long, I got bored watching. (178-9)

Turner finds slapstick comedy in the Tetons:

On several occasions I have found moose sleeping on my porch. Once I got up in the night to pee off my porch. As I walked out the door stark naked, a figure rose up, snorting. I ran - straight into the doorjamb. Bleeding from the nose, I stumbled into the cabin, found my headlamp, and shined it into the night. A cow moose stood a dozen yards away, her eyes glowing, her head down, vapors purling from her nose - formidable and every bit as upset as I was. I defiantly peed off the porch in her direction and went back to bed. She slept somewhere else. (28-9)

He can also write gorgeous descriptions of landscapes:

Seven thousand feet below us, bluish lines of squalls dumped rain across the valleys. The layer level with us was chaotic with disturbance, a maw of whirling vapors and faintly greenish light. Above us, mature cumulonimbus bulged like muscles; higher yet, ribbons of cirrostratus disintegrated like spiraled nebula. The world became lurid, apocalyptic - the mise-en-scène of opera. Visibility dropped to fifty feet. My climbing gear hummed in tune with minute halos of fuzzy sparks covering every metal surface. The rock buzzed in varying frequencies, like alarms. (107)

I love that combination of specialized language (meteorology, aesthetics) with physically imminent words (bulged, maw, dumped).

This is a deeply masculine book in all kinds of ways. I've already mentioned its love of physical prowess. Turner depicts people, including himself, who push themselves to heights (literal and metaphorical) of bodily ability. Most of the book's characters people are men. Turner loves his isolation, never addressing romantic or sexual relations. It's the antithesis of Eat, Pray, Love, flung out from an exaltation of testosterone.

It's also an anarchist book. Turner writes as an anarchist, self-reliant, connected to a small, local group, and deeply suspicious of governments. "Rules are not about order; they are about obedience." (153) He celebrates Thoreau both for Walden and for "Civil Disobedience."

This is the first Turner I've read, and I want more. I read this during a Vermont November, up in the comparatively tiny Green Mountains, while snow came and went and temperatures dropped to zero F. Teewinot made me pay more attention to the way western winds pushed around leafless birch trees, and made me look more closely for bear sign. It brought my home back to me - what a striking achievement.

And I really want to visit the Teton park. Of course.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike Turner's book that I read a short while ago--Travels in Greater Yellowstone--this book stays more narrowly focused on the Grand Tetons, where he lives. It benefits from this in that his reflections and knowledge are more deeply grounded in a specific sense of place, though it lacks some of the environmental interconnections that were a key part of the reason for the broader reach of the other book. The book circulates around three types of narratives: story of climbs in the Tetons, which tend towards the adrenaline-laden; reflections on living in his rustic cabin at the base of Teewinot and observing nature from his porch and almost liturgy-like annual walks (these stories tend to be pensive and laconic); and narratives of hikes through various parts of the park, which strike a medium of movement and reflection. He is enjoyable and insightful on a number of levels--on the environment, "spirituality," the politics of land use--and it's just enjoyable to spend time with him. This book has given me a sense of connection to place even before I visit it (in one month!).

[Derek Speegle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written meditation on the Teton range from the perspective of a Buddhist philosopher mountaineer.

[Patrick Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect reread after Gary Snyder's "The Practice of the Wild." Turner is a decades-long Tetons climbing guide as well as philosophy professor. He knows Chinese mountain Zen poetry as well as he knows the natural and human history of Grand Teton National Park.

This composite view of a year in the Tetons makes vivid Turner's life and the range he considers his home. Non-climbers will appreciate this book for its literary mastery, as climbers will for its look inside a guide's life and mind.

Highly recommended.

[Phil7765 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a great book!

I first encountered Jack Turner’s writing in Abstract Wild. Here I found a thoughtful writer with a true sensitivity for all things wild. Though the setting is slightly different here the thoughtfulness remains and there is something in this book for anyone who even once has felt the strangeness and solemn majesty of great mountain ranges.

[Rocco DeLeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely spectacular. The imagery of the mountains, the solitude and the comradery among the climbers seems to just call me to the Tetons. It’s now on my bucket list. This books reads much like a discovery channel walk through the wilderness coupled with memoir. It was a great escape and an easy read. I’m not a climber and this book reinforced that. No way!! So don’t let that chase you away. If you like nature, mountains or a little adventure this a great book. Perhaps real life is overwhelming and exhausting and you envision the quiet cabin in the woods, this is it!

[Ted Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable because I understand the mountaineering ethos. It’s about more than climbing though, it’s an observation of a year in the Tetons - philosophy, nature watching and conservation musings. I’m glad to have read it.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful and relaxing read

[Dennis Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Death comes from the clouds,” is a repeated statement in this mountaineer’s climbing memoir and stories about lost friends. It is also a love poem to the Teton Range. He describes the flora and fauna of the region with luscious detail through all of its season. This one of the great nature writing books. .

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in preparation for a trip out to the Tetons along with climbing school and trekking with Exum guides. It had been a long time since I had read any kind of "sense of place" book and at first I thought it was a little pretentious, but I think Walden comes across that way at first as well (and I still love it). No doubt about it, Jack Turner is opinionated, and I agreed with him about 75% of the time, so I thought it was fun that he didn't hold back (he might, however, piss off those who don't agree with them, but how many snowmobilers do we know that would pick up this book?). I loved that he loved to be alone with his tea and his books and his cabin (when he wasn't out being alone with the trees and the snow and the elk). I enjoyed his quirky vocabulary and his equally quirky snickers bar habits. I also liked the way I felt when I read some of the quieter winter chapters. It's as if reading about being in the wilderness can produce some small fraction of its soothing effects in person.

On a personal level, I mostly read this book to gain some insight into what a climb of the Grand Teton would be like before I attempted it (and was inhibited both by an August snowstorm and my own lack of abilities). As it turns out, I was one of the novice-and-therefore-dangerous climbers that guides like Jack always have to be watching so they don't kill themselves, so that definitely touched a nerve. I do, however, feel proud that I'm "better" than the statistics he often quoted about tourists who never really leave their cars to "enjoy" our national parks. It was good to visit the world Jack describes in person, and especially to see the world of guiding and climbing firsthand (the dry humor, the constant gauging of risk), even if it was only somewhat superficially. I thought this book was an excellent accompaniment/complement to my adventures in 2009 but would provide any couch potato with an excellent escape.

[Adam Weis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time reading this, but after many years. Even better than I remembered! I hope to have a connection to a place and its nature like this someday. His stories are good, nature writing is beautiful, and has some good messages. Comes off as a little "try-hard" at times with the philosophy and name dropping, but still a great read about a great place.

[Jeffrey St. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lessons in mountain climbing from a Zen master. Lesson in Zen from a master climber. All in the setting of America's most glorious and dangerous mountain range--the Grand Tetons. There's more to Jackson Hole than Dick Cheney.

[Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to the Tetons. Through his narration of a climbing guide's year in the mountains, Turner weaves in ecology, cultural history, geology, and lore of Grand Teton National Park. By far the most readable and enjoyable account of the Tetons that I've read so far.

[skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and Turner's stories, and grumpy views of wilderness. I would say I preferred "The Abstract Wild" but this gives life and context to those more abstract essays.

Recommend for anyone living in Jackson WY.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like a contemporary 'Walden' set in the Tetons. A beautifully written book.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a climber but I love the outdoors and hiking. Great book about the sport and its appeal. Partially explains why there are so few old climbers still around.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Makes one want to hike the trails he hiked. Full of nature, stories about the park in winter, and fun characters. I highly recommend it. You will feel like you made a friend.

[Margaret Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book every few years. Makes me feel like I'm there. Fabulous book!

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

All things Teton by a long-time guide and climber. Marvelous.

[리아 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapter 10 is my favorite so far.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reflective book that made me want to get back to the beautiful Tetons and hike and climb.

[Shane Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made a trip to Valhalla due to this one.