1931 Glenn Exum Upper Exum Ridge Solo Ascent
On July 15, 1931, twenty-year-old Glenn Exum made an audacious solo first ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge on Grand Teton, famously leaping the Wall Street gap in football cleats.
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Official Expedition Narrative & Archival Record
On July 15, 1931, twenty-year-old Glenn Exum embarked on what would become the most celebrated solo pioneering climb in North American alpine history. Working as a guide apprentice and camp assistant at South Jenny Lake, Exum had been encouraged by his mentor Paul Petzoldt to scout the unclimbed, dramatically exposed southeast ridge of the Grand Teton. Wearing a pair of leather-soled football shoes with the cleats shaved flat—his only footwear suitable for climbing—Exum ascended alone through Garnet Canyon to the Lower Saddle and worked his way along a narrow ascending ledge system on the south face that would later be immortalized as Wall Street. The shelf gradually narrowed to barely eighteen inches wide with over two thousand feet of vertical air plummeting directly into Avalanche Canyon. Reaching the end of the ledge where the rock wall broke off several feet short of the actual ridgecrest, Exum confronted an intimidating void. Unroped and completely alone, he hesitated, pacing back and forth across the narrow ledge seven times to test his nerve. Steeling his courage, Exum executed a calculated standing-start leap across the open abyss—the historic 'Step-Across'—landing solidly on a boulder perched on the crest. Regaining his balance, he continued up the exposed knife-edge ridge, frictioning up the golden quartzite jugs of the Golden Stair, flowing through the delicate crystals of the Friction Pitch, and surmounting the steep corners of the V-Pitch before pulling over the summit rim at 4,199 metres. Exum's bold solo climb unlocked what is now recognized as America's greatest alpine rock classic.
Documented Team Composition
- Glenn Exum (Solo Climber, United States)
Key Statistics & Topographic Figures
- Ascent Date
- July 15, 1931
- Climber
- Glenn Exum (Solo, aged 20)
- Footwear
- Leather-soled football shoes with shaved cleats
- Key Innovation
- The Wall Street Step-Across Leap
- Summit Elevation
- 4,199 metres (13,775 feet)
Archival Primary Source Quotations
“I gathered my strength, jumped across that terrible drop, and landed solid on the ridge. From that moment, the Grand Teton was mine.”
Defined Alpine Terminology & Concepts
- Wall Street
- A spectacular ascending shelf on the southeast face of Grand Teton terminating in the famous Step-Across gap onto the Exum Ridge.
- Free Solo
- Climbing technical rock walls alone without ropes, harnesses, or protective gear, where a single mistake results in a fatal fall.
Frequently Asked Questions: 1931 Glenn Exum Upper Exum Ridge Solo Ascent
What was Glenn Exum's 1931 solo ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge?
On July 15, 1931, twenty-year-old Glenn Exum made the daring solo first ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge on Grand Teton, leaping across the Wall Street gap in football shoes.
What shoes did Glenn Exum wear on the 1931 first ascent?
Exum wore borrowed leather football shoes with the cleats shaved flat, possessing no specialized climbing boots or mountain equipment.
What is the famous Step-Across leap made by Glenn Exum in 1931?
When the narrow ledge of Wall Street abruptly ended above a 2,000-foot abyss, Exum paced seven times before making an athletic leap onto the south ridge boulder.
Who encouraged Glenn Exum to explore the south ridge of Grand Teton?
Legendary guide Paul Petzoldt encouraged his young apprentice Exum to explore whether a route existed along the aesthetic south ridge.
What pitches did Glenn Exum climb above Wall Street?
Exum soloed through the Golden Stair, the Friction Pitch, the airy V-Pitch, and the West Chimney directly to the 4,199-metre summit.
How long did Glenn Exum's solo climb take from the Lower Saddle?
Moving rapidly and unencumbered by heavy gear, Exum soloed the entire 1,500 vertical feet of the ridge in under two hours.
What route evolved from Glenn Exum's 1931 solo climb?
In 1936, Exum and Petzoldt climbed the lower ridge from the saddle, creating the Complete Exum Ridge (5.7), North America's premier alpine classic.
How did this climb lead to the founding of Exum Mountain Guides?
The fame of the Exum Ridge established Glenn Exum as a master climber, leading to the creation of the Petzoldt-Exum School of American Mountaineering.
Ascent Route & Topography
Complete Exum Ridge Route (Grand Teton)
The Complete Exum Ridge is widely revered as the finest, most aesthetic alpine rock climb in North America, scaling 1,700 vertical feet of immaculate, exposed Precambrian gneiss along the south ridge of Grand Teton directly to the summit. Pioneered in its upper section by 20-year-old Glenn Exum in 1931 during a daring solo climb and completed from the Lower Saddle by Paul Petzoldt and Glenn Exum, the route is graded Grade III / YDS 5.7 (French 5a), featured prominently in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
Target Objective Peak
Grand Teton
Grand Teton is a world-famous, razor-sharp granite and gneiss peak rising abruptly to an elevation of 4,199 metres in Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. As the highest summit in the Teton Range and the second highest peak in Wyoming, it towers more than 7,000 vertical feet above the sagebrush flats of Jackson Hole without intervening foothills. It is celebrated across mountaineering history as the birthplace of modern American technical rock climbing and client-centered mountain guiding.
Featured Expedition Climber
Glenn Exum
Born on June 24, 1911, in North Carolina, Glenn Exum moved west as a teenager, arriving in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the late 1920s with an insatiable passion for the granite peaks of the Teton Range. Mentored by fellow pioneer Paul Petzoldt, Exum climbed the Grand Teton for the first time in 1929. On July 15, 1931, at the age of twenty, Exum set out alone to explore the sheer southern ramparts of the Grand Teton. Lacking specialized climbing boots, he wore a pair of oversized, leather-soled football shoes with cleats shaved down. Scrambling high along the southeast face, Exum discovered an ascending natural terrace that narrowed into a sheer shelf flanked by thousands of feet of exposure, now called Wall Street. When the ledge abruptly ended several feet short of the main ridge, Exum famously paced back and forth seven times before launching himself in an audacious standing leap across the open chasm onto a boulder on the south ridge. Continuing unroped and solo, he climbed through the Golden Stair, the Friction Pitch, and the airy chimneys to the summit, establishing the Upper Exum Ridge. In 1936, Exum and Petzoldt climbed the lower crest from the Lower Saddle, completing the Complete Exum Ridge, which became the most celebrated rock route in North America. Together, they established the Petzoldt-Exum School of American Mountaineering, today known as Exum Mountain Guides, the oldest mountain guide service in the United States. Rejecting traditional European guiding customs where passive clients were physically hauled up mountains, Exum pioneered an empowering educational model where clients learned route-finding, balance, and belaying skills to become genuine climbing partners. Exum directed the guide service for decades, training generations of world-class American alpinists. He passed away on March 17, 2000, at the age of eighty-eight.
Associated Historical Chronicles & Stories
The Leap at Wall Street: Glenn Exum's 1931 Grand Teton Solo Breakthrough
On July 15, 1931, twenty-year-old Glenn Exum completed an audacious solo first ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton. Wearing leather-cleated football shoes, Exum paced seven times before leaping across the terrifying void at Wall Street to unlock America's finest alpine rock ridge.
Documented Sources & Archival Citations
- Glenn Exum, 1911-2000 (American Alpine Journal, 2001)(Jim Klobuchar / American Alpine Club)
Supporting claim: Detailed historical tribute and eyewitness interviews chronicling the 1931 solo ascent
Accessed/Documented: 2026 - A Climber's Guide to the Teton Range(Leigh Ortenburger and Reynold G. Jackson / The Mountaineers Books)
Supporting claim: Technical route description and historical verification of the Upper Exum Ridge first ascent
Accessed/Documented: 2026