Gear Needed for Upper Exum
|
Looking to climb the Upper Exum this July. Assuming it is dry and nicer conditions, what kind of gear is essential to bring and what is nice to have as a bonus or highly recommended? Thanks. |
|
That's a bit of a loaded question because your needs for climbing it will largely depend on your skillset, strategy, and risk tolerance. I did it car to car 2 (?) years ago with my wife. We left at 10:30pm, hoping to beat approaching thunderstorms early the next afternoon. The basics that usually get mentioned... Our rack consisted of a 40m x 8.1mm lead line, a 40m x 6mm tagline, 5 offset nuts, and 4 cams (0.5, 0.75, 1, 2) and I think 4 60cm alpine draws. We simul-climbed the majority of the route with rapid belays in strategic cruxes like after the step across. I don't recall building a single anchor and opted for terrain belays, or braced stances the entire way. I recall feeling like the rack was too big and that I could have done without the nuts as I never placed any. We wore approach shoes the entire time. Sun hoodies, wind shirts, and light puffies were all key (it was late July) in regulating temps. Light softshell climbing pants were great when we left the car at midnight to the summit and all the way back to the mouth of Garnet. The heat and humidity on the lower trail had us wishing for shorts but we only had 4 miles to go so it wasn't a big deal. Some things worked well for doing it the way we did it... Katadyn BeFree filter with 600ml soft flask and shoulder strap soft flask holder- Water is very available and being able to filter it and drink on the move is awesome. The 600ml flask worked really well to monitor and stay on top of hydration. From the upper saddle to the summit and back I carried an additional 1.5 liters in a soft bottle. Small battery pack- Didn't expect to use it but knew that using GPS to ensure I was on a track from a previous ascent while in the dark might drain my phone. What was clutch was that I ended up using it to recharge my headlamp battery in case I needed it again because my headlamp died much quicker than expected on the hike in. Leaving the trailhead at 10:30pm (obviously not gear related)- We aren't the fastest but aren't slow either (Our time to the lower saddle was like 3:20, and our time on the route itself was like 2:30ish.) We left at this time to beat an incoming storm, but it worked out in our favor in several ways. We had the trail almost entirely to ourselves all the way to Wall street. We were well ahead of the giant train of guided parties we could see coming behind us in the pre-dawn hours. We were among the very first people on the summit and that allowed us to take our time and enjoy it (for once). We had a ton of time for the descent which was needed as we really slowed down from fatigue and lack of sleep on the switchbacks down to Garnet Meadows. We were able to get a late lunch at Dornan's and look up from the deck and admire all the ground we had covered. Other than those small things- take as little as possible to have a safe experience in the style you're doing it in. It's one of the better alpine rock routes I've done. Don't detract from the experience by dragging a bunch of shit with you. |
|
NateC wrote: Bingo ... I have climbed it twice. No gear was used as no gear was taken. |
|
"what is nice to have as a bonus or highly recommended?" Maybe let's not call it the Upper Durrance. Besides being unnecessary and confusing for no good reason, what an insult to Glenn Exum's namesake ridge and legacy. The idea of changing the name of the Lower Exum Ridge was bad enough in Renny's latest guidebook. And just silly after decades of calling it the Lower Exum Ridge in every guidebook and every other book referencing it. Including every conversation, magazine article, social media post, podcast, and newspaper story over the many decades. Durrance gets credit just by being the FA on the lower ridge. And good for him for not naming everything after himself. Respect there. God help us if every mountain ridge and face gets re-"named". North Ridge of K2 becomes the Sakashita-Yoshino-Yanagisawa Ridge? No thanks. I digress. |
|
A skinny 60 meter rope or 30 meter twins, A few nuts, a few cams (.5, .75, 1, 2), a bunch of shoulder length slings. A pair of those new super sticky trail runners like the Scarpa Rebille Run. And, a soft sided filter water bottle like the Katadyn BeFree. Fill up at the Meadows, at the Caves, Lower saddle. You never need to carry more than 1 liter. Easy Peezy. |
|
Great beta in these first few replies. Pretty much all you need to know. |
|
Wind River wrote: My go to is cold pizza but donuts would be awesome. Make mine old fashioned. We used a single light 60m twin rope (the time I used a rope...). 4 cams in the range gee dub has suggested and I toss in 5 stoppers. A few shoulder length slings and biners. I prefer to climb in loose climbing shoes rather than approach shoes. Good times! |
|
Guidebook's standard rack works fine for most. "Without dogma": Cams: .3” to 3.5”, Complete set of stoppers sm to med, Couple runners/slings/quickdraws/biners. However, it's alpine mountaineering with ever-changing, often unforeseen, conditions and weather. And the unexpected defines alpine mountaineering. Don't trust a forecast. Know your escape options. Don't get summit fever. Storms can develop quickly in the Tetons. Know your approach route, ridge route, and the descent from the summit to the lower saddle if you don't have the natural skills to go without. Don't overestimate how fast you can move around the mountain. Or how easy the climb will be if you're a beginner, or out of shape. And have fun. |
|
Wind River wrote: Good advice especially re weather and the potential for adverse outcomes. It doesn't look like the AAC makes the accidents journal available for online reading but the library at the Climbers Ranch surely has a selection available to peruse. Seems like every year there are Teton accounts that would be of interest to a newbie. |