TMax
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- Feb 12, 2005
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JayH and I joined a new friend (Matt) to do Gannett Peak (Wyoming’s highpoint at 13,804’) located in the Wind River Range. We started at the Trail Lake Ranch trailhead. This route is longer (50 miles) and has more elevation gain (10,800’) than other routes but gives you a little easier summit day. While Gannett has been on my “to do” list for several years as I work on my state highpoints, I really didn’t feel jazzed about being there. With a new relationship that I didn’t want to be away from and work problems that I shouldn’t be away from, I had considered bailing out of the trip. But ultimately the commitment I made to Jay and Matt to do this climb won out and I went. So there we are at 7600’ at the trailhead in the early afternoon with monster packs (mine was 55 pounds!) and me with very little motivation. Less than a mile into the very warm and sunny hike, I start to complain about the size of my pack (sound familiar Giggy?) and stated that I can’t possibly haul this thing 50 miles. Matt asks me “What do you want to do?” My reply… “keep walking, cuz that’s what I do.” So we keep walking… Up some miserable switchbacks but with sweet views to help soothe the pain quickly growing in my legs, back, and lungs. Our original plan was to hike all the way in to Double Lake but between the size of the packs and our lack of acclimatization, we were moving slowly. So just a little ways beyond the switchbacks we found a small grove of trees with a stream and decided to camp there. Otherwise we would have had to go up and over the 10,600’ pass with no shelter until we were on the other side. Good thing we stopped as a thunderstorm moved over shortly after we stopped. Then two guys came by who had summited several days earlier. That started to get me a little excited about being there! Watched a very nice sunset and then sacked out.
The next morning I woke up feeling strong and good and took off ahead of “the boys” and it took Jay until the top of the pass to catch me. Matt was stashing our pickets (beta we received convinced us we wouldn’t need them) and caught us a little beyond that. The pass is completely above treeline and provided more amazing views. Unfortunately, you then have to give up most of the elevation you gained. There is a large burned out section we walked through where the evidence of the pack animals often used on these trails became very apparent, and then headed down to Double Lake. What a BEAUTIFUL place. We discussed camping here on the way out but had more miles to cover this day. After Double Lake there is some more up to Star Lake. I thought I’d found my temporary Nirvana! What a nice spot. We stopped for lunch and it was very hard to pull myself away. I could have spent days there enjoying the Lake, the view, the fresh air, etc… The further in we went we started to see some glacial streams and that strange blue-green color they get. The views were nothing short of spectacular. We had to give up just about all of the elevation we gained when we dropped down some nasty switchbacks to Honeymoon Lake (the guide book says “in case you didn’t notice, the honeymoon’s over!) We took a long break on the side of class 5 whitewater where Matt even managed to rescue his water bottle after it went in. We set up camp the second night in Big Meadows where we learned a little about the notorious mosquitoes of the Winds! We heard a coyote that night and were visited ALL night long by free-range pack animals with loud cowbells on!
Day three dawned early and there was a coating of frost on everything. It took a couple of hours hiking that morning before we rounded a corner and got our first look at Gannett Peak! It was stunning and a little intimidating! By this time I was truly syked, anxious to get to the base of the mountain and try for the summit. We hiked the rest of the day across sketchy stream crossings, some gorgeous alpine meadows and past our first snow. We climbed up to high camp at about 10,600’. We attempted to climb through the enormous boulder field but the size and weight of our packs made that extremely difficult. So we decided to turn back, and don’t you know it, I took a tumble when the weight of my pack threw me off balance. I screamed my favorite obscenity and Matt and Jay came back looking a little worried. I pulled myself together and proceeded to clear a spot of rocks so I could set up my tent without having to travel too much further. We managed to clear enough space for the three tents, set up camp and then watched what we could see of the route up the mountain, mesmerized. We saw a few people work their way down and spoke with a couple regarding conditions. It sounded great! An early dinner and early bedtime came next so we could have an early start.
We started for the summit at 4:10 a.m. with headlamps. I still haven’t decided if hiking through that boulder field was better in the dark or not, but we did get through it without difficulty. Then we climbed up onto the first snowfield dropping hiking poles and donning crampons. We then went through a series of crampon on, crampon off as we went from snow to rock. The rock climbing had a good amount of exposure but didn’t require us to rope up (although we had spoken with others who roped up on it for the descent). Back on a huge snowfield we came to the base of the Gooseneck Couloir. There was a couple in front of us and a guide and client who all roped up. I was having some crampon issues, so Jay took a rope up to the midpoint so I would have it if my crampon blew again. But the snow conditions were near perfect and I was able to easily kick in steps all the way up. This couloir runs at about a 50 degree pitch for about 400’. At the top, we were back on rock. And so it went, rock snow rock snow, etc… Once on the summit ridge, we were completely exposed. A short slope (at about a 35-40 degree pitch) slid right off the ridge onto rock face and dropped onto the glacier. No place to take a slide as you wouldn’t likely survive. We all simply focused on each step we took, ensuring it was solidly placed. Fairly quickly we were on the summit, just under 7 hours from when we started. It was a picture perfect day, bright and sunny with clear skies! We enjoyed the summit for about 30 minutes and then started the long trek out. Back at the couloir, we joined forces with the guide and her client by connecting ropes. We rappelled down to the midpoint, the guide then lowered her client down the last section. Matt and I rappelled this section by running the rope around a rock. Jay then tossed the rope down to us and down-climbed (show-off!). This was definitely the crux of the day but we managed it beautifully. The rest of the trip out was long but beautiful. We were back at high camp about 13 and-a-half hours after we left. Needless to say, we all slept well!
We managed to hike out in two days back over the same trail we came in on. Much of the journey out was relaxed and casual. The last night (we were camped back at my Nirvana spot – Star Lake!) it hailed pretty hard. In the morning it snowed and just below the pass we had to reclimb we stopped to layer up. I figured in the snowy weather we would run into some foul conditions in this couple of miles of exposed travel. But much to our surprise, shortly after we started up things started to clear. It was a wonderful hike out the rest of the way. We spent the night at a great place called Trail’s End and had a huge dinner. We then headed to Colorado to tackle some 14ers. Jay wrote those up!
The next morning I woke up feeling strong and good and took off ahead of “the boys” and it took Jay until the top of the pass to catch me. Matt was stashing our pickets (beta we received convinced us we wouldn’t need them) and caught us a little beyond that. The pass is completely above treeline and provided more amazing views. Unfortunately, you then have to give up most of the elevation you gained. There is a large burned out section we walked through where the evidence of the pack animals often used on these trails became very apparent, and then headed down to Double Lake. What a BEAUTIFUL place. We discussed camping here on the way out but had more miles to cover this day. After Double Lake there is some more up to Star Lake. I thought I’d found my temporary Nirvana! What a nice spot. We stopped for lunch and it was very hard to pull myself away. I could have spent days there enjoying the Lake, the view, the fresh air, etc… The further in we went we started to see some glacial streams and that strange blue-green color they get. The views were nothing short of spectacular. We had to give up just about all of the elevation we gained when we dropped down some nasty switchbacks to Honeymoon Lake (the guide book says “in case you didn’t notice, the honeymoon’s over!) We took a long break on the side of class 5 whitewater where Matt even managed to rescue his water bottle after it went in. We set up camp the second night in Big Meadows where we learned a little about the notorious mosquitoes of the Winds! We heard a coyote that night and were visited ALL night long by free-range pack animals with loud cowbells on!
Day three dawned early and there was a coating of frost on everything. It took a couple of hours hiking that morning before we rounded a corner and got our first look at Gannett Peak! It was stunning and a little intimidating! By this time I was truly syked, anxious to get to the base of the mountain and try for the summit. We hiked the rest of the day across sketchy stream crossings, some gorgeous alpine meadows and past our first snow. We climbed up to high camp at about 10,600’. We attempted to climb through the enormous boulder field but the size and weight of our packs made that extremely difficult. So we decided to turn back, and don’t you know it, I took a tumble when the weight of my pack threw me off balance. I screamed my favorite obscenity and Matt and Jay came back looking a little worried. I pulled myself together and proceeded to clear a spot of rocks so I could set up my tent without having to travel too much further. We managed to clear enough space for the three tents, set up camp and then watched what we could see of the route up the mountain, mesmerized. We saw a few people work their way down and spoke with a couple regarding conditions. It sounded great! An early dinner and early bedtime came next so we could have an early start.
We started for the summit at 4:10 a.m. with headlamps. I still haven’t decided if hiking through that boulder field was better in the dark or not, but we did get through it without difficulty. Then we climbed up onto the first snowfield dropping hiking poles and donning crampons. We then went through a series of crampon on, crampon off as we went from snow to rock. The rock climbing had a good amount of exposure but didn’t require us to rope up (although we had spoken with others who roped up on it for the descent). Back on a huge snowfield we came to the base of the Gooseneck Couloir. There was a couple in front of us and a guide and client who all roped up. I was having some crampon issues, so Jay took a rope up to the midpoint so I would have it if my crampon blew again. But the snow conditions were near perfect and I was able to easily kick in steps all the way up. This couloir runs at about a 50 degree pitch for about 400’. At the top, we were back on rock. And so it went, rock snow rock snow, etc… Once on the summit ridge, we were completely exposed. A short slope (at about a 35-40 degree pitch) slid right off the ridge onto rock face and dropped onto the glacier. No place to take a slide as you wouldn’t likely survive. We all simply focused on each step we took, ensuring it was solidly placed. Fairly quickly we were on the summit, just under 7 hours from when we started. It was a picture perfect day, bright and sunny with clear skies! We enjoyed the summit for about 30 minutes and then started the long trek out. Back at the couloir, we joined forces with the guide and her client by connecting ropes. We rappelled down to the midpoint, the guide then lowered her client down the last section. Matt and I rappelled this section by running the rope around a rock. Jay then tossed the rope down to us and down-climbed (show-off!). This was definitely the crux of the day but we managed it beautifully. The rest of the trip out was long but beautiful. We were back at high camp about 13 and-a-half hours after we left. Needless to say, we all slept well!
We managed to hike out in two days back over the same trail we came in on. Much of the journey out was relaxed and casual. The last night (we were camped back at my Nirvana spot – Star Lake!) it hailed pretty hard. In the morning it snowed and just below the pass we had to reclimb we stopped to layer up. I figured in the snowy weather we would run into some foul conditions in this couple of miles of exposed travel. But much to our surprise, shortly after we started up things started to clear. It was a wonderful hike out the rest of the way. We spent the night at a great place called Trail’s End and had a huge dinner. We then headed to Colorado to tackle some 14ers. Jay wrote those up!
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