Why Grand Teton is famous
Grand Teton is the high point of the Teton Range, a 64 km (40-mile) chain of the Rocky Mountains on the Wyoming side of the Idaho border, and the heart of Grand Teton National Park, established on 26 February 1929. At 13,775 ft (4,199 m) by the current survey (older maps and some park pages give 13,770 ft) it is second in Wyoming only to Gannett Peak (13,810 ft, 4,209 m). The Tetons are the youngest range in the Rockies: movement on the Teton fault over the last six to nine million years raised the western block and dropped the eastern one, so the peaks rise abruptly from Jackson Hole with no foothills in front.
The Grand belongs to the Cathedral Group of the highest peaks. Mount Owen (12,928 ft, 3,940 m), second-highest in the range, stands to the north-east across Gunsight Notch, and Middle Teton (12,804 ft, 3,903 m) to the south-west across the Lower Saddle; South Teton (12,514 ft, 3,814 m) and Teewinot complete the group, and Mount Moran (12,605 ft, 3,842 m) rises further north. Below the north face lies Teton Glacier, the largest of the park's twelve named glaciers, which lost 14–20% of its area between 1967 and 2006. Some 38 routes with 58 variations reach the summit, and three of them appear in the guidebook Fifty Classic Climbs of North America, more than for any other peak.
Where it is and how to get there
The park begins a short drive north of the town of Jackson, and Jackson Hole Airport is the only commercial airport in the United States that lies inside a national park. The valley floor is at about 6,500 ft (1,980 m). There is no park shuttle between trailheads.
Almost all climbs start at the Lupine Meadows trailhead just south of Jenny Lake, whose car park fills early on summer days. Climbers get permits and route advice at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station, home of the Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers, or at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose.
The approach to the Lower Saddle
The Garnet Canyon Trail climbs a forested moraine and five long switchbacks, then turns into Garnet Canyon, where the maintained trail ends at a boulder field 4.1 miles (6.6 km) from the trailhead. A climbers' path continues to The Meadows camping area, then switchbacks steeply past the Petzoldt Caves and Moraine camping zones to a headwall climbed with the help of a fixed rope. Above it is the Lower Saddle, a broad col at about 11,600 ft (3,540 m) between the Grand and Middle Teton. In all it is about 7 miles (11 km) with some 5,000 ft (1,520 m) of gain; guided parties take five to seven hours.
Routes to the summit
Owen-Spalding (II, 5.4). The line of the 1898 first ascent. From the Lower Saddle, scrambling and moderate climbing lead up about 1,500 ft (460 m) of gullies to the Upper Saddle (13,160 ft, 4,010 m), between the summit block and the western sub-peak called the Enclosure. The route then crosses the exposed west face above cliffs about 2,000 ft (610 m) high: the "Belly Roll" and "The Crawl", where climbers straddle a narrow rock fin, lead to the Double Chimney, the most complex and often icy section, and a final steep scramble. The descent to the Upper Saddle is down-climbed or rappelled from fixed anchors.
Upper Exum Ridge (II, 5.5). The most popular route, first climbed solo by Glenn Exum on 15 July 1931. A ledge called Wall Street leads onto the ridge and ends with one wide, exposed step, the first technical move. Above come the Golden Stair, the Friction Pitch, usually rated the hardest, and the V-Pitch, with much fourth-class scrambling between. The full Direct Exum Ridge (III, 5.7) adds the lower section. Guides also use the Pownall-Gilkey route, which allows a quicker retreat when storms come from the west.
The north side. The North Ridge (IV, 5.8), climbed by Robert Underhill and Fritiof Fryxell in 1931, was then considered the hardest alpine climb in the United States. The North Face, about 3,000 ft (910 m) high, was first climbed in 1936 by Jack Durrance with Paul and Eldon Petzoldt.
Typical plan. Day one to the Lower Saddle or a camp in Garnet Canyon; day two an alpine start around 3 a.m., about 2,200–2,500 ft (670–760 m) of scrambling and roped climbing to the top, then the long descent to the valley. Guided parties usually reach the summit around 8 a.m. and finish a 12–15-hour day at the trailhead. Rangers warn that unguided parties often need 14 hours or more just for the round trip from the Lower Saddle, that the Owen-Spalding and Upper Exum are wrongly described as "hikes", and that nobody should try the mountain in one day without previous Teton experience.
The Grand Traverse. This link-up of the central Teton summits, including Teewinot, Mount Owen, the Grand, Middle Teton, South Teton and Nez Perce, covers about 13 miles (21 km). It was first done in 1966 by Jim McCarthy and Lito Tejada-Flores; Rolando Garibotti ran it in 6 hours 49 minutes in 2000.
Guided climbs
Only two companies are authorised to guide in the park: Exum Mountain Guides, founded by Paul Petzoldt and Glenn Exum and the oldest guide service in North America, and Jackson Hole Mountain Guides. Unauthorised guiding is illegal. Most clients have never climbed before; one or two days of rock school come first, and you must pass them to go on the mountain.
- Exum (2026 prices): the four-day Classic group program costs USD 1,490 per person; a private four-day program costs USD 3,220 for one climber or USD 2,410 each for two. Clients sleep in Exum's hut on the Lower Saddle. The season runs from about 10 June to 10 September; climbs before the last week of June are one-to-one and may need a snow-school day. In mixed-ability groups the goal may be the Enclosure, about 500 ft below the true summit.
- Jackson Hole Mountain Guides use their own Corbet High Camp at about 11,000 ft (3,350 m), 7 miles and 4,200 ft (1,280 m) of gain from the trailhead; from there summit day is about 2 miles and 2,700 ft (820 m), five to seven hours each way.
Permits, fees and rules
No climbing permit is needed and registering your plans is voluntary, but every night in the backcountry, including a bivouac, requires a backcountry camping permit. Permits for climbing trips and Garnet Canyon are issued in person at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station or the Craig Thomas Visitor Center, open mid-June to mid-September.
- Backcountry permit (2026): USD 20 per permit plus USD 7 per person per night. About a third of the peak-season quota (1 May–31 October) can be booked on Recreation.gov from early January; the rest goes to walk-ups one day ahead, and in July and August people queue from about 5 a.m.
- Garnet Canyon: at most two nights in each fork and six per trip, parties of one to six, and campers at the Lower Saddle and the Caves must pack out human waste in toilet bags. Food goes in bear-resistant canisters or boxes; there is a box on the Lower Saddle.
- Entrance fee (2026): USD 35 per private vehicle for seven days or USD 20 per person on foot or bicycle. Non-US residents aged 16 and over pay USD 100 extra per person unless they hold an annual or America the Beautiful pass. No cash is accepted.
When to go and weather
The climbing season runs from mid-June to mid-September, and conditions are usually best from late July to early September. Snow often lingers in the mountains until mid-July and steep snowfields remain on some routes all summer; guides require crampon-compatible boots before 15 July. Afternoon thunderstorms with lightning, rain and hail are common in July and August, often building out of a clear morning. Modelled July averages at about 12,350 ft (3,765 m) are a high of 14 °C (58 °F) and a low just below freezing. In autumn nights freeze, ice and verglas form on shaded faces above about 11,000 ft, and the days shorten; the first heavy snows usually fall by 1 November.
Water
Streams run through every Teton canyon, including Garnet Canyon, so water is easy to find on the approach. On the Lower Saddle the water source is on the east side; the park asks campers to urinate on the west side to keep it clean. In autumn, when nights freeze, do not count on water there. Treat all water by boiling it for three to five minutes, with tablets or with a filter, because of Giardia and Campylobacter. Above the saddle there is none, so carry enough for the whole summit day; the dry air at altitude makes dehydration common.
Mobile coverage and emergencies
The park calls mobile coverage in the Teton backcountry spotty and unpredictable and recommends a satellite communicator. Even so, a phone call is by far the most common way accidents on the peaks are reported. Rangers advise saving the number of Teton Interagency Dispatch, 307-739-3301, so that a call does not end up at another county's dispatch centre; if it fails, dial 911, and if a call will not connect, send a text, which needs less signal. Rescues are run by the Jenny Lake Climbing Rangers, often with a helicopter short-haul.
Dangers and safety
The park names lightning, rockfall, avalanches, crevasses and sudden storms as the main hazards, and states that a fall on steep snow without a successful ice-axe self-arrest is the leading cause of injury and death in the range. The first known climbing death in the Tetons came in 1925, when Theodore Teepe was killed descending the snowfield on the east face that has been called Teepe Glacier ever since. Lightning has also killed climbers in the park; a lightning rescue on 21 July 2010 ended with patients short-hauled by helicopter to the Lower Saddle. Start early, set a turnaround time, carry an ice axe when there is snow and do not climb solo. Altitude sickness is common; the best cure is to descend.
Hikes and viewpoints for non-climbers
- Amphitheater and Surprise lakes: 4.8 miles (7.7 km) one way from Lupine Meadows with about 3,150 ft (960 m) of gain to Amphitheater Lake (9,697 ft, 2,956 m) below Disappointment Peak; Surprise Lake is 0.2 miles before it and about 150 ft lower.
- Garnet Canyon to the Meadows: 4.1 miles (6.6 km) of trail to the boulder field, then a rough path to the first climbers' camp.
- Cascade Canyon: the boat across Jenny Lake saves about 2 miles each way. Past Hidden Falls (30 m) and Inspiration Point the trail climbs gently 3.6 miles (5.8 km) to the forks of the canyon, with the Grand, Mount Owen and Teewinot above to the south; Lake Solitude, 2.7 miles further, looks across at the Cathedral Group.
- The 7.1-mile (11.4 km) loop around Jenny Lake is easy. Black and grizzly bears live throughout the park: carry bear spray and hike in groups.
History and name
The present name probably comes from French-Canadian or Iroquois trappers of Donald Mackenzie's North West Company party in 1818 or 1819: les trois tétons, later shortened to the Tetons. The Shoshone likely called the whole range Teewinot, "many pinnacles". Langford's 1873 article on his climb was titled "The Ascent of Mount Hayden"; the US Board on Geographic Names recognised "Grand Teton Peak" in 1931 and shortened it to Grand Teton in 1970.
On 29 July 1872 Nathaniel Langford and James Stevenson of the Hayden Survey claimed the summit. They certainly reached the Upper Saddle and the Enclosure, where they described a ring of granite slabs set on edge, probably built by Native Americans, but their description fits the Enclosure better than the main summit. On 11 August 1898 Franklin Spalding, William O. Owen, Frank Petersen and John Shive reached the top, with Spalding leading; two days later three of them returned to build a cairn and chisel their names into the summit boulder. Owen fought a long war of letters with Langford, while Spalding himself believed the 1872 party had been first. The historian Leigh Ortenburger concluded that Langford and Stevenson may have climbed the Grand in 1872, and that Owen's party definitely did in 1898.
Nobody reached the top again until 1923, when three Montana students climbed the Owen-Spalding in a day without ropes; Eleanor Davis became the first woman on the summit the same summer. Paul Petzoldt first climbed the Grand in 1924 at 16 and that year guided Owen, then almost 65, back to the top; in 1927 Mount Owen was named after him. Petzoldt went on to climb the Grand more than 300 times.
Interesting facts
- Bill Briggs made the first ski descent on 15 June 1971 by the east face, including a 165 ft (50 m) free-hanging rappel with his skis on.
- Ansel Adams's 1942 photograph The Tetons and the Snake River was encoded on the Voyager Golden Record sent into space in 1977.
- The fastest round trips from Lupine Meadows to the summit take under three hours: 2 hours 53 minutes in 2012.
FAQ
How high is Grand Teton? 13,775 ft (4,199 m) by the current survey; older maps give 13,770 ft. It is the highest peak of the Teton Range and the second-highest in Wyoming.
How long does it take to climb Grand Teton? Usually two days: five to seven hours to the Lower Saddle, then a summit day of 12–15 hours ending at the trailhead. Guided programs take three or four days including rock school.
How difficult is Grand Teton? It is a technical climb, not a hike. The easiest routes, the Owen-Spalding (5.4) and Upper Exum Ridge (5.5), involve exposed roped climbing, rappels and, early in the season, steep snow, plus about 7,000 ft of ascent and descent.
Can I climb it without experience? Yes, with Exum Mountain Guides or Jackson Hole Mountain Guides after their rock school; most of their clients have never climbed before.
Do I need a permit, and what does it cost? No climbing permit is needed. Camping overnight requires a backcountry permit (USD 20 plus USD 7 per person per night in 2026), on top of the entrance fee of USD 35 per vehicle; non-US residents pay USD 100 extra per person.
Is there water on the route? Yes: streams in Garnet Canyon and a source on the east side of the Lower Saddle, which may freeze in autumn. Treat all water and carry enough for summit day.
Is there mobile coverage on Grand Teton? It is spotty and unpredictable, though many accidents are reported by phone. Save Teton Interagency Dispatch (307-739-3301), use 911 as a fallback and try a text if a call fails.
When is the best time to climb Grand Teton? From mid-July to early September, when most snow has melted; start early to beat the afternoon thunderstorms.