trips <-- back to index Grand Teton Summit via Upper Exum August 29 2024 ------------------------------------------------------- Photos (same as on previous page) are below the stories ------------------------------------------------------- There are about a dozen pitches on the upper Exum ridge. Three short stories: The Step Across --------------- I botched my very first pitch (the Step Across) on the technical climb. Or did I? The exposure on that pitch is enormous -- you're clinging to the rock face above thousands of feet of air directly underneath you. The Step Across is just a move or two, depending on how you count. I made the crux move, then was immediately perplexed as to how to complete the thing. My guide Gavin, who had completed the pitch and was out of sight above me, felt the extra slack in the rope and called out, "Congratulations, you've just made the Step Across." I answered, "Not yet I haven't." After another twenty seconds of utter perplexity, I made a wacky pull-up move to get past the difficulty. I then immediately called out to Gavin, "You'll never believe what I just did. I just made the ugliest Step Across in the history of the Grand. I've got my knee on top of the chalkstone." He answered, "Yes, I saw that." When we made full visual contact again, he attempted to explain where I'd made my mistake. I still didn't understand it though. 09/08 note: After reading about the Step Across on the Net, I see what Gavin had in mind: The standard move, after taking a giant step to the small protruding rock (it's actually a leap along the vertical rock face with your leading right foot -- but that's okay because you're still hanging on with your hands), is to "paste" your feet to the smooth vertical rock face and then use both your feet and hands to raise yourself up to a good foot-hold. ("Paste" means only friction is involved -- not a trace of an actual foothold.) I have no taste for pasting my feet to smooth vertical rock faces. However, I am strong, so I was able to do a full pull-up with hands only -- despite my 16 lb pack -- raising my chin all the way up to where my hands were. That got me barely high enough to get my knee onto the chalkstone (a six-inch wide stone that was naturally wedged into a six-inch wide crack). I guess I cheated. The Friction Pitch ------------------ This is the other pitch I botched. Or did I? The initial section of this pitch is nearly vertical. It then gradually rounds off to the point where one can barely friction-climb it. That first part necessitated essentially invisible holds, such as fingernail holds and barely perceptable toe holds. I twice needed to do fingernail pull-ups. I worked hard to make upward progress, and then just kept working hard in the same manner, unaware that the inclination had lessened. In fact, I forgot all about it being a friction pitch, and thus never gave a thought to seeing whether I could glue myself to it with the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands with my butt raised up. I'd say I turned that 5.6 pitch into a 5.8 pitch, possibly also due to straying a little to the left or to the right of the easiest line of ascent. At the summit, hours later, still oblivious to what I'd done wrong, I told Gavin that it was nuts to label the Friction Pitch a friction pitch. I said, "What friction!? It's all tiny holds!" Gavin didn't answer. I guess he doesn't like to tell a person that they're an idiot. It was a day or two later that I realized how I'd been drawn into the wrong methodology. But I should probably be glad I did it the way I did: There's a very good chance that if I'd tried to friction-climb the thing I'd have had a fall -- especially if I was not on the easiest line of ascent -- and thus couldn't claim a perfectly clean climb of the upper Exum ridge. The Boulder Problem ------------------- That's the name of the pitch, and it's the final obstacle in the way of gaining the summit ridge. It's not actually a boulder; rather a large vertical buttress. And it looked absolutely unclimbable. After three hours of technical climbing, I was looking at this unclimbable-looking thing between me and the summit, but was not concerned -- my confidence had well- evolved. For the third time that day, Gavin encouraged me to use the same high hold (arm fully extended) that he was going to use. And this time it would involve two succesive fully-extended arm moves. Gavin is all of six feet tall. I'm 5'7". For the third time that day I said, "Not a chance." I watched Gavin work his full-arm-extension magic moves and then complete the short pitch. I then launched myself onto the face. I had by then learned to look below the height of my shoulders for nifty palm holds which I could use to push myself up rather pull myself up. Sure enough, I immediately spotted one such rounded hold for my left hand. I could also see that the upward push would give me easy access to a good hold higher up for my right hand. Presto. I turned that famous "Boulder Problem" into a 5.1 pitch. At the top, I let Gavin know (facetiously) that every time I had done one of my variations that day I was "sure no one else had ever done it" and that "now they will have to rewrite the guide book to include Roger's routes." Otherwise very easy ------------------- Apart from the pull-up on the Step Across, the fingernail pull-ups on the friction pitch and a precarious balancing move on one of the upper pitches, the upper Exum ridge was easy climbing. Gavin and I went trailhead to trailhead in 15 hours (3:15 AM to 6:15 PM). 13 hours of easy hiking, climbing and descending. 2 hours of miscellaneous at Spalding Falls, the saddle and the summit.
Finally: Gavin did not place a single piece of protection for himself on the entire climb -- not even on the Friction Pitch, which is the crux pitch of the climb. It was amazing to watch him climb, and also amazing to watch him descend unprotected on the most daunting stretches of the Owen-Spalding route on our way down.Gavin to: my 2023 ascent of the Grand Teton via Owen-Spalding route trips <-- back to index The pictures below were found on the Net. I didn't carry a camera on this climb. This is the top of Wall Street, which is the highest point to which my nephew and I got in 1980. My nephew and I were alone on the mountain. A climber about to lower himself down to the Step Across:
A climber who has just completed the Step Across and is beginning the climb of the upper Exum ridge:
A pitch above the wind tunnel:
The climb begins at the 11,700' saddle (bottom of yellow line in the photo below) to which we had hiked up early in the morning (3:15 to 6:45). The trail-head is at 6700'. It's class 3 and class 4 climbing up the bottom portion of the yellow line, followed by more class 3 and class 4 climbing along the bold orange line over to the red line. The red line is our Upper Exum ridge route, which is class 5 climbing (rope and hardware) all the way to the summit ridge.
Morgan (Exum guide) had told me the day before -- after our rock-climbing -- that I was "going to crush it". I said, "I won't crush it, but I'll be fine". My summit guide Gavin and I passed what few climbing parties there were on the Upper Exum ridge who had started hours ahead of us (they had all spent the night in the hut on the saddle after hiking up to it the previous day), and we arrived at the summit long before any of the other climbers. I guess Morgan was right. Me on the summit:
Roger Luebeck roger@rogcad.com to: my 2023 ascent of the Grand Teton via Owen-Spalding route trips <-- back to index