Jason the Conquerer

I've come to the conclusion that men and women are wired differently. I know - I should have reached this conclusion by the age of 3, or at least 5, especially given the crazy situations that my male cousins would get into, i.e. "Mark's on the roof again!" or something of the sort.

But seriously - here is my latest example of how differently we are wired:

The last time we were in Grand Teton (last month), Jason saw a book in the visitor's center called "Mountaineering in the Tetons", and just had to have it.

Since then, he has read it cover to cover, and from what I can gather has become very inspired by crazy men from the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. They were crazy men - no ropes or modern equipment. Jason is now regularly talking about free climbing and mountaineering up colliers (we can't agree on the spelling, and since we don't have the book with us here in Jackson, can't check it).

Now, he sees a mountain and is planning how to climb to the summit.

Me? I see a mountain and I think "Oooh. Pretty." and that's where it stops.

This morning, we hiked about 8 miles before noon, and a good half of those miles were straight uphill.

And it was gorgeous.

But we ended up a third of the way up one of the Tetons before Jason would consider coming down. I wasn't going to hike any further in the snow. Jason was thinking, "Well, we've made it this far, let's just keep going."

Check out this video to see where we were:



I love my husband. I love that he needs to conquer. I love that his need to conquer pushed me up a mountain to this kind of view today.

But geez... left to my own devices? I'd take a flat hike with some wildlife viewing, and looking at the mountain from the base. "Oooh, Pretty."

That's why we're so good for each other. I keep him from trying to summit, and he keeps me hiking up the hill.

A metaphor for marriage, don't you think?

Chasing Jason up the mountain.

And the funny thing is, I heard the same conversation from another family on the same hike. The father and son immediately plowed up the snow covered mountainside, headed at least to the waterfalls above. The mother and daughter decided to sit on a rock and wait for them.

Then.... the mother in all her guilt decided to go, hollering at her husband, "Wait up, honey, I'm coming!" Her husband, 100 feet above her, turned around and yelled, surprised, "Really?"

I bet she didn't regret going at all, and I bet going with kept her husband and son from doing something stupid.

See? Balance.

Tomorrow? Jason must Conquer again. :) "Oooh. Pretty."

Taken yesterday by a stranger at the top of Signal Hill in Teton. For the record, I got dressed FIRST that morning... Jason copied me. And yes, our matchy-matchy outfits are gross.

On an early part of our hike today, at the lower falls, when I was still easy to convince to keep hiking upward.

At the top, ready to start down.