Mount Moran
Mid January to Mid October
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Isolated from the other great summits, a climb of Mount Moran (12,605 feet) is a remote adventure on a huge mountain. Despite its unique, non-Matterhorn like dominance of the northern half of the range, Mount Moran sees less attention from mountaineers than the Grand and the peaks in the center of the range. Yet, it has a great variety of superb climbing routes for all levels.

• CMC Route:  The route most often taken to its broad summit is the CMC route, short for Chicago Mountaineering Club; three of whose members accompanied Paul Petzoldt on the first ascent in 1941. The approach involves a pleasant one-hour canoe across String and Leigh Lakes and a short but business-like (steep) hike to serene high camp. In seasons past, the so-called CMC camp was stocked with tents, sleeping gear, and cooking gear, thus lightening loads during the approach. In an effort to preserve the wild feel of the area, Exum removed this cache of equipment in cooperation with the National Park Service in the beginning of the 2001 season. Climbers will now be required to carry their camping and climbing equipment during each ascent. The climb during the second day wanders up steep slopes to the summit of a subsidiary peak. Aptly named "Drizzlepus," we must descend its steep backside before gaining the actual southeast face of Mount Moran. This broad gray face offers stellar climbing on solid rock slabs that directly to the summmit plateau. For the descent, we downclimb and rappel the southeast face to the base of Drizzlepus. Then we must reclimb the Drizzlepus in three pitches of steep face climbing to return to camp. Due to the long, unrelenting nature of the ascent and descent on day two, most parties rest a second night at high camp before returning to the valley the morning of the third day. Difficulty: II 5.6. See our current rates for this climb.

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• Skillet Glacier:  Best done in early season, we canoe for two hours across Jackson Lake and begin a strenuous off-trail hike for over 2,000 feet to a camp at the foot of the glacier. That afternoon, we review snow-climbing techniques. The next morning, straightforward but sustained snow climbing up to 50 degrees in steepness leads us an additional 3,000 feet to the summit. We spend another night at camp to rest for the hike and canoe out on day three. Difficulty: II Snow 5. See our current rates for this climb.

• Northeast Ridge:  We approach this climb similarly to the Skillet Glacier, but climb above the glacier via a steep couloir to the north. This couloir leads right, up to the northeast ridge of Mount Moran, which gradually steepens during its 3,000-foot climb to the north summit. Most of the route is third class, but it also involves several pitches of fifth class, the hardest of which is 5.5. Difficulty: II 5.5. See our current rates for this climb.

  

• South Buttress:
  Several of the range's hardest routes tackle this impressive wall of rock on the north flank of Leigh Canyon. The Direct South Buttress, if climbed to the summit of Mount Moran, is the longest sustained rock climb in the range with over 50 pitches of moderate rock. We are offering this adventure as a four-day climb. The first day is devoted to approach, two days for the climb, and one for the descent. Click to see our current rate for this climb. Strong climbers may climb the entire south buttress in two days approaching and climbing to the top of the lower buttress on day one and finishing the climb and descent the following day. It is also popular to ascend the first 12 pitches of the Direct South Buttress as a rock climb, then rappel to the base. This may be done in one or two days. Difficulty: V 5.8 A2. Several other excellent one-day climbs may be found on the south side of Mount Moran as well. For further details, see a special page devoted to the South Buttress of Mount Moran.