Mount Moran is the most dramatic mountain in the North Tetons. From Jackson Lake Lodge, it is one of the most picturesque mountains in North America. It is a unique and remote climbing experience. Canoes were used as there were no fixed trails to the foot of the mountain.
For the ultimate wilderness mountaineering experience, consider the dramatic direct South wall of Mount Moran described in Steve Roper and Alan Steck's "50 Classic Climbs in North America." For a gentle yet beautiful route to this spectacular summit, the CMC route at Mount Moran is an excellent choice.
Moran Hill is named for famed frontier landscape artist Thomas Moran, a friend and colleague of Dr. Ferdinand D. Hayden, a renowned Western surveyor in the late 19th century.
On July 22, 1922, Legrand Hardy, Ben C. Rich, and Bennet McNulty made the first ascent of Mount Moran via Skiller Glacier.
Moran Mountain (12,610 feet (3,840 m)) is a mountain in Grand Teton National Park in western Wyoming in the United States. The mountain is named for Thomas Moran, an American frontier landscape artist. Moran Mountain, located in the northern Teton Range, is 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above sea level and has several active glaciers above Lake Jackson, with Skiller Glacier clearly visible on the large eastern side. Like the Middle Teton Mountains in the same range, Mount Moran has a unique basalt intrusion on its surface, known as the Black Dike.
Moran is a large and impressive mountain, which will make it attractive to climbers. However, the method of climbing is relatively difficult, making it less popular than the Grand Tetons and other peaks in the South. Not a single trail to the Moran Hills has been preserved for more than two decades, and any land route would require extensive bushland through the vegetation, dead trees and marshes surrounding Lake Leigh. Instead, most climbers choose to kayak from String Lake, across Leigh Lake, and then pick their own routes; but even then, some overland routes may have to be found. As a result, most people tend to climb Mount Moran for several days, even if the technical part of the climb is relatively short.
Legrand Hardy, Bennet McNulty, and Ben C. Rich of the Chicago Mountaineering Club made the first ascent of Mount Moran on July 22, 1922, via the Skilert Glacier Route. It still offers perhaps the easiest and most direct route to the top. As the name suggests, most of the climbing takes place on the steep ice and snow of the Skillet Glacier, thus requiring the use of ice axes and crampons when climbing.
The most popular route to climb Mount Moran is the CMC route, named after the Chicago Mountaineering Club. CMC rating 5.5, rising east south of Black Wall. CMC climbs good rocks, basically free of snow and ice. It also has the advantage of having a good camp on the flanks of the mountain.
