page_title: Grand Teton
section_title: First ascent
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Teton / History / First ascent
caption_attribution_description: United States National Park Service photo of the Grand Tetons, in Wyoming
context_page_description: Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park, in Northwest Wyoming, and a classic destination in American mountaineering.
context_section_description: There is a disagreement over who first climbed Grand Teton. Nathaniel P. Langford and James Stevenson claimed to have reached the summit on July 29, 1872. However, some believe their description and sketches match the summit of The Enclosure, a side peak of Grand Teton. The Enclosure is named after a man-made palisade of rocks on its summit, probably constructed by Native Americans. Mountaineer and author Fred Beckey believes that the two climbed the Enclosure because their description better matches it and does not accurately describe the true summit, nor does it mention the formidable difficulties found just above the Upper Saddle. Beckey also believes that they summited the Enclosure because it was traditional with members of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 to build a cairn in such a place, but no such cairn was found when William O. Owen reached the summit of Grand Teton in 1898.  In all likelihood, The Enclosure was first climbed by Native Americans as suggested by Langford in 1873. Supporters of Owen included The Wyoming Legislature and Paul Petzoldt, former pioneer American climber. Ironically among Langford's supporters was Franklin Spalding, who led the ascent to the summit and tossed the rope that allowed Owen and the others to follow.
  Mountaineer and author Leigh Ortenburger researched the controversy in depth, using original source material, for his 1965 climber's guidebook. Ortenburger concluded: "Since historical 'proof' is extremely unlikely to be forthcoming for either side of the argument, perhaps the best way of regarding the problem, short of a detailed analysis of the probabilities, is to state that in 1872 Langford and Stevenson may have climbed the Grand Teton, in 1893 Kieffer, Newell, and Rhyan may have climbed it, and in 1898 Spalding, Owen, Peterson, and Shive definitely did succeed in reaching the summit."
caption: Winter on Grand Teton at center with Mount Owen at right and Nez Perce at left. The Middle and South Teton peaks lie west of Nez Perce, out of view.
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