Wind River Range, August 2-8, 2011
For my first post-surgery climbing trip, Aaron and I headed to the gorgeous Wind River Range in Wyoming with our friends Ed and Viv. It was a fantastic trip, despite the plentiful mosquitoes, mild bout of food (water?) poisoning, and stolen stuff (in the backcountry!). We hiked in on Day 1; climbed great routes on days 2 and 3; Aaron and Ed climbed a hard route on day 4, while Viv and I took a rest day; and we all climbed and hiked out on day 5.
It was our second time in the Winds, our first time being five years ago.
Day 1
Aaron, Viv, and Ed beginning the hike in to our first camp.
Viv crossing a stream near Big Sandy Lake.
Amy at another stream crossing (photo: Aaron).
Views of Haystack Mountain as we're crossing a small ridge into the correct drainage (just like the last time we were in the Winds, we went one drainage too far north while hiking to Haystack).
Viv headed for Haystack Mountain, which we climbed for our second outing.
Soaking my feet in a pool with views of Warbonnet Peak.
Aaron relaxing after a light rain on the first evening at our camp below Haystack.
Ed studies the veggie links.
Haystack with some interesting lighting.
Aaron and Ed engineering a system for bear-proofing the food bags.
Day 2
Sunrise light on Warbonnet as we left camp early in the morning for our first climb.
The peak to the far right is East Temple. The conical spire in the middle is Steeple Peak, which we climbed. To the left is the south end of Haystack.
Just a few more crags.
Warbonnet and to the right, Pingora Tower.
Viv rock-hopping at Deep Lake.
Aaron and Ed in a garden of rock towers below Steeple and East Temple. We climbed the North Ridge of Steeple.
Ed on the first pitch.
Aaron leading off.
Aaron moving around an airy traverse to a corner system. We might have been off-route here, but the climbing was good. The route might continue up the chimneys for this pitch.
Ed also got off-route, and climbed some dirty chimney with loose blocks. Here he is rejoining the route.
Aaron leading the final, great corner pitch.
Ed.
Aaron atop Steeple Peak.
Aaron and Amy, on our fourth wedding anniversary day climb.
Ed and Viv.
Ed on the final pitch, grabbing the guillotine death block. The comments on the topos suggest that this block is gone, but it's definitely still there and still a hazard.
Aaron rappelling.
The west face of Steeple Peak from the descent trail. Aaron and I ditched a pack in the wrong place, on the north side of Steeple, but the descent comes down the south side, between Steeple and East Temple; in this picture, Aaron is hiking along the diagonal grassy ledge and he is just a tiny blue dot.
Aaron receiving first aid for a cut finger.
Steeple and East Temple from the hike out.
Aaron hiking past Deep Lake in the direction of Warbonnet and Pingora and the Cirque of the Towers.
Aaron, Ed, and Viv hiking back to camp at the base of Haystack. The route we did the next day, the Minor Dihedral, is noted.
Aaron.
Garden veggies (the squash, green beans, and tomatoes) in the backcountry, along with reconstituted hummus.
Cams in the kitchen.
Aaron "relaxing" at camp. The mosquitoes were so thick, it was impossible to ever really relax. If you weren't doing anything else, you were killing mosquitoes.
Stormy light over Warbonnet.
Day 3
The next morning, early light, again, on Warbonnet. To our surprise, it sprinkled a little bit this morning, but the sky cleared and we had fine (but windy) weather.
Ed on the first fifth class pitch of Minor Dihedral.
I think Aaron just said something to make Ed laugh.
There's Aaron.
Ed below the first slab crux.
Ed past the crux and back to good corner climbing.
Amy "leading".
Aaron on a good, long, corner pitch.
Viv.
Viv and Ed coiling ropes at the end of the climbing.
Viv and Aaron on the North Chimney descent of Haystack.
Aaron descending.
Amy.
Aaron and Amy.
Viv on the descent. The North Chimney is the large left-leaning groove on Haystack.
Another view of Haystack from the descent. It's a fine piece of rock.
Aaron stretching back at camp.
On the same day, we packed up camp and hiked up to a new place near the base of Warbonnet, along Jackass Pass.
Looking back at Haystack across Big Sandy Lake.
Amy at our new camp.
This camp had fine views of Haystack, Steeple, and the Temples.
Steeple Peak looks kind of puny next to the awesome East Temple Peak.
Aaron double-fisting the rice crispie treats for dessert.
Day 4
The next day, Aaron and Ed teamed up to climb Warbonnet. They got an early start, and I could watch them from my tent.
Aaron and Ed on the first pitch of Black Elk.
The second pitch.
The crux pitch. My camera wasn't focussing properly when zoomed in, so I only have zoomed-out pics.
You have to find them on your own in this one.
Viv and I hiked over to check out the Cirque of the Towers. Here's Pingora and Wolf's Head peeking out over Arrowhead Lake.
Flowers and the Cirque.
Viv hiking.
When Aaron and Ed got back, I expected to find them jubilant about cruising a hard climb, but Aaron was in bad shape with the first wave of food or water poisoning that we got. He had it worst, then Ed, and Viv and I also experienced some mild problems. We don't know what caused it, but were a little suspicious of our SteriPENs, which were running out of battery. (SteriPEN in the foreground.) But not to slander the devices, I haven't heard other reports of them failing and we did follow the directions, so it might not have been them.
It drizzled a little bit that afternoon. We had fantastic weather on this trip, with only a little bit of rain late in the day each and every day.
Mosquitoes crowding the tent, eager for our blood.
Hanging out outside---Viv reading, Amy avoiding mosquitoes, and Aaron being sick.
Food bags, safe from small critters.
Cool clouds and Sundance Pinnacle.
Day 5
We got up the next morning and Aaron was feeling better, so we hiked down into the Cirque of the Towers to climb Pingora, the fine tower on the right.
Aaron.
Amy on the approach to the Southwest Face--Right.
Aaron, in shadow, on the first pitch, with Tiger Tower and Wolf's Head behind him.
Ed and Viv climbed the South Buttress to our right. Here's Ed.
Ed (Photo: Aaron).
Ed and Viv (Photo: Aaron).
Amy and Aaron on Pingora's summit (Photo: Viv). The last time we were up here, the sky was dark and threatening and we hurried off.
This time, we had time to lounge around and enjoy the summit.
Aaron.
Tossing the rope for a rappel.
Aaron pushing a boulder, and Ed and Viv crossing a stream, with Warrior I in the background.
Viv crossing a snowfield.
There was a lot of snow remaining this year after Wyoming's big La Nina winter. Only a few parties were attempting the Wolf's Head traverse because of the big snowpatch below it, visible here. When Aaron and I did the traverse five years ago, the first pitches were ugly and wet, so I can only imagine how they must be running with water this year. (There are alternate ways to gain the traverse, however.)
While we had budgeted for a sixth day to hike out, we were off of Pingora and back at camp by 2 pm, so we packed up and hiked out rather than fight the mosquitoes until bedtime. It was an awesome trip!
Viv hiking through the wildflowers at Big Sandy Lake.
We had such a nice trip that the stolen stuff story seems out of place, but here it is. At our first camp, miles into the backcountry, we left our large cooking pot and its lid (a clean frisbee, also used as a cutting board) near our tents with a rock on top. (Not inside the tent, because it may have had the essence of food smell on it.) When we got back from our first day's climb, it was gone. We were hungry and wanted nothing more than to make dinner, but our only other pot was small, and we were cooking communal meals for four, so we had to get that pot back.
Aaron hiked up to the next higher lake, and Ed down to the nearest lower lake, and asked everyone camped around those lakes if they knew the whereabouts of our pot and frisbee. No one did, but when Ed and Aaron got back to our camp they happened to run into some hikers who had seen the strange sight of a large group of kids and adults with daypacks and a big pot strapped to the outside of one of their little packs. These hikers deduced that these folks did not look fit or experienced enough to have hiked all the way up there from the trailhead, so they thought the group was probably camped at Big Sandy Lake, the nearest lake to the trailhead, about 6 miles in and a few miles from our camp at Haystack. So Aaron and Ed headed off to Big Sandy to look for the stolen gear.
They first encountered two of the kids from the group, and politely quizzed them ("Did you go for a hike today? Where? Say, did you happen to see, and take, a pot and frisbee?") One of the kids denied the theft but the other kid nodded. Aaron and Ed headed up to the group's camp, saw the big cooking pot, and gave them a lecture ("We are in the backcountry. All our food is dry. What did you think we would do without our cooking pot!??"), and asked for the frisbee/lid/cutting board back, too. The adults, who were contrite, said that one of their group who was still out hiking had the frisbee, and that they would bring it by our camp the next day.
Of course, there was no frisbee returned the next day, but that was when we hiked past Big Sandy on our way to our second camp on Jackass Pass, so Aaron dropped his pack and jogged up to their camp to retrieve the frisbee. Only then was he told that, in fact, the group LEFT our frisbee at Temple Lake, which was beyond our camp from which they'd stolen it. Aaron was livid, and gave them a second lecture ("Not only did you steal from us, you LITTERED?!") and we left them, disgusted to know that our stolen frisbee was now trash in the backcountry. Perhaps we should have taken a day off to retrieve it, but even if we hiked the miles to Temple Lake there was no guarantee that we'd find it, and at the point your gear is stolen from you, what happens next is not really within your control.
Back home
Garden veggies upon our return.
The cat, I think, was happy to see us, or pissed that we'd left her.
©2011 Amy Jordan; Email Me.