Grand Teton [Wyoming] National ParkUnited States. Department of the Interior
History
Grand Teton [Wyoming] National Park
United States. Department of the Interior
Grand Teton National Park (Wyo.)
[Illustration: THE ICY WATERS OF CASCADE CANYON
_Copyright, Crandall._]
The conquest of the Grand Teton achieved, public interest waned and a
quarter century elapsed before the peak was again scaled. In 1923 two
parties retraced the route of 1898, and each year thereafter numerous
ascents have been made. In recent years as many as 30 to 40 parties have
climbed the peak each summer.
Repeated efforts were made to achieve the summit of the Grand Teton by
routes other than the traditional one, and in 1929 one of these resulted
in a successful ascent of the east ridge by Kenneth A. Henderson and
Robert L. M. Underhill. In 1931 no less than three additional routes
were discovered: the southwest ridge was climbed by Glenn Exum; the
southeast ridge by Underhill, Phil Smith, and Frank Truslow; and the
north face by Underhill and Fritiof Fryxell. In 1936 a second route up
the extremely hazardous north face was established by Paul and Eldon
Petzoldt and Jack Durrance. Thus, six wholly distinct routes have been
employed on this mountain, though only the traditional route and
possibly the southwest ridge can be recommended to any except most
expert alpinists.
Within the last decade other peaks in the range have come in for more
and more attention. This they richly deserve, since from both a scenic
and mountaineering standpoint many of them are worthy peers of the Grand
Teton itself. Mount Moran, Mount Owen, Teewinot, Nez Perce, and the
Middle Teton comprise a mountain assemblage which, for nobility of form
and grandeur, would be difficult to equal anywhere.
So far as known, Buck Mountain, most southerly of the "Matterhorn
peaks", was the first major peak in the range to be scaled, the ascent
being made early in 1898 by the topographical party of T. M. Bannon.
Thereafter no important ascents were made until 1919, when LeRoy Jeffers
scaled the lower summit of Mount Moran. The main summit of this peak was
first climbed in 1922 by L. H. Hardy, Ben C. Rich, and Bennet McNulty.
In 1923 A. R. Ellingwood climbed both the Middle and South Tetons on the
same day, on the South Teton being accompanied by Eleanor Davis. In 1928
Mount Wister was climbed by Phil Smith and Oliver Zierlein; in 1929
Teewinot and Mount St. John by Fryxell and Smith; in 1930 Nez Perce by
Fryxell and Smith; and Mount Owen by Underhill, Henderson, Fryxell, and
Smith. With the ascent of Mount Owen the conquest of the major peaks,
begun so many years before, was at length completed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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