The Grandest Picnic
Mount Moran looming behind Jenny lake, Nicole Frati swam her way through Jenny lake in Grand Teton National Park. Nicole described her swim across the lake on the way to the base of the Grand in the darkness of the early morning, “I got about half way across the lake, and my goggles are tinted, like they’re definitely not meant for swimming at night. So I took them off to try to see how far I had to go and I immediately saw the Tetons all lit up by the moonlight behind the dock with these two swimmers in front of me. It was so beautiful, I remember saying out loud ‘Oh my god.’” Frati spent time practicing swimming in cold high-elevation lakes around Lander, in a wetsuit, to get used to the cold temperatures. Even in July the 1.3 miles each way through Jenny Lake proved to be cold enough to warrant a wetsuit.
In 2020 Nicole Frati was climbing the Grand Teton for the first time and met someone hustling their way down the lower saddle. The two got to talking and while Frati’s Grand in a day was nothing to scoff at, the climber she met was in the middle of a feat that made hers seem tiny in comparison: The Grand Teton Picnic.
One of the most grueling single-day adventures in the state of Wyoming, the picnic begins with a bike ride from the town square in Jackson to the edge of Jenny Lake, where the riders slip into wetsuits and become swimmers for 1.3 miles as they cross Jenny Lake, ditch the wetsuits, and get to the trailhead leading all the way up to the summit of the Grand Teton. Then do it all in reverse all the way back to town.
Nicole Frati smiles as she fills up her water from the spring on the lower saddle of the Grand Teton at 11,650 feet. Keeping hydrated and well-nutritioned throughout the day was essential for Frati and company on their big day. Mountain athletes try to consume anywhere from 200-400 calories with 60-100 grams of carbs per hour of travel.
Nicole frati roots through a drawer in the back of her trucks for coffee beans early in the morning in the Lupine Meadows parking lot. Choosing gear and food to take while keeping things lightweight is a crucial part of big days in the mountains. Getting an alpine, or early, start to avoid heat and inclimate weather on the mountains is standard practice for long day missions in high elevation areas.
Nicole Frati approached the summit of the Grand Teton 13,775ft above sea level June 17, 2024. Good weather can be hard to come by at high elevations, but Frati’s day on the mountain was perfection.
Route finding her way around the top section of the climbing, Nicole Frati leans in as she traverses a ledge, unroped, with thousand of feet of exposure inches from her path along a small granite wall over 13,000 feet up on the Grant Teton. Route finding is a crucial task to master if a party wants to be quick and efficient in the mountains. A wrong turn can lead to hours of lost time and higher risk of encountering inclement weather .
Gaining speed on a downhill section, Nicole Frati had a workout on the bike around Lander's Baldwin Loop west of town June 2024. Biking was the most unfamiliar of the three sports required for Frati to do the Picnic. “Even back when I was this trad-dad noob climber I kind of knew I could eventually figure out how to climb what I wanted to climb,” said Frati. “But when I wanted to get better on the bike, walking into a spin class at Gannett Peak and asking stupid questions was hard.”
Cutting through the switch backs Nicole Frati pulled out trekking poles to make her way down the gradual decline back to the parking lot at Lupine Meadow. As climbers descend back to the parking lot they'll lose over seven thousand feet of elevation and temperatures can differ from more than 40 degrees, so light packable layers are a must.