It’s that time of year again when the Teton high country starts to get filled with climbers and hikers from the Jackson Hole valley and points further. The good news is that Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) and the Jenny Lake Rangers have created a website to give you current route and trail conditions. In some cases, the website works as a directory, funneling you to the federal government’s National Park page, but the route and trail info is all local knowledge. In addition, there is even a link to a weather station at the Lower Saddle. No doubt to be a favorite among die hards.

The website uses the popular Blogspot template to get the job done. Rangers report that it won’t become a ‘blog’ per say, but will be updated when major changes in conditions and weather happen. It’s got pages and information for popular Teton climbing routes and mountain passes, as well as canyon and trail conditions, which can be helpful for many, since a lot of them are still packed with snow. The website will also report on search and rescue operations in GTNP, but it looks as though many of the links aren’t quite complete just yet. Beyond the conditions reports, other questions that people may have pertaining to permits, the new bear canister requirement, backcountry ethics, and camping zones all get touched on and will no doubt make you feel like you have a better handle on things before you head into the mountains.

In general, I think this new website is a cool service that the GTNP rangers are offering and it will be great to direct people to it at the shop. I’ll put a link to the new website under the ‘weather’ heading in the sidebar here on TetonAT.com and will probably put a direct link to that Lower Saddle weather station as well. It’s too bad that weather station isn’t up year round, because that would be very cool.