Uh, it was just here. Photo Ben Masters
Climbing the Grand Teton had been a dream of Ashley Allen’s for 30 years. And why not? It’s the Grand Teton National Park’s highest peak and the climbing of it–not to mention the skiing and snowboarding of it–have been celebrated for decades.
Allen decided to climb the Grand with longtime boyfriend Richie Jones who works with the Nature Conservancy. The duo had topped out with several other climbers and embraced in a big ol’ hug upon finishing. Jones figured the time was right, bent down to one knee and popped the question while opening the ring box. The bride was ecstatic. But the look on her face didn’t show it. The box was empty. The groom had lost a diamond-studded engagement ring in the most important moment of his life.
“No one said a word,” wrote photographer Ben Masters for National Geographic. “Even though Richie was 10 yards away from me, his expression of surprise and horror told the entire story. Time became stagnant, the wind stopped, and there was a three-second pregnant pause before everyone sprang toward them in a valiant effort to find the ring and salvage the Grand proposal.”
The group scrambled to find it but to no avail. Thankfully for Jones, his radical wife-to-be could give a hoot about material wedding symbols and said yes. The group cheered. And laughed their asses off.
“We have gracefully accepted the ring’s fate as a permanent fixture in the rocks at the top of the majestic Grand,” Allen said. “A reminder always to place spiritual matters above material.”
Still, Masters is offering a $500 reward for anyone who locates the ring. And that would just about pay the living expenses of a dirtbag climber for the rest of the summer.
