Route Stats and Prologue:
Mountains:
Day 1: Hiked into our campsite roughly between the approach trails to the peaks at 10,400’ <Campsite> via the climber’s trail through Jackass Pass – 4:49
Day 2: Pingora NE Face (5.8+) ~13 hours
Route: Hiked to base via access trail from camp around Lonesome Lake. Climbed the NE face (5.8+) in 9 pitches as described in this excellent report (http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Pingora-NE-Face/t12248n.html%29) combining p9/p10. To base over the south buttress route in 2 double-70m rappels. Elevation Gain ~1400’ on the route
Day 3: Wolf’s Head East Ridge (5.6) ~12 hours
Route: Hiked to base ledges via access trail below cirque lake. Climbed the east ridge to summit in 6 pitches. Rappelled off three recommended rap stations and then found an alternate descent down the Wolf’s Asshole. Elevation Gain ~1000’ on the route
Day 4: Broke camp and descended to car – 4:02
Crew: Joe and Prakash
A trip to the Grand in 2013 had sold me on Wyoming climbing and I’d been eyeing the cirque since. At the beginning of the spring, coming out of a silly old-person injury from scrubbing a stovetop I was itching for the outdoors and started trying to resurrect my flailing aerobic threshold and build some rock-climbing endurance at the local gym. I talked to Joe about potentially attempting Pingora and Wolf’s head later in the summer. We found some mutually open weekends for the trip and for some training climbs leading up to it at Eldo and in the park. We blocked Labor Day weekend off for the actual trip… although wary that the winds might start seeing snow by that time of the year, we didn’t have many available options. The weak before the trip though the forecast showed a heatwave descending on the west for Labor Day weekend… this after a freeze the precious week had taken out all the mosquitoes for the season. We couldn’t believe our luck –
We packed enough trail and camp food for two approach and two climbing days. We took a jetboil and later calculated that we’d used 75% of one medium (8.1 oz) primus canister of gas for two of us on the trip consisting several full boils for dinners / breakfasts and some half boils to heat up water for drinking, hot chocolate, hot lemonade, tea, etc. I brought my beefier 70m 10.1mm rope as opposed to the 8.9mm mammut dry rope and my 40F bag. I also brought my Garmin inReach mini to text Divi after each climbing day and we brought our rocky talkies which were indispensable on this trip. I can’t believe we’ve been screaming climbing commands and using rope tugs to communicate like cavemen these last 16 years. Joe brought his tent and pads.
Friday morning September 2nd I left home and picked Joe up at 66 and I-25 at 5:15AM and we began the long drive to Big Sandy. We called an old mutual friend Gene on the drive up and were happy to hear he was doing well. We had a big breakfast at Rawlins before continuing on up the highway. We were lucky enough to find THE last spot at the crowded upper trailhead that has the capacity for 150 cars. There were cars lining the road for a 1/2 mile below the trailhead.
Day 1 – The Approach:
We started hiking up the trail at about 2PM and reached Big Sandy Lake at a little after 4PM. From here the trail began accumulating some vertical gain and the pace slowed. We chatted with others on the trail attempting the East Face left cracks on Pingora and Black Elk on War Bonnet. As we approached Jackass Pass we decided to take the climber’s trail cutoff and avoid the better but circuitous route up Jackass Pass with an arguably better view of the peaks. We walked around the meadows briefly before finding a campsite with an excellent view of our objective for the next day close to the creek. It was almost 7PM. We quickly pumped water, ate dinner and went to bed by 8PM with alarms set for 5AM.
Day 2 – Pingora NE Face:
We both had fitful sleep from frightful winds within the tent and from waking up multiple times to pee. At 5AM we woke and slapped that snooze button hard several times until we got out of the sleeping bags at 5:30AM. We ate quickly though and were on the trail at 6:30AM. Pingora is an imposing peak from the Northeast –
When we got up to the rope-up ledge we found ourselves the fifth rope team in line. We’d not been in this situation where we were lobbying for position with four others on a multi-pitch alpine climb but that’s what you get for attempting a 50 classics route on Labor Day when there’s a heatwave in town. There was some polished quartz traversing to the first belay ledge and everyone took a little tumble that wasn’t paying attention.
The climbing picked up right away after the traversy / scrambly p1.
Joe at the end of pitch 1 looking up towards p2
I chatted with the group behind us – Colton from MN and Nishant from SLC. Another group queued up behind them – Frankie and Chris from Missoula, MT. There was a lot of waiting and it wasn’t until almost 9:40AM when it was our turn to start heading up P2. At this time the group ahead of us decided to rappel off and try a different less crowded route. P2 is supposedly run out in the corner, and some recommend climbing the face. Joe cut across using a flake until he was almost to the stepover near the top where he belayed.
At 11AM we began heading up p3 which had a roof to get over and overall, it felt a little harder than a Colorado crag 5.7… it was almost 11:45AM when we were both up it.
At about noon we started heading up p4 which was an arcing lie-back if done right although my lie-backing skills are seriously lacking so it felt a lot harder.
Joe airing out his trousers
With the group ahead of us bailing out we were able to pick up some speed and were done with p4 and ready to start up p5 shortly after 12:30PM. P5 started out with a bit of face moves up to a seam. I remember it feeling tight for the grade but the jams were tight in the seam if I recall correctly and drew some blood from untaped skin.
Shortly before 1:30PM we were both above p5 looking up at the steepening route at p6.
At about 2:30P we had both topped out above p6 and Joe began leading the offwidth 5.8 crux pitch. I believe this is the leftmost of three parallel cracks the rightmost being a 5.9 lieback variation. He led solidly and in follow I found it easier to stem off left and exiting onto the face to the left a little earlier than Joe did – a move that is easier to stomach on follow.
I think it was almost 3:30PM when we finished p7 and started up p8.
At the top of p8 Joe had found group 2 ahead of us in a spot of trouble setting up a hanging belay on difficult terrain and helped them onto the actual belay ledge on route.
It was a lot of waiting for three groups on the belay station below. At this time a group of simul climbers approached and passed us at breakneck speed running the rope out and smearing easily over harder terrain. They had started at the trailhead that morning and were going to attempt a first ascent on a route on Warbonnet the next day. One of the groups behind us got a little impatient from the waiting as well and began cutting across to get to the top of p8 and some hard conversations happened at which point they gracefully backed away.
With group 2 safely situated on the belay we decided to combine and began the p9/p10 hand crack and “easy chimney” pitches. We needed to hang our backpacks on the harness haul loop and walk our feet up the opposite wall while inching up the other wall with our backs. It was awkward but it went ok. We topped out above p10 at 5:25PM, made some glacier coils and began scrambling up the rest of the way to summit.
We reached the summit at 5:35PM.
At the summit we ran into two others with a 70m who expressed interest in a double-rope rappel, and we gladly agreed.
The rest of the scramble down went okay and we got back to camp in one piece with the harder days climbing behind us. We went to bed around 10PM with the alarm set for 5AM, this time intent on not snoozing.
Day 3 – Wolf’s Head E Ridge:
We slept much better and got out of the sleeping bags a half hour earlier than on day 2. We began heading up the approach trail and passed one other group on the trail. The ledge start up the East Ridge is slabby and exposed and we roped up and simul-climbed after a short bit of soloing.
We were shortly up at the ridge crest – group #5 in line again… more hurry-up-and-wait today. We soon set off up “the sidewalk”
This picture taken from the tower beyond the sidewalk shows the exposure off each side.
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We simul-climbed a few pitches described on MP as 3rd-4th class climbing along the ridge until we arrived at a broad ledge before the towers began. Here we hung out for almost 30 minutes before we could continue. I sat around talking to some college kids from Logan, UT and it was a blast being reminded of college… it was also mildly terrifying as a dad thinking about college tuition in a few years to hear them describe college as their time to “futz around and make friends”. One kids eyes almost fell out of his head when I pulled out my chili flavored mango jerky so I offered him a big piece. The step around move after this big ledge marks the start of the exposed roped sections on the ridge –
Beyond the step around the boulder on tower 1 there’s a descending traverse to the base of a tight chimney that leads to the piton pitch. These pictures show (1) the start of the descending traverse, (2) a climber on the traverse and then (3) looking back up at it from a belay before the chimney start –
The pro is spaced far apart, and the exposure is high so although the climbing is easy the consequence of a fall is bad. The chimney is tight, and we pulled our backpacks along on haul loops so we could put out backs against one wall while walking feet across the other.
While we satisfied our egos with our technical chimney prowess Jonathan, one of the college kids just walked along the base of the chimney to the piton pitch start without using one single chimney move – “That was totally chill, dudes” said he. I did not think the piton pitch was ‘chill’. It was most unchill smearing across extreme exposure.
It reminded me of the exposure on the NW buttress on Crestone Peak that we climbed un-roped in 2007. I don’t have the same appetite for exposure anymore. P4 starts with the layback flake which was simply exhilarating climbing. I loved that pitch.
It swings you around to the south side of the ridge crest briefly for one piece of pro before swinging you back to the North side to walk across with hands on the knife edge.
The pitch then swings you back to the south side of the ridge again for the exposed hand-crack traverse which drops you into a comfortable belay cave under an overhang. We saw some climbers on the summit of the overhanging tower and some climbing the shark’s nose across the valley.
At the belay cave I hung out with Jonathan and Drake again. The exit from the belay cave sets up some solid rope drag as a leader heads out onto p5 which is the exposed narrow crack that descends sharply into the base of another chimney. The rock is solid but there’s dirt in the crack where your feet are that could make it interesting if wet.
The descending traverse ends up at the base of the chimney and the chimney went easily with my backpack on my back without any necessary chimney technique. There’s then a hole to dive through to get back to the north side of the ridge though that actually is really tight with all the gear around your harness.
This dive sets you up for the final pitch of exposed simul-climb scrambling to the summit.
And then you are suddenly on the summit
Warbonnet really captured our eyes on this trip
The journey to this summit felt more like a long ridge traverse than a climb but it was pretty amazing nevertheless. We decided to get descending quickly to try and get a dip in Cirque Lake before sun-down. Three rappels went quickly, thankfully without a stuck rope. On one of our rope pulls one end pulled itself into a figure eight knot – I kid you not and wished we’d taken a picture. Thankfully the end was almost to us when that happened and we needed just to whip it to release it from where it’d snagged without us having to climb to release it.
After the third rappel was quite a bit of hiking downhill – we skipped a fourth rappel that seemed like a rainy day rappel but at this point we were not on the descent route described in MP but instead offleash-adventuring on our own trying to make our way to the saddle between Wolf’s Head and Overhanging Tower.
We found a fourth rap station that dropped us into the gully between the peaks but on the other side of the saddle from the basin we needed to be in.
We scrambled loose talus and scree up to the saddle and then down a pile of talus to Cirque Lake that I’m calling the Wolf’s Asshole.
Soaking in the lake afterwards was the best feeling ever. It settled our inflammation and made the hike back to camp very pleasant. It was a tiring two days.
back at camp
Day 4 – Breaking Camp and Descending
As we packed up the next morning there was that dreaded smell of wildfire smoke in the air.
We soaked briefly in the creek on the way to the car to settle inflammation in the joints again before arriving at the trailhead glad to be down at a reasonable hour so we could wrap up the 7.5 hour return drive before the families were in bed.
What an amazing trip and what a way to recharge those batteries. After a tiring drive home I was pleasantly surprised by a load of biryani Divi had made for me.
This trip was special to me for two reasons that were chronologically close to it – my dad’s birthday (September 6th) and the anniversary of when I asked Divi to marry me (the 8th). I don’t think any completed climb is my victory – it is the victory for the giants whose shoulders I stand on – for that reason I dedicate this trip to my dad and my wife. I spent most of the time on this trip where I wasn’t clinging to rock for dear life thinking about them, and about Nila of course.
Lost in 'Merica... 