[Hide Comment] I used pro to 3" along with a bomber hex. Additional good things about this route (aside from incredible rock-climbing quality): it gets shielded from high winds by the Exum & doesn't have the amount of traffic that the Exum does.

Ice can build up in the transition to the Exum. There is also a rappel escape down through the Stettner Couloir established by ski mountaineers (falling rock is a big concern in this descent). 5.6 for the most part, 5.7 pitch is really good; also a 5.9 slot variant. Mar 9, 2006

[Hide Comment] Recommend starting around and up the Stettner Couloir a bit to save time and avoiding some chossy moves. The first chimney is great fun. The short overhanging traverse out and up is all there and has great exposure. Shaded until noon. Excellent alternative to the lower Exum. Easy solo north to the upper Exum after the rap(7/3/06). Jul 5, 2006

[Hide Comment] Fun route, and less crowded than the full Exum. I personally liked the climbing on the Lower Exum better, but the climbing is still great on the Petzoltd.

We soloed 4th class to the base of the first pitch - but the path of least resistance wasn't trivial to find in the dark. It started a bit up and right from the base of the ridge. A tricky step up and left led to a easy ramp and then lower angled climbing. The first pitch slot is quite obvious once below it.

If I did the route again, I'd try do it in four long pitches as follows.

P1 - Up the slot, chimney (crux), and then lower angled terrain to a small ledge right below on obvious roof.

P2 - Out the roof, around another one to the left (BIG exposure) and then up and right on lower angled terrain. I'd belay below the "Window" somewhere, but close to it if possible.

P3 - Out the window, and then to a big ledge. Continue up the easy face and then the famous knife edge (and tricky step down to belay ledge)

P4 - Up the left facing corner for about 75 feet, and just as the corner turns chossy - a convenient juggy notch allows a transition to the lower angled ridge proper. Continue up this all the way to the top of the ridge.

The rappel anchors are located down from the top of the ridge a bit. Make sure to rappel somewhat EAST to the obvious ledge only 50 feet below. If you rappel to the North you'd find yourself uncomfortably in space in no time!

Very easy climbing (3rd and 4th class) leads up the broken corner (slightly left trending) to the Upper Exum, right below the wind tunnel.

The entire route took us 7 hours, but we soloed the Upper Exum. We climbed the Petzoltd efficiently, but not terribly fast.

Rack - One set of nuts, one set of cams from TCUs to #3 camalot. A big hex was handy. Lots of long slings of course. Aug 26, 2007

[Hide Comment] I thought the Petzoldt Ridge was a great route and a worthy objective on the Grand. We simul-climbed the Petzoldt in one block and it seemed like a great thing to do for a competent party of two. Most of it is pretty casual with short cruxes, allowing a simul-climbing team to make quick work of the route. For us, it made perfect sense to simul the route because we were doing it in a day from the trailhead and we didn't get much of an early start. Dec 5, 2007

[Hide Comment] This is classic. Less traffic, less wind with good exposure. Definitely summit via Upper E for the glory. Aug 16, 2010

[Hide Comment] Fun route. With all due respect to Andy's goals of doing this climb in 4 pitches, I personally do not think it would be the ideal way to link this climb, as the rope drag and communication issues would be awful. 7 seemed ideal for us. The traverse around the roof on pitch 2 was the best move of the climb. The knife-edge is a little overrated in my opinion. Not as good as Exum, but still a worthwhile climb. Sep 7, 2010

[Hide Comment] I did this with my Dad who is 64 years old. We went with our long time friend and guide of 11 years. We did Irene's Arete the first day, went to bed at 5 pm, got up at 3 am and did the direct pezholdt and then upper exum and got down to the car around 8 pm. Was a long couple days and I was exhausted but it was so worth it! All the climbing for the most part was oustanding. Oct 13, 2011

[Hide Comment] I did this route recently and thought it was very fun. We went car to car, it was 15 hrs total. We climbed the petzoldt in 4 pitches, exactly as Andy described above, then finished on the upper exum. I was happy to have rock shoes on the first two pitches, though a nice pair of hybrid approach shoes would have been fine. I thought that a single rack to #2 camalot was ok, and some tcu's were very handy. I brought a big hex and didn't really need it. Sep 22, 2013

[Hide Comment] Linked it down to 4 pitches (with a 60m) as Andy describes except the top of our P3 was in the notch just before the knife-edge. This allowed the belayer to see the leader for most of P4 which was nice. Great route! Aug 10, 2015

[Hide Comment] The first comment here mentions the Stettner as a possible descent - DO NOT use this descent route in the summer. In the winter I'm sure it's fine, but in the summer it's a gnarly place full of waterfall after waterfall and is not safe to descend. Aug 18, 2015

[Hide Comment] Anyone else have difficulty finding the start of the route? I don't think we went far enough into the Stettner. Sep 19, 2020

[Hide Comment] We went all the way to the rope on Stettner Couloir and went up and climber's left. (I believe)this is too high.
We didn't want to start straight up from the bottom because we wanted to avoid choss and avoid an extra pitch.
However, I think there is likely a way to meander up and left between the two entries I mentioned.

If you go the way we did, you get to an old set of anchors and need to do a rap to get to the big ledge/slab to start from. Jan 22, 2021

[Hide Comment] START BETA: Look for the big slot corner (looks a bit wide). This is the first real pitch!
I followed the old photos from the book and they were not all that accurate. Jan 22, 2021

[Hide Comment] There is a lot of confusion about the start of this route. I just went up a second time and want to clarify how we did it.

- We started where the obvious ramp of the black dike ends. If you know where you are looking you can see the top of the V pitch slot.
- There are fifth-class sections to get to the bottom of what the guide books calls the "first pitch" V slot. This seems silly. Rope up at the ramp below and go up some easy fifth class ledges and an easy fifth class boulder problem. While there are those who can certainly solo it for most climbers they will be glad for the rope.
- Don't start in the Stettner. It has constant rockfall. You can hear it the whole time you are up there. While the climbing may be easier coming from that side, it's too dangerous.
- There might be other ways to start the route but the Stettner is too dangerous and coming in from climbers left (about 20 yrds before the ramp ends) will put you away from below the slot.
- What makes the beta so hard to follow is calling the V slot the first pitch, so I think we need to quit calling the first pitch when in reality it is the second. This is how we be broke it up:

Pitch 1: Rope up at ramp when the black dike ends (if you hit the white rock/Stettner you've gone too far). Climb 4th/5th class for about 210 feet. Belay at a small chockstone. You need a 70 meter to get you there.
Pitch 2: Physical crux. Head climbers left up a larger fist crack system to the V slot. You'll find pitons. It's probably 5.7 but if you are not used to Teton climbing/altitude it will def feel harder. Grab the hero jug and climb easy 5th to belay off horn/knife-edge. 120ish'.
Pitch 3: Psychological crux. Climb up the ramp and head left to a small roof. 5.6. This is the money pitch! We messed up from here so look for another piece of beta. We went left to easy 5th class chimney system to a huge ledge. 200'
Pitch 4: Popped up some easy 5th ledges angling back to the ridge and ended up past the window pitch to another huge belay ledge.
Pitch 5: From another big ledge climb right through easy 5th terrain across the knife-edge. Belay at another sizable ledge.
Pitch 6: Climb easy 5th to the top angling left.

(Every belay stance was on a good ledge of some sort.)

Rap was off a crappy piton that was older than me and two better nuts. I would def bring something to back it up and replace it if needed. 60ish foot rap that you can use the rock to friction and put less stress of the anchor.

Descent: Put the rope away. Climb up EASY 3rd/4th ramp angling left to connect to Upper Exum. If you want to bail, down climb easy ledges until you see Wall Street on your right (couple hundredish feet down from when you reach UE). We rapped off a secure rock next to this gigantic see-saw rock. The rap barely made it to the wide part of Wall Street. With rope stretch, I was able to touch down safely. My climbing partner was a foot off the ground and had to rap off the ends of the rope. So make sure it is centered and that you have a true 70m. We couldn't find the "60-foot rap" the guidebooks talked about. The reality is if you went much farther down you would have ended up at the step across.

For anyone wondering: I would also recommend climbing shoes for the Vslot and 5.6 exposed pitch. Even if you are following it's just difficult enough in my humble opinion.

This route is an absolute classic and is worth climbing on its own. Aug 16, 2021

[Hide Comment] mediocre trip report*
hiked into the meadows in about 3 hours, camped out. left for lower saddle at 7 am (should've left earlier) reached saddle by 10am. got a little lost, don't go too far up above the caves, traverse left above the caves to get through moraines. look for fixed ropes. ditched a pack, set out for black dike and base of petzoldt. simuled the 4th class, felt a little tricky but stick right towards stettner couloir to find pitch one.
pitch one: slot and chimney awesome, look for pitons along the way.
pitch two: fun exposure to the left out the roof, then cruise on up. look ahead for window pitch, rope drag bad.
pitch three: went thru the window (propper route goes up and around window to knife edge), airy traverse moves to scary step down (NOT the same as the step down after knife edge). scrambled up to a corner roof with old totem & lighter attached to it?? 5.9 variation to get thru roof and back onto ridge crest. puts you at the base of pitch 4 after knife edge and step down
pitch four: left facing corner easy, run to the top
rap located just down & north-west of summit. easy & short to ledge. climb up and left, easy solo through gully/ramp to start of wind tunnel. few hundred feet.
upper exum: aim right through V of wind tunnel. simul/solo very easy. you might feel off route but just pick the path of least resistance all the way, try heading right slightly throughout. this thing feels never ending. never really sure if we climbed the friction pitch or V pitch but all of it felt easy. summited near 6 pm.
descent: met jared and riley, worked together to get down. hiked down west toward owen spalding, found first rap easily, got down with one 60m & small easy down climb. walk south slightly to find next rap, and climb down a bit to find it. tied 60m and 70m together, got down easy, awesome hanging rap. got knocked in the head by rock after this rap, wear helmets & watch out!
Hiking back to lower saddle in the dark is not recommended. thankful to have another party so we could all put our heads together to get down. remembered not to go down first couloir (wall street), but got lost in the midst of the central rib on various small steep gully trails. somehow ended up finding a rapel, took it and continued down steep gullies finally to lower saddle at 10pm. zombie walk back to camp by 12:30am.
Learned a lot from this 18 hour outing. maybe we were inefficient, maybe we were slow hikers, but regardless, be prepared for a LONG day! we are experienced, we know our systems, felt ready for the grand but still got our asses kicked! bring layers, bring food, bring headlamps, do the research! we got lucky this trip, much to take away and much to learn.
Petzoldt route is incredible, the summit is overall worth the sufferfest! Oct 4, 2021

[Hide Comment] Loved Spencer Weiler's topo, so I redrew it more clearly and saved it as a PDF here (also in the photos): drive.google.com/file/d/1eL… Sep 17, 2022