Bucket list of climbing the Winds. Couple day backpacking trip up into the cirque of towers. Adventures at attitude, big days out amongst the rocks.
Monday 7/26
Monday morning was a slow go in picking up the last of the supplies from Lander. Topping out the truck on gas, bug spray, Starbuck vias, and quick restock of the snack stash. The packs were packed and tossed into the truck and we bid farewell to the girl, who were headed off to Yellowstone for their own trip.
Sighting the road up to the big sandy was the typical Wyoming experience. Sheep, cows, high plans, old Oregon/Lander trail wagon ruts, entertained us as we pushed down crushed dirty limestone road. Eventually we started to gain elevation and trees are we got closer to big sandy. We were happy didn’t think of trying to bring the van back the road to the big sandy trailhead.
For being a Monday afternoon, the trailhead was slammed with cars, we were very lucky to time for 1 car that had just left and we slide into spot and didn’t have to park way back of the overflow location. Final checks were done (gathering extra TP) and saw some person limping out with a sprain ankle from a fall during a climb the day before. The 1st 6miles was slow uphill which was quite enjoyable. We passed a pack horse team coming backdown and were regretting not using one. The stream pouring out of the sandy drainage was beautiful and hosted many trout, which inspected us as we filled our bottles. After some time, we arrive at the Big Sandy lake which seemed like the terminus for a lot of the people and horse trains. Great view of the lake and surround granite domes dominates the area. People were seen flying fishing and strolling through the meadows. While snacking on chocolate bars and chugging water, I became very confused when a heard of 15 goats came walking down the hill. Apparently pack goats are a new thing for the casual hiker.
Then the hateful last 3 miles began, with switch backs, rock hopping, and ongoing windy paths. We gain more elevation here, than what was already done. This is where the heavy packs became very noticeable, and the intimation of the rock faces ramped up dramatically. The entry towers to the cirque towered over the pass. As we crest the ridge out of the big sandy drainage, and drop into the cirque proper, the immenseness of the rock was shocking. As the sun began to set, so did our bodies. We found the best flat dirt spot and setup the tent. Quick meals lead to a terrible night’s sleep, even though the body were exhausted.
Tuesday 7/27
Morning came slowly, even though sleep did not come easily. I poked my head out and caught a beautiful golden sunrise on the surrounding ridges. Pingora was glowing gold, I snapped a picture and crawled back into get another hour of sleep. Tim and I were looking pretty rough this morning and slugged some coffee taking in the sights. We noticed a group of back packers heading out down below and decided to relocate our tent to this pretty meadow. Talk about a prime location and views, it was just enjoyable to sit in the sun and drink coffee next to the babbling brook. The only detraction was forcing myself to scarf down some granola. Another milestone/highlight was the use of the “el crap” wag bag and the location of pooping. Nothing like being in awe of the landscape while taking a glorious morning poop.
We want to use the day as scouting mission to get the lay of the land to see how linking some of the towers would go. It ends up being just a climbing day and decided that if we want to link things, we would need to have the rappels and approaches dialed. This would not be the case for our 1st time here.
So we end up scrambling and simul-climbing the mossy ledges to the Wolf’s Head ridgeline approach. Tim picks his way up and we just move surely until we hit the knifes edge. We were now on the East Ridge. Boardwalk pitch was interesting with 1000 ft drops on each side any no ability to sew it up with gear. We swung pitches and had a lot of adventurous route finding through out the ridge. Weaving through towers, diving through holes, and traversing out cracks. Eventually, we summitted and were pretty tire from the hours playing above 12000ft. Tim had memory pitch with clipping a piton by his foot while dance on a slab with no hands. Mine was a airy finger and hand crack, were it drop completely over from below you. After the summit comes the hate part of the rappels with comprised of 6 dirty raps gully hopping. Tim toss his rope once and we heard a marmot welp, we think he hit one 😊 The slow slog down, lead us to breaks in meadow and finally dinner at the tent. The last positive was that the marmots had not figured out how to break into our food stash.
Wednesday – 7/28
Since we decided not to do a link-up , we slept in and let the alpine start pass us by. We still wanted to summit Pingora, so we pick the direct buttress route to the top. We call the start the late Alpine window, it’s the window when all the Alpine start climber would be down and out of the way. We didn’t really see any more people the rest of the time. We worked our way up the ledges and buttress as high as we could still it was smart to rope up. I took the rope straight up as high as I could, and swung it to Tim. He took to the large pedestal the was confirm crux pitch of the route. The K crack is 2 crack systems on the headwall. I decided to sample both by starting left and traversing back into the right. Lots of exposure and flaring protection in the right crack.
We topped out the route and rain started to sprinkle. We waited 10 mins to see if it got worse, or if we could make a summit run. It lessened slightly, so we scramble up to the top and tag the summit block. Whiskey shot and panos were taken quickly before we turned around and started the rappels. New Rap ring made the descent quick and straight forward. The scariest part for me was this descent slab on the approach.
Back at the tent, we decided to hike around and look at the higher lake. I need to wash of the sweat and crud from the last couple days, so the 33-degree water help re-energize me. During this hike we found a rock shelter which came very valuable as the storm started to roll in. We gather supplied and ran to the Rock shelter, so we wouldn’t have to live in the tent. The next several hours consisted of eat as much food/snack as possible, drinking whiskey, and playing rummy. Under the Rock shelter we watch hail and lighting fill the mountain sides. (Very happy we decided not to do a link up that day). Tim lost extreme bad at rummy, take -90 turn at 1 point, while I had a plus 80. During the 2nd game he cheated heavily where he won by 10 points when we both crested 500 points. When the rain settle and it was dark we tuck in to sleep. That night weird dreams arrive with me on a Japanese GameShow and Tim breaking his watch.
Thursday – 7/29
In the morning, we ate some more to lighten the hike out weight. We sat and watched some climbers scramble up the same route on Pingora. The hike out was leisurely but till tiresome. Going Downhill with a lighter pack made a difference. But as we arrive at Tim’s truck we see that he had a flat tire (3rd in a couple weeks). The limestone road had gotten him again. Quick change and we were on the road to the lander to eat burgers and drink beer.
