Teton Tea Recipe?

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Messages 1 - 36 of total 36 in this topic
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 13, 2010 - 02:42am PT
care to share what you know?

Jennie

Trad climber
Elk Creek, Idaho
Sep 13, 2010 - 03:10am PT
I doubt the recipe has a copyright. I’ve never partaken of Teton Tea but heard about it since I was a kid. I guess you know about the Teton tea parties at Guides Hill in the olden days… Bill Briggs still lives in Jackson.

Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 13, 2010 - 03:43am PT
Only heard tales of it's brewing in the range itself. I think the first time I really latched onto the notion that it was real, was in a Pinnacles climbing guide, where Roper is said to have brewed up batches and there was jumping of burning tires involved.

Just read The Climbing Art issue #1 where Mort Hempel mentions Royal partaking of Teton Tea. Figured it was time to brew some up.

thx Jennie!!!
mcreel

climber
Barcelona
Sep 13, 2010 - 03:57am PT
A different recipe is the Teton Tortilla. You might want to make one of these after drinking too much Teton Tea. Go to Garnet Canyon, where all the tents are. Tip over a rock, and crap in the hole. Then put the rock back. Presto, c'est fini!

Garnet Canyon used to be absolutely full of these. Maybe the situation has improved?
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Sep 13, 2010 - 04:08am PT
hey there say, mungeclimber and jennie... thanks for the nightly fun here...

never heard such a tale of brew...
:)
Wayno

Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 13, 2010 - 04:19am PT
Kinda sounds like uncle Elmo's Stump Juice. Kinda not.
local

Social climber
eldorado springs
Sep 13, 2010 - 12:03pm PT
I only had Teton Tea once. I was staying at the Jenny Lake Climbers Campground in the summer of '66 with two friends of mine. We had just finished high school and I had just turned 19. One afternoon a couple of 'adult' climbers came around with a big 'ole black kettle and started a fire under it in the center of the circle. As the afternoon and evening progressed, several liquor runs into Jackson, along with assorted bottles from every vehicle in camp, kept the kettle full and bubbling with tea, beer, wine, and whiskey.

Things got pretty out of hand as the evening progressed. Two things stuck in my mind. First, the rangers came by in the late afternoon when the decibel levels began to rise. They pulled up near the fire and before they could address the mob, a variety of non-lethal objects began to pelt their truck. They wisely retreated as they were neither wanted or needed. Second, an Eagle Scout who was staying over in the real campground, happened by that evening, probably drawn by the ruckus and promise of mischief. By morning, he was lying (in uniform) in a pool of rainwater and his own vomit after partaking of one too many cups of Tea. As his scoutmaster and the rangers led him away, my friends and I figured that the climbers campground and those tea parties may well be a thing of the past.....
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 13, 2010 - 12:04pm PT
"feed the cave tunas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Storytime...
scuffy b

climber
Eastern Salinia
Sep 13, 2010 - 03:12pm PT
So nobody but the teamaster and assistants can taste it until the teamaster's work is done, but all present must repeatedly sample the tea to make sure the temperature is doing OK?
TomCochrane

Trad climber
Boulder Creek CA
Sep 13, 2010 - 04:28pm PT
Ok, so I participated in many Teton Tea campfires at the CCC Jenny Lake climbers camp in the early 1960s. There was a big old black cast iron pot that was the heart of the enterprise. It was kept hidden when not in use. I was sometimes one of the first camp inhabitants in the spring, after school let out in Boise and before the snow melted enough to open up the high peaks climbing season around June 15th; and one of the last to leave in the fall. The ab-original known as 'Charlie Brown' usually arrived around the same time. The pot would be excavated from its hiding place and restored to service for the regular evening camp fires. Teton Tea was a bit like stone soup or road-kill stew. There was no formal recipe at the time, although there was a selection of preferred ingredients. It would be hard to get testimony as to what might have been included. I recall occasions with some very strange flavors that I could never identify. The primary ingredients included a couple of bottles of cheap wine and a box of tea bags with the strings all tied together so that you could fish them out with a stick when the tea was strong enough. There were many batches that were barely palatable, before we discovered that you shouldn't let the water boil once the ingredients had been added. A box of strawberries was another preferred addition. Whole lemons were a frequent addition that seemed to detract from making it palatable. People sat around the fire in a big ring sitting on logs. A favorite topic of conversation had to do with the aerodynamics of campfire smoke as vagrant evening breezes added interest to the politics of choosing where to sit. Bear stories were another favorite topic. Many climbs, enterprises and relationships were born around these campfires, three in particular perhaps being The North Face, Leeper Equipment, and Chouinard Equipment. I participated in many climbs and expeditions that were born in the dim smokey light of those campfires. I also recall a dream princess from across the fire, coming around to lead me by the hand into the woods. And another evening around the fire, John Hudson challenged everyone to grab an ice axe and climb the Grand Teton by moonlight. A mob of us stormed across Lupine Meadows. As we climbed, we left a string of bivouacked people who faded into niches in the boulders between Garnet Canyon and the Lower Saddle. John and I alone topped out on the Grand just as the sun broke the horizon. On the way down we collected up our friends and we all agreed that there was to be no discussions as to who got how far up the mountain that night.
guido

Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
Sep 13, 2010 - 04:40pm PT
Most Important and a key item that you will never forget once you have imbided too freely and the true essence of Teton Tea:

CLOVES-think Eugenol!

Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Sep 15, 2010 - 02:10am PT
I first drank Teton Tea at a party in Boulder at Jack Turner's place where I also made a date to climb with Layton Kor in Eldorado two days later. Both events were memorable and are forever linked.

Dave and Reed Dornan had some parties about that time with some memorable Teton tea as well.

Tea, preferably Earl Gray, red wine, sugar, especially if it was cheap wine, cinnamon, and cloves were what I remember.

Later improvements could include a few orange slices or a little orange juice. Later, I heard that some people made it with rum instead of red wine.
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Sep 18, 2010 - 12:48am PT
Here's the final word on Teton Tea. The recipe was just given to me by Hope Meek who got it from the Wildflower Inn - Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

It will give you a wide awake drunk with plenty of Vitamin C !

Combine:

4 cups cranberry juice
1/2 stick of cinnamon

Simmer in a large, non aluminum pan for 20 minuets.

Add:

2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar to taste

Heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is hot.

Add:

I gallon red wine
2 Quarts of tea, preferably Earl Gray, brewed dark.
You can even mix in some green tea for antioxidants.

Garnish with orange slices pierced with cloves for the final touch.
Keep warm over very low heat.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 18, 2010 - 01:30am PT
Thx Jan

Great stories Tom
murcy

climber
sanfrancisco
Sep 18, 2010 - 01:57am PT
Ethanol boils at 173 fahrenheit. So if you simmer this mixture, goodbye alcohol.

Allen Hill

Social climber
CO.
Sep 18, 2010 - 02:00am PT
It certainly didn't benefit Gary Hemming, thats for sure.
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Sep 18, 2010 - 09:22am PT
Murcy-

We just poured in more red wine as the pot got drained down, thus keeping up the alcohol content.
jogill

climber
Colorado
Sep 18, 2010 - 04:13pm PT
Memorable when Orrin Bonney would put up his teepee and we'd all crowd in, sitting around the fire while the tea brewed. I remember Jan Conn singing and leading songs - she and Herb were there to do a photo-shoot for Life magazine on the N face of the Grand. Don't recall that actually happening (?) - I know they climbed the Thumb on Teewinot. It would get so hot you had to stagger outside into the cold Teton evening to get some relief! Seems like there were very few rules about what would go into the pot, but frozen raspberries were always welcomed.
TomCochrane

Trad climber
I've lost track...
Sep 19, 2010 - 02:48am PT
jogill, I heard that Orrin Bonney died in the Oakland Fire. Can you confirm that? If so he was probably a neighbor of another of my friends, Will Wright (author of SimCity, SimEarth, The Sims, Spore) who barely escape with his life from the neighborhood where most of the fatalities occurred.

I also heard stories back in those days of an amazing house bolted to the side of a cliff that I thought belonged to Herb and Jan Conn. Do you know about that and where it was located?
guido

Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
Sep 19, 2010 - 11:56am PT
Tom-It was Leigh Ortenburger and I believe his wife that were killed in the Oakland fire of the early 90s.
jogill

climber
Colorado
Sep 28, 2010 - 10:22pm PT
Tom, yes, it was Ortenburger who died in the fire. Irene (of Irene's arete in the Tetons) wasn't killed. Orrin was a lawyer and past president of the AAC.I think he lived in Houston at the time.

Jan and Herb Conn built the "Conncave" on a slab in the forest outside Custer, SD, back in the late 40s or early 50s. They built a semi-circular rock enclosure that fits the curvature of the natural rock, with a bed ledge upon which they placed a mattress. There was a door opening onto a natural rock patio, and one or two windows. Later, they worked a deal with the forest service for a trailer which they placed on their property. I knew them in the late 50s and early 60s, and don't know if they eventually moved into more spacious quarters.
mark miller

Social climber
Reno
Sep 28, 2010 - 10:40pm PT
I always thought Teton Tea was a redneck pissing into a bottle of "Jack".
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 28, 2010 - 10:51pm PT
John- Were Herb and Jan the first full time "climbing bums" that you were aware of? Climbers dedicated to minimal work and maximal climbing, as they professed to be early on, were the exception especially as a couple. Any thoughts on that distinction, historically?
TomCochrane

Trad climber
I've lost track...
Sep 29, 2010 - 02:20am PT
Mark Powell may have been the first full-time rock climber in the country, as I don't think High School students count. However Gary Hemming might be a candidate. Margaret Young also qualifies, although she inherited wealth and chose to spend most of her time climbing. Perhaps her Cessna 180 on ski wheels and her two big ranch houses in downtown Palo Alto disqualify her as a climbing bum; but she did look and act the part!...LOL

"Charlie Brown" and Bill Briggs were key players as tea meisters in the early Teton Tea parties.

Bill's history as a pioneering extreme skier and a Jackson Hole ski instructor is well known. In fact his vivid description in Ski Magazine of how to carve turns had a significant effect on my skiing style.

Can anyone fill in details about "Charlie Brown"?

(I was a climbing-obsessed teenager at the time and didn't pay much attention to anyone less obsessed...)
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 29, 2010 - 02:40am PT
Interesting you mention the independently wealthy climbing bum.

had a discussion with someone at one point about the trustafarai.

would the climbing community disown them if they found out?

not like it's something that anyone spouts about. but it seems like a bigger sacrifice to be a poor climber and still give your life to the pursuit, than someone that has means.

I was neither. Am neither? meh student loans kept me climbing thru school. Now I pay. don't regret it really.


whoa, late night sangria thread drift...
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 29, 2010 - 10:42am PT
Independently wealthy isn't part of the "climbing bum" lifestyle that I was referring to.
jogill

climber
Colorado
Sep 29, 2010 - 09:38pm PT
Were Herb and Jan the first full time "climbing bums" that you were aware of? Climbers dedicated to minimal work and maximal climbing, as they professed to be early on, were the exception especially as a couple. Any thoughts on that distinction, historically?

I think Chouinard and several of his friends (i.e., Ken Weeks) may have been the first I encountered. I met the Conns later. But Yvon, although living the CB lifestyle apparently, was clearly destined for greater accomplishments. Then there was Royal - but he drove a Mercedes to the campground. Many of the CBs I knew about in the late 50s were students, so that's not quite the same.

I must admit that I was not unbiased with regard to CB lifestyles, when my own efforts were directed toward a more balanced life, with climbing an avocation and not an all-consuming passion. But the Conns were special, and I would not call them CBs. They settled in the Needles and did serious work mapping Jewel Cave and cleaning up Mt Rushmore. Plus music lessons. Herb was an electrical engineer who had worked for the Dept of the Navy, and he continued to conduct experiments as a hobby in the Conncave.

Hey Kerwin, you must have something to contribute about this topic!
HighTraverse

Trad climber
Bay Area
Sep 29, 2010 - 09:53pm PT
guido
That is nearly correct. Leigh was visiting Al Baxter and his wife. Al Baxter suffered terrible burns but survived. His wife died in the fire. Leigh also died in the fire.

See AAJ Volume 34, In Memoriam

Glen Denny created a wonderful exhibit of Leigh's photos at Stanford last year.

Back to Teton Tea.
I'm sure the ancient typewritten recipe is the correct one. How could it have been anything else?
TomCochrane

Trad climber
I've lost track...
Sep 29, 2010 - 11:42pm PT
Chouinard was one of the first CB people I met. We shared a camp one summer in the Tetons in the CCC incinerator; spending rainy days brewing tea and dehydrated soups. We camped in the incinerator because neither of us could afford a tent. That's also the time period when I started learning from John Gill and Royal. Not sure about what happened to Ken Weeks (awol). Several of us made a trip together into the southern Wind Rivers; Chouinard, Fred Becky, Art Gran, John Hudson and me.

Royal was definitely a full-time climber. We climbed together in the Tetons and the two of us later shared a camp in the boulders above Camp 4 at the base of the Wine Boulder. Liz became a regular in camp and on some of our climbs. I was much younger than the big boys and sort of a convenient climbing partner when grown ups weren't available.

We were all climbing with a variety of partners. The picnic table there below the Wine Boulder overhang was a regular scene for planning climbs with Pratt, Chouinard, Frost, Colliver, Frederics, Sacherer, Kor, Wally Reed, Glen Denny, Bob Kamps, Mark Powell, and others. When not going solo, I mainly climbed with Royal, Colliver, Sacherer, and Kor. Glen Denny and I were fooling around with difficult aid techniques. In later years I was also climbing with Kim Schmitz and Pat Ament.

The Mercedes came from Liz's parents when they agreed to accept Royal into the family following some formal visits to their home in Modesto. It was some years later that Royal moved into being a businessman.

I ran out of parental support and wasn't into stealing food at the lodge; so hitched a ride with a group going to Berkley to a house that included Mort Hemple and his girl friend and Gary Hemming's girl friend. I didn't like the drug scene and went with Doug Tompkins and his wife to their apartment in San Francisco and was hired as perhaps his first paid employee, book keeper, ski mounter, and demo climber for The North Face.

Whatever happened to Ken Weeks?

And Mort Hemple?

Jim Mays?

Joe Faint?
guido

Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
Sep 30, 2010 - 12:10am PT
Joe passed away in Montana a while back, Mort lives in Boulder I believe.

TomCochrane

Trad climber
I've lost track...
Sep 30, 2010 - 12:13am PT
guido, i'm still amazed that we didn't know each other back then; but i wasn't paying much attention to anyone that wasn't my climbing partner...
(none)

Social climber
Woodland, California
Jul 22, 2016 - 07:34pm PT
hi y'all -- i never been to the Tetons but i met both Bill Briggs and Charlie (Brown) Artman in December of 1960 at the first Teton Tea party in Berkeley, California -- under Charlie Brown's influence and fervor we held Teton Tea parties every single Saturday night from 11 p.m. till dawn, at Charlie Brown's house, in his tipi, and at many people's homes and apartments from January 1961 till the early 1980s when attendance started to drop off -- we continued having them monthly or sporadically until some time in the 1990s -- but while different singers made the Teton Tea there was no rigid procedure -- the recipe was tea, wine, lemons (including peel) and raspberries and however you mixed it was however you mixed it -- i suspect that the climbers in the Tetons made more of a ritual of it -- but those parties were the best singing and folksinging that i have experienced in my life -- the songs were the reason for being there, not the instrument playing nor talking about songs -- people who wanted to talk were sent to the kitchen so as not to bother the singing -- some of the best singing if not the best were unaccompanied ballads and story songs in which many people harmonized spontaneously and wonderfully -- i'll never forget those parties and Charlie Brown -- miriam berg


ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
Jul 22, 2016 - 08:42pm PT


johnkelley

climber
Anchorage Alaska
Jul 22, 2016 - 08:49pm PT
Ritter Walling taught me how to make it at the Climbers Ranch in the mid 90's. The cheapest red and white wine and tea but not Liptons because is to damn bitter...
johnkelley

climber
Anchorage Alaska
Jul 22, 2016 - 08:54pm PT
Oh lemons too. Boil the tea, take it off of the heat, let it cool a bit, and dump in the wine
Fritz

Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
Jul 22, 2016 - 08:59pm PT
Thanks to all for posting such fun climbing history!

More please!
Messages 1 - 36 of total 36 in this topic
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