Wasatch Tales: Sawyer Wylie's blog: Ionic bonding in the mountains.

Looking into Idaho with the shadows of the Tetons extending west
almost to Battleship Mountain, and over Schoolroom Lake and
the South Fork of Cascade Canyon.
photo: Christian Lippert

One of the basic concepts of general chemistry is that of the ionic bond. To demonstrate it in layman's terms, I will explain the general anatomy of an atom, and we will make a few generalizations about their bonding. Stick with me for the next two paragraphs for the full explanation, or just do what my mother does and skip to the the climbing below!

The basic morphology of an atom with protons
and neutrons in the center and electrons around them.
photo from www.iflscience.com

An atom is, at its simplest, protons and neutrons surrounded by electrons. All basic elements have different numbers of each of those three components, but they all want either eight or zero electrons in their outermost layer of electrons (called valence electrons). If they have a low number of valence electrons (say one, two, or three), it is easier for them to give up those electrons rather than try to accumulate a total of eight valence electrons. On the other hand, if an atom has a higher number of valence electrons (say five, six, or seven), they want to find electrons to add until they reach a total of eight valence electrons.

Now it is easy to see a potential mutually beneficial relationship for different atoms. When an atom with two valence electrons connects with an atom with six valence electrons, the two can be donated, and they both will be happy with either eight or zero valence electrons. This complete transfer from one atom to another is in fact, a ionic bond. Each atom is happy with the arrangement since they both, despite their differences, benefit from this electron transfer.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
photo from www.chm.bris.ac.uk

In a number of ways, this is easily compared to the situation when you are mentoring another climber. One of you has much greater experience and another is just starting out and learning. My point however is that there are mutual benefits. Benefits don't only exist for the mentored climber even though those are the most obvious like the transferred electrons. So what does exist for the mentor, and what does this have to do with the shadow of the Tetons?

Having spent time every year in the backcountry of the Tetons since I was fourteen (and I climbed my first technical route in the Tetons, the Enclosure Couloir, at seventeen) I am familiar and comfortable with the range. Usually because of this I end up visiting the range about once a year not for myself, but helping friends get their first taste of climbing in these mountains. I was lucky enough to do so again this month.

With these trips, I often times feel like can be a good reset button. Not only do I get to spend some casual time in such a beautiful place, but I also get to view it from a set of eyes who have never been there. As such, they are blown away and I end up valuing the location and my relationship with it even more.