• By Kimberly Geil, Contributor
• September 17, 2025
• Jackson Hole News & Guide

Local residents Connie Kemmerer and Kay Wilson, both 81 years old, didn’t set out to climb the Grand Teton in August to set any records. For the two friends and climbing partners, it was about spending time in the mountains they loved and having another memorable adventure together.

Kemmerer started thinking about climbing a big peak as a gratitude pilgrimage last year—a way to show her thanks for the mountains, the earth, and the community. She considered flying to another continent to do it, until she looked up at the Grand one day and thought, “That’s it. It’s right here. This is what I’m grateful for.”

It was important to her to do this climb as part of a team, and she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather do it with than her friend Kay Wilson. They had met more than 25 years ago, both in their late 50s, while climbing Guides’ Wall with separate guides. They ended up chatting at belay ledges and thought, “She’s a woman climber, and older, like me!” They quickly became climbing partners, ticking off routes at locations across the western U.S. and beyond, including Devil’s Tower, the Tetons, and even the Eiger.

When they turned 70, they climbed the Grand Teton together—the fourth ascent for each of them. But then Kemmerer experienced a series of injuries and surgeries that sidelined her for many years. Before attempting the Grand Teton again, both Kemmerer and Wilson, who also suffers from a bad back, had multiple conversations with their doctors to make sure the climb was a realistic endeavor.

They booked with Exum Mountain Guides in February but didn’t start training in earnest until June, both separately and together. After two days of climbing practice with guide Bill Anderson in the valley over the summer, the women refocused their training efforts on ascending and descending steep and rocky trails, recognizing the importance of those skills to the success of their climb.

Wilson reflected, “We can say we’re going to train for this and do it. But we have to realize that our bodies may not let us do it. Maybe one of us can. Maybe neither. We knew that, but we were willing to give it a go.”

Finally, the trip arrived. They hiked up to the Lower Saddle to spend the first of two nights there with guides Bill Anderson and Nat Patridge, and assistant guide Ian Peterson. After a short night of sleep, they set out for the summit. The weather was clear and balmy, but Kemmerer soon found herself getting very tired and wondered aloud if she could make it. The guides and Wilson encouraged her to at least go to the next stop, and Patridge noticed that she was using the rest step incorrectly, which wasn’t allowing her muscles to recover. After Patridge coached her on the technique, Kemmerer got a second wind and, along with Wilson, reached the summit around 10:00 AM, standing atop the iconic peak as blue sky stretched all around them.

Achieving the summit was a mix of emotions: euphoria, excitement, and the recognition that they were only halfway. After savoring the moment and marveling at the fact that the rocks they stood on were even older than those found in the Himalayas, they began the climb back to the Lower Saddle, where they would spend another night before descending to the valley.

An unexpected twist came on the hike out, when they were taking a break at Spalding Falls about a third of the way down. Wilson had been feeling nauseous from what she suspected was spoiled yogurt. As she moved to the edge of the flat rock she was sitting on, she passed out and tumbled onto the rocks below. Climbing rangers were summoned, and she was short-hauled out of the area by helicopter, taken to the hospital in Idaho Falls for tests, and discharged later that evening with stitches and a concussion.

This experience, while frightening for all involved, only increased Kemmerer and Wilson’s feelings of gratitude: for the guides’ attentive care, the climbing rangers’ quick response, and the fragility and precious nature of life in general. The responding rangers, Noah Ronczkowski and Zack Little, were on scene in record time, and as fate would have it, Ronczkowski, previously a guide at Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, had been one of their guides when they had climbed the Grand Teton 11 years prior.

After Wilson was flown out, Kemmerer hiked down with the support of guides Tim Brown and Travis Baldwin. She knew Wilson was in good hands, and that allowed her to focus on getting herself back to the valley floor. The complete focus climbing requires is one of the things she has always loved about the sport, as any other thoughts or worries get pushed aside.

She also reflected on the mindfulness tools that had sustained her when she wasn’t sure she could make the summit. They connect to the legacy she’d like to leave, which is to ensure all members of the Jackson community have access to those tools. This is in service of becoming a community in which we interact with and support one another even more, regardless of our beliefs.

Kemmerer has always admired Wilson for her loving presence with family and friends and feels that accomplishing this last climb of the Grand will allow her to rest and focus on her own family. Her definition of “rest” is different from most, though—the day after she got back from climbing the Grand, she went to Burning Man for a week.

With this ascent, Kemmerer and Wilson become the oldest known people to have climbed the Grand Teton. The prior record was held by Bob Riggs, who climbed the Grand Teton on his 80th birthday with Exum guide Molly Loomis in 2007. The women agree that the record is a shared accomplishment—Kemmerer at 81 years and 10 months and Wilson at 81 years and 3 months—and they are grateful for all the support they received to make it possible.

It was an auspicious day for women climbers on August 22, 2025. Kemmerer and Wilson were on the summit when a young woman climbing alone topped out, and then quickly descended. It turns out that young woman was Jane Maus, on her way to set a new women’s record for the fastest known unsupported time. Kemmerer and Wilson’s achievement may have taken longer, but their accomplishment is a testament to the power of friendship and teamwork, and no less inspiring.

*****

Kimberly Geil is the founder of the Exum History Project and the third generation in her family to work at Exum Mountain Guides. She hopes to be as strong and fit as Kemmerer and Wilson when she hits her 80s.