Anyone know what the snow/rock/ice conditions are like right now? Heading up in 2 weeks. Tick list includes full exum ridge and black ice couloir. Any help is appreciated.

Check out the climbing blog

www.tetonclimbing.blogspot.com/

I think given the low snowpack and forecast for lows in the upper 40's at 10,000 feet, Black Ice might be toast in two weeks.

We were planning on climbing the North Ridge of The Grand next weekend so I called Jenny Lake Ranger Station at (307) 739-3343. Rick, the climbing ranger, said we would be the first people on the North Ridge or North Face this year due to all of the snow and ice. There is a lot of snow on the approach also and everything is freezing at night. He said it would be ambitious for us to try it so soon.

Rick suggested we try the Petzl, Underhill, Exum, or SW Buttress of Enclosure routes instead. We will need crampons and ice axe for most routes since they had more snow than we did in CO. The Lower Saddle at 11,600' has melt water, but it is frozen in the am or at night. I hope this helps you!

Nice sounds like a slight possibility of some mixed. Thanks for the links guys very helpful.

Monsoonal moisture has delayed my trip a couple weeks to the Grand. In doing some research I was wondering if anyone had any beta on the Friction Pitch bypass? Curious if it is an easy pitch to make up lost time? Any additional time saving beta would be much appreciated. Also any first hand beta on finding the start of the lower exum as well as average hiking time from trailhead to lower saddle and from lower saddle to lower exum start.

I did it the complete exum a few years back. Camped at saddle and hiked down to the start in the pm. Easy to find in the light. Glad I did ad it was a wee bit trickier in the am. The climbing is easy and I can't advise on the friction bypass. The whole thing took about 3 hours if i recall correctlys. We simul-climbed almost the entire route except for maybe a couple of pitches. Most truly is low fifth class. Great climbing and fun though!!!
Watch out for the marmots at camp, pesky creatures!!!

unless you pitch out the entire thing in an extremely slow manner chances are you'll either ignorantly solo or simul the friction pitch and not even realize it. pretty much all the 'hard' climbing on the upper exum is easily skirted to climbers right.

don't skip it though.

Ultimate speed beta for Upper Exum: solo it! Like ^^^ said, Friction Pitch equates to a move. It's over quick.

Saddle to start of Lowe Exum=20-40 min if I remember right?

yo what up ryan, i bought that big bro in avon and im here now in gtnp. ive been hittin the trail last couple weekends and its pretty clear in terms of snow, of course the glacier is there though. at the rate that i hike at, would say eight hours from the car to the lower saddle and agree with about forty minutes to the ridge. i hate hiking though, i just like to climb. kinda rainy lately too, but mostly after noon. ill look thru my pics of this month and see if i got something that will help you.

Thanks everyone for the info. I checked out wyomingwhisky.net what a bad ass site! I've done harder alpine routes, but nothing this long in terms of time and length. Trying to get all the info I can.