Lower Exum Ridge 

The start can be difficult to locate, especially in the pre-dawn hours. The easiest approach is to go beyond (right of) the starting pitch, easy talus walking on the black dyke. At some point there is a small cairn marking a traverse back left on a generally wide but sometimes exposed ledge. It deposits you right at the base of the first pitch "chimney". Describing P1 as a chimney is a little confusing, as it is more like a gigantic, featured open book. Very visible from the Lower Saddle in the evening if you know where to look.

See my trip report at home.comcast.net/~gibell/trip_reports/teton03.html

A classic line on a classic peak.

The approach from the lower saddle to the base of the approach ramp took about 30 minutes. It begins about 10 minutes up the Owen-Spaulding trail from the lower saddle, and heads east eventually hitting the black dyke. If you get to the Petzold ridge you've gone too far. In the morning darkness, we accidentally scrambled up the wrong ramp and ended up on top of the first pitch. Our ramp was consistently 4th class. Apparently another ramp begins slightly further west, but we missed it in the darkness.

All the pitches on the Lower Exum are awesome. The black face is particularly memorable - steep, positive holds, and great gear. We linked pitches 3 and 4 listed above.

We left the Lower Saddle at 4:00am, and we're at the top of Wall Street at 8:15am. We were moving efficiently, but not speed climbing by any means.

There was no sun until we hit Wall Street and the base of the Upper Exum ridge. And with a breeze, it was a little chilly even on a hot summer day. So plan on cold conditions if you are climbing this in early or late summer.

For the Upper Exum, we just did a continuous running belay. We hit the top at 10:15am.

Gear: Nuts, including small ones. Set of finger size cams. Doubles 0.75-2" camalots. One #3 camalot. And a big hex. 14 long runners (and that was just enough).

There are many options on this route. If the p1 chimney is too cold for the fingers, walk right around the corner and climb a 5.6 face that gets some morning sun. Also the face just right of the chimney is hard-to-protect 5.8. The Black Face, p5, has at least 2 crack lines about 8-10 feet apart. The right one is the traditional one but the left one goes, too. At the end of the pitch, instead of belaying in the alcove, one can traverse left to the edge of an arete and a dynamite belay stance. From there, a steep slab/crack with a little more RO than some would like leads back right to the main crack. It's a very scenic and less claustrophobic variation.

Super classic route and awesome climbing. For a very memorable pitch, link the black face and next pitch into one 195 foot monster alpine pitch. Awesome. The holds, the climbing, the history, the gear - all make this an amazing pitch of rock climbing!

If you're using a 70m rope to rap on the decent then you can combine P5 and P6 and belay from Wallstreet. We linked P3/P4 and P5/P6.