Mountains appear ageless, but as with people, they pass through the
stages of birth, youth, maturity, and old age, and eventually disappear.
The Tetons are youthful and steep and are, therefore, extremely
vulnerable to destructive processes that are constantly sculpturing the
rugged features and carrying away the debris. The mountains are being
destroyed. Although the processes of destruction may seem slow to us, we
know they have been operating for millions of years—so why have the
mountains not been leveled? How did they form in the first place?