The Grand Teton via the Upper Exum Route trip report with photos

August 12 - 15th, 2001

The Tetons are one of the most beautiful ranges in the United States. The Grand Teton is the tallest of them all rising over 7000 feet from the valley below. The Grand Teton resembles the Matterhorn from certain angles and the Tetons are often called the Alps of the United States. Neil was kind enough to invite us to climb The Grand with him and his son and there was no way I could pass up the opportunity.

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Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the trip report. NOTE: the slideshow above with not work with JavaScript disabled.The first major obstacle in climbing the Grand Teton is reserving a backcountry camping permit from the Jenny Lake Ranger Station. A permit may only be reserved in person 24 hours in advance of your departure into the backcountry. Our team met up in Jackson on Sunday morning at 6:30 am and we were at the ranger station at Jenny Lake about 6:50. There was a guy from Idaho in line and 2 kids from Utah sleeping on the ground in front of us. The ranger station opens at 8 am and the line quickly grew to about 15 people. The 2 kids from Utah had a party of 10 in their group so they filled up all the available spaces left at the Lower Saddle and the Morraine. We drew the Caves which put us about halfway up the mountain to set up camp. Since our permit was for Monday night Linda and I drove back to Pinedale to pack our gear so we could meet Neil and Steven at 7:30 am Monday in Jackson.August 13th, 2001

Departing from Lupine Meadows Trailhead a little after 8 am the trail ascends slowly through the trees. After about 1.7 miles the trail forks and climbers proceed on the Garnet Canyon trail. From here the trail climbs 6 long switchbacks spanning almost 2 miles to reach the beginning of Garnet Canyon. Here it began to rain very hard so it was time to put on the rain pants and jacket.The photo below is looking back at Taggard and Bradley Lake from the begining of Garnet Canyon.

In the photo below Linda, Steve, and I are in front of the Middle Teton easily distinguished by the black dike running down the middle of it. The caves campsite is located at the uppermost trees shown in the photo below.

In the photo below Neil and Steven are making their way through one of the 2 boulder fields you encounter on route to the lower saddle. Some of the boulders were the size of small houses but the route was fairly well marked.

The photo below shows the trail up to our campsite at the Caves. The Caves is located at the top of Spalding Falls in the trees. This stretch of the trail was very steep and tiresome. We were glad it wasn't much further.

We arrived at the Caves campsite around 2 p.m. and began searching for a place to put up our tents. There were actual caves you could camp in under some large boulders, but with all the rodent droppings in there we opted not too. Camping at the caves provides a nice location midway up the mountain. Your summit day is longer but you don't have to carry your heavy packs all the way up to the lower saddle. We got camp set up, cooked some dinner and retired very early since we would be departing for the summit at 2 a.m.

August 14th, 2001It was up early at 2 am and on the trail by 2:30. The sky was clear and the stars were out giving us hope for the weather. It was up some steep slopes, through another boulder field, and across a section known as the Morraines. Past the Morraines there is a section of rock where a fixed rope has been put in place to aid climbers. The rope made this section fairly easy, it would be a pain without it, especially those carrying a full pack to the lower saddle. After hiking through the darkness for about 1 1/2 hours we reached the lower saddle around 4 am. From here you can look back into Idaho and see lights from all the small towns. We searched around for about 20 minutes to locate the water pipe to fill up our bottles. From the saddle we hiked up past the black dike and through a section known as the Chimneys.Midway through the chimneys you crawl through a hole in the rocks known as the Eye of the Needle. In the photo below Neil and Steven are in the Eye of the Needle.

The chimney section is some class 3 climbing with maybe an occasional class 4 move. We proceeded unroped topping out on a ridge that gave us our first views of the infamous ledge known as Wall Street. Wall Street is a slanted ramp that starts out fairly wide and slowly narrows as you climb up it finally disappearing into the rock. Steven and Linda weren't feeling too well at this point and both of them decided if they vomitted they would feel better. Don't know if it helped or not but we continued on. Neil lead the way around the corner of Wall Street where it's an extremely exposed move over nothing but air. I was the last to go around the corner of Wall Street and as I peered around the corner the exposure was sensational. You have to do a long stem across a gap with 2000 feet of air between your legs. At first I almost retreated and took a higher route, but everybody else was able to do the move, so I knew I could too. I stemmed across standing on a little nubin sticking out from the rock, and was safely across. Whew, I glad that was over, hoping the climbing didn't get much spookier than that.In the photo below Steven is making his way around the corner of Wall Street. This is the site of Glenn Exum's leap of faith in 1931 that led to the discovery of the Exum Ridge. Wall Street is the most exposed move of the Upper Exum route.

From Wall Street you ascend up an easy picth known as the Golden Staircase. From here, it's a short traverse over to a gulley known as the Wind Tunnel. This section gots its name since the wind get channeled through this gulley and can get extremely powerful. In the photo below Linda and Steven are at the base of the Wind Tunnel.

From the top of the Wind Tunnel it's a short scramble up to the Friction Pitch. Below I'm making my way up to the Friction Pitch.

We did a crack variation on the right side of the Friction Pitch that Neil had discovered on a previous climb. We decided to name this pitch Hurling Chunks in honor of Steven and Linda's earlier puking experience. Below Neil is leading the way up Hurling Chunks.

Hurling Chunks was the most difficult of the pitches on the route but very enjoyable. In the photo below I'm nearing the top of Hurling Chunks. The Middle Teton Glacier can also be seen in the photo.

In the photo below a climber from another group is making their way up the friction pitch. The friction pitch is considering the crux of the Upper Exum route. Having not went this way I can't say if it's more difficult than Hurling Chunks, but I do know it's all friction climbing, hence the name. The Middle Teton Glacier is in good view in the photo below.

From the top of the Friction Pitch it's some more scrambling up the ridge until you finally reach the V-Pitch, sometimes called the Open Book. Neil is leading on the V-pitch in the photo below. This is one of the last rock-climbing pitches before the summit.

Once past the V-pitch there is one last technical pitch before the last scramble to the summit. The last scramble rejoins the Owen Spalding route and is fairly straight-forward class 3 stuff. In the photo below Neil(circled in yellow) is heading to the final summit block. The weather was detoriating rapidly so we dropped our packs at this point and made a mad dash to the summit.

We made it finally. Twelve hours after we left the tents we were on the roof of the Tetons at 13,770 feet. We arrive and the summit at about 2 pm and didn't plan on staying long because of the weather. We took some pictures and admired the views for a moment.

Neil and Steven showing off some muscle that got them to the top of the Tetons. Many thanks to Neil for leading 2 rookies up to the roof of the Tetons.

The photo below is Jenny Lake as seen from the summit. It is partially obstructed by Teewinot.

This summit was very different than most. Being a Wyoming native I felt very proud to know that such a beautiful peak resides in my state. I have gazed upon the Tetons throughout my childhood and I had finally made it to the top. I had looked upon the Grand from Jenny Lake many times, and now I was looking at Jenny Lake from the summit. I wasn't allowed to reflect long though, the weather was coming fast and we had to descend.We scrambled down to the first rappel point. There was another party already making their way down so we waited about 20 minutes for them to descend. In the photo below Steven is rappeling down the Sargent's Chimney.

It was a short hike over to the second longer rappel point. This was requires you to tie to 2 climbing ropes together. The majority of this rappel is free which means you are dangling in mid-air not touching the rock, very fun. Below Linda is making her way down this rap. At this point the storm was closing fast and the wind picked up and began twirling Linda on the ropes. She got them untangled and was able to make it down. It began snowing so we put on all our rain gear again. As quickly as the storm blew in, it was gone and we took some time to gaze down the Black Ice Couliour. Maybe someday I'll come back and try that route.

From here the descent follows the Owen Spalding route and is fairly straight-forward. In the photo below the Lower Saddle is finally in site. Circled in red is the 2 Exum huts where the guided clients spend the night. If you are going to climb the Grand with Exum Guides, those huts in red will be your Hilton on the Saddle. We made it down to the saddle, filled up our water bottles, and chatted with the Exum Guides for a little while.

Proceeding downward we finally made it back to camp around 10 p.m., 20 hours after we had departed for the summit. We were too tired to cook dinner so we just crawled in the tent and hit the sack.August 15th, 2001We broke up camp around 10:30 am and hit the trail back to the truck. We took our time and arrive around 3 pm. It was off to Bubba's for some well deserved BBQ ribs.The photo below is our best rendition of the hear no evil, see no evil pose with the Middle Teton in the background.

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