Route Climbed: Direct North Face Date Climbed: July 28, 2005
Partner and I climbed the route. We bivied low on the glacier the night before, having only sleeping bags for bivy gear. Started on the wall shortly after 6 am. The route was in excellent shape, contrary to what everybody was saying. No major rockfall (only twice we heard rocks zipping by at some distance away from the wall), except for when we already were getting to the 3rd ledge - there was a rockfall lower on the route, followed by some ice, followed by more rock, most likely it was caused by the party on East Ridge. The section of the wall befor Guano chimney wasn't as loose as we expected, you can place pro, and we simul-climbed most of it. Did most of the climb in light boots, except for the upper technical pitches. The crux pithes are fantastic!
Route Climbed: Owen-Spalding Date Climbed: July 21, 2005
Perfect day for climbing. 14 hours from our camp at the Meadows starting at 6 am. Not many people climbing. Dropped our cold weather gear at the Lower Saddle. The usual crew of Scott, Pat, Steve and me. The next day we ran the 38th annual Snow King Hill climb which is a great race, 2.3 miles, 1,571 vertical feet.
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Date Climbed: July 16th, 2005
Joe Bullough and I made it to the Upper Saddle Rappel via the Upper Exum. High winds and a late time (2pm) forced us to abandon our summit attempt here :_(
We did this car-to-car, leaving at 1:05 am w/o any sleep from the night prior. The high winds made the descent much more grueling than the climb (TR coming soon), and we didn't get back to our car until 10:30 pm. 21:25 hrs on the trail, and I had been awake for 40 hrs!
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Ridge Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2000
You can't go to the Tetons without looking up at the Grand and wanting to climb it. It's one of my favorite mountains. Climbed to the top with Gary. My friend Chris also made the summit but came up from the Owen-Spalding route. This was a great day.
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Ridge Date Climbed: June 27, 2004
Grand Teton has been called by some " America's Matterhorn." I went to Jackson with my 22 y/o son Christoph to get some rock-climbing experience prior to climbing the " real " Matterhorn. We certainly got some great experiences with the Grand!
Exum Mountain Guides assigned us to Doug Coombs, a famous extreme skier, during our 3-day stay. We practiced rock climbing on different pitches (on all kinds of rock walls) during our first day with Doug. On day 2 we hiked from Lupine Meadows to the Lower Saddle. There was still snow on the ground; indeed, Doug had skied from the top of Grand Teton one week previously. There was just a handful of climbers at the camp. The sky was clear when we arrived but it got quite cold during the night.
We left at 4:35AM for the final climb. The rock surface was dry and there was no ice cover at any point on the ridge. The crossing of the void at " Wall Street " was somewhat nerve-racking while the " Golden Staircase " was the perfect climbing pitch for me. We were able to complete the rest of the ridge climb without major difficulties. Doug was an outstanding guide; he gave us the needed support at critical points of the climb.
We enjoyed the fantastic panorama after reaching the summit at 9:45. The descent was via the Owens-Spalding route; we were back at the Lower Saddle at 1PM just before afternoon showers began. To summarize, Grand Teton is a fantastic place to get great rock-climbing experiences and the Exum guides are the best. Christoph and myself were both able to put into practice at the Matterhorn (less than 6 weeks later) all that we had learned at the Grand.
Route Climbed: Lower Exum/Exum Ridge Date Climbed: July, 2004
Short of the summit by 300' due to some route finding issues. Missed the entrance ramp to the Exum ridge and traversed from Petzold ridge to Lower Exum.
Route Climbed: Wittich Crack (5.6) OS variation Date Climbed: August 2003
Third time's a charm! Horrible weather in 2002-- during the same storm that caused deaths on the mountain. Perfect weather in 2003 though. Couldn't ask for a better trip. Left the parking lot at 2:30 AM, back in Jackson by 8:00 that night for pizza! Incredible.
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Ridge Date Climbed: July 27, 2002
Spent the first two days fighting poor weather (snow). We camped on the Lower Saddle, don't know if I'd do that again (windy and a long ways to pack your stuff). Make sure you can find Wall Street and other key features so that you can get on the rock know where your going. Do your homework.
Route Climbed: Direct Exum Date Climbed: August 12/13 1981
With E Sandbo, L Rasmussen & M Woodmansee. Hiked in from Jenny Lake to camp in upper basin. Up before light and hiked to start of climb. Chimney was great fun. Partner Mike provided short, yellow-rain squall at belay stance before crux pitch. Rope drag after the crux pitch was significant. Third classing upper part of route, legs wanted to go faster but lungs kept running out of air. Found 1/2 bottle of whiskey and note at summit. Descent uneventful. Glissaded from col, past Ohio Mountaineers ice climbing, steep snow to basin camp. Hiking out met lovely, friendly, topless girls hiking in.
Route Climbed: East Ridge Date Climbed: July 11, 2004
What a great route! Good rock, fun snow and lots of climbing. My fourth time on the summit of the Grand, my fourth route to the summit, and they were all spectacular. Now if only the North Ridge would cooperate . . .
DmitMF - Aug 1, 2005 11:05 am
Route Climbed: Direct North Face Date Climbed: July 28, 2005Partner and I climbed the route. We bivied low on the glacier the night before, having only sleeping bags for bivy gear. Started on the wall shortly after 6 am. The route was in excellent shape, contrary to what everybody was saying. No major rockfall (only twice we heard rocks zipping by at some distance away from the wall), except for when we already were getting to the 3rd ledge - there was a rockfall lower on the route, followed by some ice, followed by more rock, most likely it was caused by the party on East Ridge. The section of the wall befor Guano chimney wasn't as loose as we expected, you can place pro, and we simul-climbed most of it. Did most of the climb in light boots, except for the upper technical pitches. The crux pithes are fantastic!
sskeep - Jul 26, 2005 10:46 pm
Route Climbed: Owen-Spalding Date Climbed: July 21, 2005Perfect day for climbing. 14 hours from our camp at the Meadows starting at 6 am. Not many people climbing. Dropped our cold weather gear at the Lower Saddle. The usual crew of Scott, Pat, Steve and me. The next day we ran the 38th annual Snow King Hill climb which is a great race, 2.3 miles, 1,571 vertical feet.
PellucidWombat - Jul 18, 2005 10:38 am
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Date Climbed: July 16th, 2005Joe Bullough and I made it to the Upper Saddle Rappel via the Upper Exum. High winds and a late time (2pm) forced us to abandon our summit attempt here :_(
We did this car-to-car, leaving at 1:05 am w/o any sleep from the night prior. The high winds made the descent much more grueling than the climb (TR coming soon), and we didn't get back to our car until 10:30 pm. 21:25 hrs on the trail, and I had been awake for 40 hrs!
althegreek - Jul 12, 2005 7:04 pm
Route Climbed: owen spalding, direct exum Date Climbed: july 2002, august 2003made it both times with no problems. great rock on exum. did it car to car in a day for the exum because we couldnt get a camping permit.
mtnsavy - Jun 21, 2005 2:13 am
Route Climbed: Exum Date Climbed: Aug 1998Did this in a day (probably the longest of my life!) on the 100th anneversary of Owen and Spalding's FA.
mountaingazelle - May 1, 2005 6:39 pm
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Ridge Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2000You can't go to the Tetons without looking up at the Grand and wanting to climb it. It's one of my favorite mountains. Climbed to the top with Gary. My friend Chris also made the summit but came up from the Owen-Spalding route. This was a great day.
dunsum - Apr 7, 2005 4:28 am
Route Climbed: many Date Climbed: July '96Direct Exum, 7/27/96, 6/24/06
Enclosure Couloir, 8/3/96
North Face with Direct Finish, 8/10/96
Black Ice Couloir, 8/16/97
Petzolt Ridge to Upper Exum, 7/18/98
Owen-Spalding, 8/13/02
Northwest Ridge of Enclosure, 7/19/03
Stettner Couloir, 5/13/06
Upper Exum Ridge, solo, 7/28/06
Cathedral Traverse, via North Ridge, Italian Cracks Variation, 8/13-14/08
East Ridge w/ modified Tricky Traverse var., 8/30/08
rhlaird - Mar 22, 2005 11:16 pm
Route Climbed: Direct Exum Date Climbed: August 2003Summited late in declining weather. Beautiful sunset from the lower saddle.
wtrBaltimoreMD - Mar 5, 2005 6:23 pm
Route Climbed: Owen Spalding Date Climbed: July, 2000Nice climb. Great lightning storms at night. View was fantastic.
wtrBaltimoreMD - Mar 5, 2005 6:22 pm
Route Climbed: Owen Spalding Date Climbed: July, 2000Nice climb. Great lightning storms at night. View was fantastic.
GlennMerrill - Feb 27, 2005 7:40 pm
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Date Climbed: July 2003First time doing the Grand. Hope to get back this year (2005). Took the guide book and soloed it.
JanG - Nov 16, 2004 11:26 pm
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Ridge Date Climbed: June 27, 2004Grand Teton has been called by some " America's Matterhorn." I went to Jackson with my 22 y/o son Christoph to get some rock-climbing experience prior to climbing the " real " Matterhorn. We certainly got some great experiences with the Grand!
Exum Mountain Guides assigned us to Doug Coombs, a famous extreme skier, during our 3-day stay. We practiced rock climbing on different pitches (on all kinds of rock walls) during our first day with Doug. On day 2 we hiked from Lupine Meadows to the Lower Saddle. There was still snow on the ground; indeed, Doug had skied from the top of Grand Teton one week previously. There was just a handful of climbers at the camp. The sky was clear when we arrived but it got quite cold during the night.
We left at 4:35AM for the final climb. The rock surface was dry and there was no ice cover at any point on the ridge. The crossing of the void at " Wall Street " was somewhat nerve-racking while the " Golden Staircase " was the perfect climbing pitch for me. We were able to complete the rest of the ridge climb without major difficulties. Doug was an outstanding guide; he gave us the needed support at critical points of the climb.
We enjoyed the fantastic panorama after reaching the summit at 9:45. The descent was via the Owens-Spalding route; we were back at the Lower Saddle at 1PM just before afternoon showers began. To summarize, Grand Teton is a fantastic place to get great rock-climbing experiences and the Exum guides are the best. Christoph and myself were both able to put into practice at the Matterhorn (less than 6 weeks later) all that we had learned at the Grand.
MikeB - Nov 12, 2004 5:28 pm
Route Climbed: Lower Exum/Exum Ridge Date Climbed: July, 2004Short of the summit by 300' due to some route finding issues. Missed the entrance ramp to the Exum ridge and traversed from Petzold ridge to Lower Exum.
poorboy44 - Nov 2, 2004 5:51 pm
Route Climbed: Direct Exum Ridge Date Climbed: July 2002Fun route, great view!
chiligod - Sep 29, 2004 8:38 pm
Route Climbed: exum ridge Date Climbed: july 97my first climb. it occured to me as a good first for anyone entering the sport. needed more lungs at the time.
brendon - Aug 27, 2004 2:55 am
Route Climbed: Owen-Spalding Date Climbed: 14 August 1998Summited near the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of the OS. Great day.
thegoldengriff - Aug 25, 2004 8:34 pm
Route Climbed: Wittich Crack (5.6) OS variation Date Climbed: August 2003Third time's a charm! Horrible weather in 2002-- during the same storm that caused deaths on the mountain. Perfect weather in 2003 though. Couldn't ask for a better trip. Left the parking lot at 2:30 AM, back in Jackson by 8:00 that night for pizza! Incredible.
spud-climber - Aug 19, 2004 12:17 pm
Route Climbed: Upper Exum Ridge Date Climbed: July 27, 2002Spent the first two days fighting poor weather (snow). We camped on the Lower Saddle, don't know if I'd do that again (windy and a long ways to pack your stuff). Make sure you can find Wall Street and other key features so that you can get on the rock know where your going. Do your homework.
Derek Franzen - Aug 15, 2004 9:45 am
Route Climbed: Direct Exum Date Climbed: August 12/13 1981With E Sandbo, L Rasmussen & M Woodmansee. Hiked in from Jenny Lake to camp in upper basin. Up before light and hiked to start of climb. Chimney was great fun. Partner Mike provided short, yellow-rain squall at belay stance before crux pitch. Rope drag after the crux pitch was significant. Third classing upper part of route, legs wanted to go faster but lungs kept running out of air. Found 1/2 bottle of whiskey and note at summit. Descent uneventful. Glissaded from col, past Ohio Mountaineers ice climbing, steep snow to basin camp. Hiking out met lovely, friendly, topless girls hiking in.
b. - Jul 15, 2004 12:35 pm
Route Climbed: East Ridge Date Climbed: July 11, 2004What a great route! Good rock, fun snow and lots of climbing. My fourth time on the summit of the Grand, my fourth route to the summit, and they were all spectacular. Now if only the North Ridge would cooperate . . .