A North American Classic Indeed

By this time, Mike and I were accustomed to early mornings. We had about 5 to 6 hours of sleep the night before and I would have liked more, but it's hard to fall asleep early enough when you are waking up at 2 am. While driving to the trail head from our hotel in Jackson, we were the only car on the road. The moon was bright and we could see the towering silhouettes of the range as we silently rode to the parking lot. There we found three other climbers preparing to make their ascent. I guess we got here at the right time, I thought as we prepared our packs. Because we left the rope and protection in a bear box at the lower saddle, our packs would be very light for the first 7 miles of the climb.

As we set up off from the trailhead (6732 ft), we met Mandy, a middle-aged woman from Salt Lake City who had gone to school at the University of Florida. We followed her up the trail at a blistering pace, sucking air and trying to hold some sort of conversation. At one point I had to stop and get some water and I told Mike I needed to slow down. My knee was giving me a few problems and I didn't want to hurt it so soon in our climb. Mandy hiked on but we had learned some valuable information about the routes up the mountain from her.

Alpenglow on the Middle Teton. Beautiful weather for a summit day!

For the past few days we had been discussing our exact route up the technical part of the Grand Teton. The two routes that we were trying to decide between were the Owen-Spalding and Upper Exum routes. The Owen Spalding was the standard and easiest route up the Grand but it could be icy and cold so early in the morning. However, it was easy to bail in bad weather and it had less sustained technical climbing so we thought it would be a good option. The Upper Exum has the same approach as the Owen Spalding, but after a detour east to the ridge, you were looking at 1500 feet of sustained, albeit easy, climbing. The Upper Exum was took much more time to climb and required more roped pitches (a section of vertical climbing usually between 60 and 120 ft). Mike and I were fairly new to this style of alpine climbing and we didn't want to risk not making the summit. After talking to Mandy though, we changed our mind. She had been on the Upper Exum several times and she assured us it would be a better option than the Owen Spalding.

Climbing the Lower Saddle one last time.

This part of the trail was very familiar to us now since we had climbed it once before. The amount of snow that was in Garnet Canyon at the beginning of the trip had decreased significantly and we could now hike to the Lower Saddle (11,650) without stepping on much snow. Because we were used to the altitude, had light packs, and were familiar with the route, we made it to the lower saddle at 7 am, only 4 hours after we left the trail head. Although we had already climbed 4900 feet over 7 miles, we knew the hardest part of the climb laid before us so after putting on our harnesses and packing our rope, we headed up towards the Upper Saddle on the Grand Teton.

At the Lower Saddle we had examined our route and decided that our ice axes were just extra weight and not needed so we decided to leave them in the bear box. Now, climbing across to the ridge, we realized we made a very novice mistake. There were several steep snow fields to cross and they had unpleasant run outs.

One of the sketchy snow fields we crossed. 

We had already hiked an hour or more up some exhausting terrain and we were not turning back. Luckily, we followed in some previous climber's footsteps and scampered across the snow as quickly as was safe. We used the holes the ice axes had left to give us some security but we knew it was mostly psychological; if we slipped, we were sliding very quickly towards some large rocks far below us. I swore from then on if there was the possibility of any snow on a route, I would always have my ice axe.

Class 3/4 climbing requires a lot of route finding.

Up until the Exum Ridge, we had been on class 3 and class 4 rock. This is essentially easy climbing that does not usually require a rope, although the exposure is sometimes dizzying. This kind of climbing is like a puzzle; there are many routes, but you have to find the easiest one. Now, as we neared the ridge, we roped up and created an anchor to move out on our first class 5 move. To get on the route we had to climb over a gap that had nothing but 1000 feet of air under us, and just an inch or two of rock place my boot on. The vertigo was incredible and even though it was not a difficult move, it got my blood racing.

The rush of the climb was only amplified that we were now on the Exum Ridge. The sun shone bright on a cloudless day and the chilly wind that had been mildly uncomfortable a few seconds before was now conspicuously absent, leaving a silent and peaceful view that made me laugh with excitement. Continuing up the "Golden Staircase" was magnificent climbing on solid rock with plenty of places to place solid protection.

Mike basking in the warm sun as I stop mid pitch to snap a photo. The North Fork of Garnet Canyon and the Middle Teton Glacier is below.

Most of the ridge was very steep class 4 climbing so, in the interest of saving time, we took some chest coils with about 15 feet of rope in between us and climbed at the same time. The route finding was fun, but not overly challenging and the views were stunning. Before long, we had climbed above every surrounding peak.

Mike adding some chest coils above Middle Teton in the background. If you look hard you can see the park service huts on the Lower Saddle,some 1500 ft below.

On the entire 1500 ft Exum Ridge, we had about 500 ft of belayed pitches (meaning one person climbed and placed protection while the other prepared to catch a fall). Mike and I often traded off leads though towards the end, Mike had switched over to rock shoes (his sneakers were not quite sticky enough) and he led the Friction Pitch, which was the crux (most difficult part) of the climb. Even though we were making steady progress, we never seemed to reach the summit. Finally after climbing the V-pitch (our last roped pitch) and crossing a couple more sketchy snow fields (how I missed my ice axe), we climbed atop the last few boulders that formed the summit.

Mike, leading the V-Pitch. This pitch is visible near the top of the Exum Route in the picture below.

It was 3:30pm and we had been climbing for over 12 hours We were exhausted and happy, but we knew that the climb was only half-way over. As I tried to take some pictures of the stunning 360 degree view, Mike's little point-and-shoot I was using shut off. Dead battery. I suppose I didn't mind too much. Mike was taking some awesome pictures with his DSLR and even though I knew it would be awhile before we saw any of them, I knew when they did come, they would be worth the wait. At 4 o'clock we left the summit, picking our way down the Owen Spalding route (the normal descent route). A few large rappels brought us down to the Upper Saddle and we spend the next couple hours picking our way down the gully. As often as possible we would throw our rope around a horn of rock and rappel, pulling the rope down after us. We had reached the Lower Saddle around 7 pm and we were happy to be off the most technical rock and back on familiar routes. We reached the actual trail before dark, but we did not reach the car until 11 pm, 20 hours after leaving it that morning.

Although I would never climb the Grand in such a fashion again, I am very proud to have done it that way and I learned a lot about my own limits. It was some of the most incredible climbing I have ever done and I can't wait to go back and climb more routes, just not in such a long day. My first technical, alpine route had me hooked and I knew that I wanted to do more of the same. I just wondered if any other routes could ever compare to this world-renown classic.