Trying to figure out what climbing conditions are like in the park has always required sleuthing, networking, or guesswork. If you wanted to know if Wall Street (the ramp leading to the Grand’s Upper Exum Ridge) was dry, or if the rockfall on the North Face was particularly bad, you had to corner an Exum guide at the Brew Pub, ask around at the climbing gym (or if you’re from out of town, at the Climbers’ Ranch), or head to Jenny Lake to the ranger station and ask there. If you were cobbling together some last minute climbing plans late in the evening, you were basically S.O.L., and would probably spend the rest of the evening combing through the guidebook trying to extrapolate current conditions from prose written years ago.

Now, up-to-date GTNP climbing info is available 24-7, and is as far away as your laptop, Crackberry or iPhone, thanks to tetonclimbing.blogspot.com, a site assembled by Kimberly Finch of Grand Teton National Park and updated by the Jenny Lake climbing rangers.

Click on “Climbing Route Conditions” in the sidebar, and you’ve got the latest conditions on the GT’s Owen Spalding Route (currently icy), the Upper Exum (currently icy), the Valhalla Traverse (currently sketchy), and other major features.

Information about these routes also includes any recent rescue activity. For instance, the Middle Teton - Southwest Couloir entry includes this tidbit:

2nd technical rescue of season east of southwest couloir near the Ellingwood. Open tib/fib ankle fracture. Shorthaul victim in screamer suit. (A “screamer suit” is a body harness that can be clipped to a helicopter’s rescue cable.)

Pretty vivid stuff, and fair warning to climbers who might think that such readily accessible information might reduce the danger of such places.

Besides climbing route info, the site offers mountain pass conditions, canyons and trails conditions, and a complete slew of camping regulations, weather links, and planning info. Did you know, for instance, that beginning in 2008, backpackers must carry approved bear-proof canisters when camping below 10,000 feet in elevation?

Unfortunately, even though the site is part of the blogspot network, ranger Drew Hardesty reports that there won’t be any blog entries from the rangers. I hope they reconsider this — the Jenny Lake climbing rangers are always out swarming all over the mountains, and what could be cooler than reading the latest from their Uncle Sam-sponsored adventures?

Then again, if you have the best job in the U.S. government, maybe it’s smart to keep the juiciest details to yourself.