Soloing the Grand

I'm going to be in Jackson without a partner for a day and really want to get up something. I've done upper Exum and so I'm considering soloing the OS. I'm comfortable with the climbing and would prefer downclimbing to lugging a rope up there. I've never done the OS and so don't know what the climbing is like. Will the downclimb be sketchy? Not something I should be super concerned about? I'm open for other suggestions too; I'm also considering the North Ridge of the Middle, the East Ridge of Mount Owen, or Durrance Ridge on Serenity Spire. Anyone got any suggestions? OS is my fallback. Even better - anyone going to be in Jackson next weekend and want to get up either the full Exum or the North Face?

I simul-soloed the E Ridge of Owen once and it was NTB. My partner wasn't super-experienced and he did fine. I've only ever done the raps down O-S, so I can't help you there. It seems like you could solo the upper Exum pretty easily, but you'd still probably want to go down the OS.

If you end up going up the grand you could consider bringing an alpine bod harness or a swami belt. Rapping off would be a better option in my opinion and I'm sure there will be people that shouldn't mind you rapping off their line. The guiding companies may be a different situation though

Depends on conditions. The OS is prone to verglas. You can bring a harness and try to get a ride down someone else's rope but it's late in the season for that to be even close to a guarantee.

Consider the traverse from the South Teton to Cloudveil Dome or Nez Perce. Super good day with a lot of time up high. A couple exciting bits.

The guide companies are always happy to let climbers rap off using our ropes. We are at the rappel usually around 10-11 am, show up with a harness/ device- no problem.

Right now conditions on the OS and upper Exum are really benign. A little bit of verglas in the upper Owen Chimney can be worked around. Catwalk may have verglas too. Reasonable enough to downclimb the OS but take the easy route and be prepared to hop a rope.

Theres new snow on the upper west side of the Grand (OS) from a storm on Tues. thats bound to turn to ice in the coming days. With rain & lower temps in the forecast next week (most certainly snow up high) soloing may not be the best idea. Consider a walk-up or lower elevation climbing.

Austin Baird wrote:I'm going to be in Jackson without a partner for a day and really want to get up something. I've done upper Exum and so I'm considering soloing the OS. I'm comfortable with the climbing and would prefer downclimbing to lugging a rope up there. I've never done the OS and so don't know what the climbing is like. Will the downclimb be sketchy? Not something I should be super concerned about? I'm open for other suggestions too; I'm also considering the North Ridge of the Middle, the East Ridge of Mount Owen, or Durrance Ridge on Serenity Spire. Anyone got any suggestions? OS is my fallback. Even better - anyone going to be in Jackson next weekend and want to get up either the full Exum or the North Face?

How did you get down after doing Exum? We basically went down OS after going up lower/upper Exum. I thought OS was basically the standard descent route...i.e. you would have already gone down it once after going up Exum.

My wife and I simuled down the OS after doing the complete Exum in order to get past a huge clot of guided groups on the rappel route. We did it in boots, and it seemed pretty easy. I wouldn't want to solo the really exposed parts, but soloing isn't my thing.

I've done the OS solo up, and, climbed it a couple of times. I know folks downclimb that thing. There's a bit of an exposed move over a bulgy chockstone that makes me nervious. There's a fixed piece there.

What I've seen folks do, is, take a long double cord/sling, and, I assume they clip that piece on the way down, at the bottom of the double chimney, then, as you climb down that bulge and get secure, undo from the piece. Puts you right at the base of the end of the crawl.

That said, you might want to take a look at the photo's of especially Sargent's Chimney on the rangers' climbing conditions site. Looks like winter. Bunch of new snow and verglas. Looks kinda sketchy.

The OS is really shady in spots. I wouldn't care to solo it after a bit of rain/snow in late season. Be out of condition for me.

Edit to add photo:

From 24 July this season. I'm basically standing at the bottom of the double chimney.

Austin Baird wrote:I'm also considering the North Ridge of the Middle, the East Ridge of Mount Owen, or Durrance Ridge on Serenity Spire. Anyone got any suggestions?

Given the late season, I'd find something south facing. The Durrance on Symmetry (my guess is what you meant) is long and has some kinda slippery spots I felt happy to have a rope on. Suggest the east ridge as a better solo. Also, the short summit routes on Storm Point and Ice Point are fun, but, take care on the "4th" class bit on Ice Point, its fairly full value and if you blow a certain exact move on the down climb (as my partner did), and didn't have someone spotting and catching you if you fell (as I did for my partner), it'd be fatal.

Really enjoyed soloing the Chouinard Ridge on the Middle. A bit route findy but the rock was solid in the harder spots and climbing was great.

I wouldn't care to solo the East Ridge of Owen. There's a darn hard move on it for me, although, I did it in boots after the NE Snowfields and it felt hard probably for that reason. Insecure and kinda frictiony, with harder options to the right but fairly strenuous.

The 4th class route on St. John is super.

Lake Ledges route on Disappointment is fun.

Plenty of options.

I climbed most of the OS in early July many years ago. It had been a heavy snow year ('97) and a climber fell and died in the right of the double chimney's. We did the raps to get down to assist the party. In those days I would solo up to 5.6 or so in the mountains and in those conditions I wouldn't have dreamed of down soloing. Be careful out there.

Climbed it a few weeks ago and found the following helpful (Wyoming Whiskey blog has good solo info):
wyomingwhiskey.blogspot.com/
wyomingwhiskey.blogspot.com…
tetonclimbingroutes.blogspo…

Edited to add: we rapped/downclimbed the OS route, which was challenging in and of itself -- long, exposed, and difficult routefinding, especially getting past the Needle. We were lucky to hook up with someone on the way down who knew the route, which saved us a bit of time.

Awesome peak!

Jesse Ryan wrote:I climbed most of the OS in early July many years ago. It had been a heavy snow year ('97) and a climber fell and died in the right of the double chimney's. We did the raps to get down to assist the party.

A guide with a client?

We climbed the Stettner-to-Ford the day before and were in the moraine camp when that happened. Sad deal.

I remember thinking I was glad to be all ice tooled-up for the down climbing/get off.

Have a friend of a friend who has a part of the Exum named after him when he took a tumbled down it as a guide with a client. Verglas. Scary stuff.

csproul - I did come down the OS but I rapped down; I was curious specifically about downclimbing the 5.4 sections.

Brian - thanks for all the alternate routes. If the weather doesn't work out for me I'll probably hit one of those up. I may PM you for beta if that's the case.

Everyone else - thanks for all the beta. Super helpful.

Yes, July 5th, 1997. It was sketchy. We were without tools or crampons that day, and a tool or axe would have been nice.

It certainly was a sad day.

Josh Kornish wrote:If you end up going up the grand you could consider bringing an alpine bod harness or a swami belt. Rapping off would be a better option in my opinion and I'm sure there will be people that shouldn't mind you rapping off their line. The guiding companies may be a different situation though

I think the idea of soloing a route and then depending on other people to lend you gear to get down is a bit foolish.

Bringing a lightweight cord to rap with won't weight you down and will give a lot of piece of mind.

I have come down the OS a couple of times and I rapped both times. Once with my own rope and once hooking up with a group. I had a harness both times. I think that downclimbing it is sketchy and if there is verglass I wouldn't want to do it. It is a death fall.