Beta for Direct Exum rack

Just wanted to see your guys opinion on a good rack to bring. I know there is the answer of "standard alpine rack", but im more interested in peoples "been there, done that" rack. I'll be doing it car to car with a partner and we are both very fit, but still looking to cut weight when possible. I've read that I need a 60m rope for the route, so I guess no 50m for me :( But anyways, kind of what I've been reading/thinking is a single from .3 to 3 with a selection of nuts and long runners. We've been climbing strong on 10s and 11s in the mountains this summer so hoping to move quick and efficiently. Anyways, any helpful rack beta would be appreciated!

My rack with a good forecast for the grand is 50m skinny rope and single set from blue metolius to #3 with small to medium nuts. Downclimb the OS. Used that on the exum, east ridge, and grand traverse. YMMV 

Gee Dubble wrote:

Sam, the route is called the Durrance Direct. Glen never sent.

OMG - that sounds so pretentious and wannabe in a never-has-been sort of way.  What printed source can you cite?  Nobody is refuting the FA, so don’t cite that - what did Durrance go on record calling it?  All my guidebooks - 50 Classics - etc - “Direct Exum”  “Full Exum”  “Exum Complete” - etc. - and I see you got the admin to change the MP site too.

Who sent the Grand first? Ask around. I have asked experienced Teton climbers for 30 yrs.You'd be surprised by the answers. Also, it will end up being mostly thin gear, rubber and chalk on the DDirect 

Okay - so you pulled it out of your butt to try to sound cool - like you’re some sort of insider who was there 90 years ago.  Your made-up nonsense edits need to be reversed on the route page.

Am guessing Greg is referring to July 11, 1940:

http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/grte/vol7-1e.htm

Just went up Wednesday for the first time. Brought .3-1 and 6 alpine draws. Soloed the first two pitches and linked 3/4 and 5/6 with a 60m. You really only need pro for pitches 5/6 and there are 5 pitons to clip there anyways. I placed one single cam the entire climb. Enjoy!

Tanner Jameswrote:

Just went up Wednesday for the first time. Brought .3-1 and 6 alpine draws. Soloed the first two pitches and linked 3/4 and 5/6 with a 60m. You really only need pro for pitches 5/6 and there are 5 pitons to clip there anyways. I placed one single cam the entire climb. Enjoy!

This is great info, thanks a lot.. Much need for wires?

James Wwrote:

Okay - so you pulled it out of your butt to try to sound cool - like you’re some sort of insider who was there 90 years ago.  Your made-up nonsense edits need to be reversed on the route page.

I've heard it as the Durrance Direct from others besides Greg. 

Sam Rootwrote:

This is great info, thanks a lot.. Much need for wires?

I brought zero wires I don’t think they would be used well if you had them anyway. If you wanted more pro you could bring a 2 and double up on some smaller stuff, but the only really engaging climbing (over 5.5 ish) is pitches 5/6 on the entirety of the Exum and it has good pins on both pitches. The rest of the climbing is incrediblely fun and very mellow. 

Gee are you saying that Orttenburger did not get it right?  and that subsequent editions of the guide also are wrong? 

Terry Ewrote:

Am guessing Greg is referring to July 11, 1940:

http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/grte/vol7-1e.htm

Interesting 'Note'. I presume that the 2 references to "1959" are misprints for 1939. However, I don't see how this adds anything to the discussion of the route as the "Direct Exum" or "Durrance Direct". I've always known the route to be referred to as the former.

One interesting item in the 'Note' is the reference to a route on the South Ridge of Middle by Durrance and Coulter as the "most difficult climb yet encountered in the Tetons", climbed only 4 days before the same pair made the FA of the West Face of the Grand. However, the former route now seems to be lost in obscurity, while the West Face and other Durrance climbs from that era (including Direct Exum) remain as recognized classics that were considered to be among the most difficult climbs in the Range during that period.

+1 - 1940 wasn’t 1936.

Maybe all the history books need to be updated with “entire southwest ridge” 

i would definitely bring the 60 instead of the 50.  if for some reason the OS gets wet it would be better to rap than downclimb. set of stoppers and a set of cams from blue tcu to .75 camalot would be a nice, light yet comprehensive rack.

AAJ 1937 on the 1936 season:

"The complete S. W. ridge of Grand Teton was climbed for the first time by Kenneth A. Henderson and Jack Durrance late in August. The lower 1200 ft., all entirely new and quite vertical, required five hours. Durrance states that the climbing along this section is comparable to that of the N. face with the added advantage that there is much less danger from falling rocks. Higher on the ridge their route merged with the well-established Exum route."

Dimly recall we used a single set of nuts and cams to maybe 3".  Was a few fixed pins sprinkled about especially on the black face. 

A few slings for sure.  The OP's rack should be ok.  I'd likely trade the 3 for a smaller cam than a .3 (blue and/or purple TCU or equiv.).  Light on the nuts.

By the same made-up logic - the Direct Petzoldt gets renamed Unsoeld Direct - ‘cause, you know, Petzoldt didn’t send.  Lol.  Same with Direct Underhill - actually done by Buckingham. 

pretty sure lamar manson didn't FA the black ice coulouir either.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Gee are you saying that Orttenburger did not get it right?  and that subsequent editions of the guide also are wrong? 

In every guidebook edition from Ortenburger spanning 1956 to 1979 he referred to the route as "variation":  Variation:  III, F7.

"This very important variation goes up the lower section of the Exum Ridge from the Black Dike to the end of Wall Street."

Amazing that in summer 1936, Durrance downclimbed the standard Exum route three times...  Competitive atmosphere in those days I'd hazard.

I'd guess back in the day, there might have been some confusion on the "Southwest Ridge".  When Durrance and Henderson climbed their route in 1936, it was reported as "the complete Southwest Ridge of the Grand Teton".  But...early Ortenburger guidebooks list the Southwest Ridge route done by Durrance, Coulter and Ayres in 1940 but now noted as on the Enclosure.  So, the "Exum Ridge" became that ridge on the Grand.  And a fitting tribute.

Jack Durrance has a pretty impressive legacy in the Tetons (understatement).  Who on this thread has something in common besides routes on new terrain on the Grand?

Rumor has a pretty hard variation on the Southwest Face?  "Strapped to the mast in a hurricane."  Sounds really hard.

Good stuff.

While I haven't looked at my earlier editions of Ortenburger's book, but the most recent (with Jackson) has the FA of the 'Lower Exum' as by Durrance and Henderson in 1936, so don't know why the 'history books need to be updated'. Either the climb Durrance and Coulter did on the lower ridge in '40 was another variation or a repeat of the 1936 climb.

Alan Rubinwrote:

Either the climb Durrance and Coulter did on the lower ridge in '40 was another variation or a repeat of the 1936 climb.

Completely different route.

Going back to gear: Did it C2C on Tuesday and brought a small set of nuts and a single rack .3-3 which seemed fine, I never felt like we had any need for more or less gear. 60m rope is nice to link P3 and 4 and to rap the OS. Definitely bring lots of slings and long runners, we ended up slinging several horns for pro.