Glenn Exum
Glenn Exum was a legendary American mountain guide and alpine pioneer who made the daring first solo ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton on July 15, 1931. At age twenty, wearing cleated football shoes, he leaped across the perilous Wall Street gap to open America's most iconic ridge climb. Alongside Paul Petzoldt, he founded Exum Mountain Guides, revolutionizing mountaineering education.
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Biographical Record & Archival Chronicle
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.
Notable Milestones & Ascents
- Pioneered the first solo ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton on July 15, 1931
- Executed the famous Wall Street Step-Across leap in football shoes to unlock the route
- Co-pioneered the Complete Exum Ridge (5.7, Grade III) in 1936 with Paul Petzoldt
- Co-founded Exum Mountain Guides at Grand Teton National Park, the oldest mountain guide service in the United States
- Transformed American mountaineering by introducing active client-participation and instructional guiding ethics
- Completed hundreds of ascents across the Teton Range with an unblemished client safety record over forty years
Key Statistics & Topographic Figures
- Historic Solo First Ascent
- Upper Exum Ridge on Grand Teton (July 15, 1931)
- Birth and Death
- June 24, 1911 – March 17, 2000 (aged 88)
- Guide Service Founded
- Exum Mountain Guides (Oldest in the United States)
- Famous Route Move
- The Wall Street Step-Across Leap
- Guiding Safety Record
- Four decades of high-angle guiding without a fatal client accident
Archival Primary Source Quotations
“I paced that ledge seven times, knowing that if I jumped and missed, there was only two thousand feet of air below me. On the seventh time, I jumped.”
Defined Alpine Terminology & Concepts
- Instructional Guiding
- A philosophy of mountain guiding where clients are taught technical rope, balance, and self-arrest skills so they function as active, capable climbing partners.
- Friction Climbing
- Ascending steep, holdless rock slabs by relying purely on the friction between rubber or leather boot soles and rough crystalline mineral grains.
Frequently Asked Questions: Glenn Exum
Who was Glenn Exum in American rock-climbing history?
Glenn Exum was a legendary American mountain guide and alpine pioneer who made the daring first solo ascent of the Upper Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton on July 15, 1931, in cleated football shoes.
What is the famous story behind Glenn Exum's shoes on Grand Teton?
Lacking specialized climbing boots, twenty-year-old Exum borrowed a friend's leather football shoes and shaved down the cleats with a pocketknife to climb the ridge unroped.
What is Exum Mountain Guides and when was it founded?
Founded in 1931 by Paul Petzoldt and Glenn Exum at Grand Teton National Park, Exum Mountain Guides is the oldest mountain guiding service in the United States.
How did Glenn Exum cross the Wall Street gap in 1931?
Faced with a terrifying drop where Wall Street ended, Exum paced back and forth seven times to conquer his fear before executing a standing leap onto the ridge boulder.
How did Glenn Exum revolutionize American mountain guiding ethics?
Exum rejected traditional European practices of hauling passive clients up cliffs, pioneering an empowering educational model where clients actively learned ropework and belaying.
Where was the historic headquarters of Exum Mountain Guides located?
Starting in 1946, Exum Mountain Guides operated out of a historic log Civilian Conservation Corps bathhouse at South Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park.
When did Glenn Exum co-pioneer the Complete Exum Ridge?
In 1936, Glenn Exum and Paul Petzoldt climbed the lower pitches from the Lower Saddle, linking with the 1931 upper route to create the Complete Exum Ridge.
What other profession did Glenn Exum practice alongside climbing?
Exum was a passionate music educator and conductor, teaching high school and college music in Idaho and Wyoming during the winter months.
Associated Summits (1)
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.
Pioneered & Associated Routes (2)
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.
Owen-Spalding Route (Grand Teton)
The Owen-Spalding route is the historic normal route to the summit of Grand Teton, pioneering the first documented ascent of the mountain on August 11, 1898. Ascending 2,130 metres of vertical elevation gain from Lupine Meadows via Garnet Canyon, the Lower Saddle, and the Upper Saddle, the route features dramatic, world-renowned exposure on passages like the Belly Roll, The Crawl, and the physical crux of The Wall (Double Chimney), graded YDS 5.4 or French III.
Documented Expeditions (1)
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.
Associated Chronicles & Stories (1)
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: Official biographical tribute chronicling Exum's life, ascents, and guiding philosophy
Accessed/Documented: 2026 - A Climber's Guide to the Teton Range(Leigh Ortenburger and Reynold G. Jackson / The Mountaineers Books)
Supporting claim: Historical documentation of the 1931 solo ascent of the Exum Ridge
Accessed/Documented: 2026