Grand Teton (Teton Range) — August 16, 2026

Route: Owen-Spalding, 5.4 Grade III

Trip Leaders: Josh Bowden, Meridian Wappett*

Team: Zach Robertson, Francis Horton, Molly Taylor*, Garald*, Bryce Johnston**

Though I wasn't a trip leader, I volunteered to write up a short trip report for our recent climb of the Grand Teton. Trip leaders Josh and Meridian had designs on completing a Grand summer, and having just come off a three-week float of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the Teton was their next target. Zach was a late addition to the crew for his technical ability, and I was an even later one for... well, I'm not entirely sure. Coming in late meant much of the planning and groundwork for the climb was already done—yay for me—and all that was left was to clean off the rust and actually climb one of the most iconic mountains of the American West.

In preparation for our attempt, Josh, Meridian, and Molly figured out the logistics while Zach organized a group outing to refresh some technical skills. The rest of us just had to focus on our fitness for what is a long day by any metric. We approached the climb with the intent of doing it in a single push, so light and fast was the plan.

The Zoo Crew (Josh, Zach, and myself) drove down Friday, where we beat our Helena counterparts to camp and got dibs on the best tent spots. We had originally planned on climbing Saturday, but a storm system was still working its way through the range, so we delayed until Sunday.

For the climb itself, we brought two ropes: one 40-meter 9.8 mm and one 70-meter 9.7 mm (I missed the memo where we decided to change the rope plan). We also brought half a set of cams, .5 through 3, and five alpine draws for the group. Each person had an ATC, three locking carabiners, and a third hand. We brought the rack so we could protect any sections of the climb if people felt unsafe, but in the end, they turned out to be little more than weight training. Saturday afternoon we gathered our gear, packed our bags, and sat down to a cheese-fueled meal, all in preparation for tomorrow.

At 2:00 a.m., I started hearing alarm clocks going off. Getting up went quickly, and by 2:20 we were on the road with breakfast and coffee in hand (and lap). We reached the trailhead, and at 3:15 a.m. we hit the trail, led by our headlamps and a sense of adventure.

Being a group of ultrarunners, Zach and myself, we set a stiff pace, covering just over six miles from Lupine Meadows to the Lower Saddle in around three hours, where we stopped to watch a beautiful sunrise. At this point, we refilled our water and started making our way up the  shoulder via second- and third-class terrain toward the Upper Saddle.

At the saddle, we reached the first crux of the day and our first look at proper fifth-class terrain. After everyone got a look at the Belly Roll—a fairly exposed but straightforward fifth-class feature—the six of us decided we felt safe attempting it free, and the rack stayed in our packs. Moving easily over both the Belly Roll and the Crawl, spirits were high and we were ready to sprint for the summit.

(Clears throat.)

That was before we had a good look at our route moving forward.

It had been somewhat surprising how few groups we had seen on the mountain up to this point, but it started to become a bit clearer why. Standing on the North Face, we looked at the Catwalk, our originally planned path, and it looked like death. The previous day's storm had left it covered in ice, and one missed step would send the unlucky climber down the mountain the fast way.

Seeing the ice, we decided to climb up the Owen Chimney instead. Though less treacherous, the chimney was full of ice, and the climbing was not as straightforward as it had looked from below. From there, we clambered over a few easy but exposed slabs before climbing Sargent's Chimney, also full of ice, on our way to the summit.

We topped out on the 13,750-foot summit at 10:30 a.m.

After lunch, a few obligatory photos, and some sock knitting, we started making our way down. We downclimbed Sargent's and headed to the rappel station, where we set up on the longer of the two rappels. If the reader of this trip report is intending on doing this climb, I highly recommend the rappel—it’s 40 meters, so bring the appropriate rope for the job.

Besides some strange shenanigans from other parties and a small rock knocked loose that struck Josh's elbow, things went pretty smoothly. Route-finding on our way down was a bit challenging, as per usual, but we made it back down to the Lower Saddle safely, where we had a short rest before legging it back the other six miles to the trailhead.

In the end, we covered 16 miles and approximately 8,000 feet of vert in just under 15 hours.

Big shout-out to Bryce. Though he didn't do the climb, he was a real trooper and the spirit of the camp.

*non club member

**non club member and camp dad