Buddy and I had previously made two trips into Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains. In 1984 we’d explored the Cirque of the Towers north to Graves Lake, and in 1988 we had traversed the main range from south to north. For our third trip we decided to focus on climbing some of the peaks in the range, particularly Gannett Peak, the tallest in the range and the highest point in Wyoming. In that period, we were gradually picking off the state highpoints in the mountain west also climbing Whitney, Hood, Ranier, Borah, Granite, and Kings Peak.
Gannett
would combine several of the toughest aspects of these other peaks; the long
wilderness approach of Granite, the roped glacier climbing of Hood and Ranier,
as well as some route finding and sketchy loose climbing. Kelsey’s “Climbing
and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains” rated Gannett Grade 1, Class 4 Snow.
There are not many other walk ups in the Winds, but we hoped to climb at least
a couple of other peaks on the trip.
We
were uncertain about arranging the logistics of the shorter approach from the
Wind River Indian Reservation on the east side of the range, and elected to try
coming in from the west from Elkhart Park. Robin joined us.
Our approach route showing Seneca and Island Lakes.
9-4-93
I
had just moved to Knoxville earlier in the year, so my logistics were a bit
more complicated vs. prior years. I flew into Bozeman on 9-3, rented a car, and
stayed about 30 miles north of Aston, ID in a USFS campground. The next
morning, I drove into Jackson where I met Buddy and Robin. Buddy bought
crampons and Robin rented an ice ax for the trip. After lunch in Jackson, we
drove to the Elkhart Park Trailhead.
The
first half of the hike in featured intermittent rain. I wore a full rain suit,
no fun when you’re already groaning under 50-60 pounds of light weight, high
speed gear. We saw lots of hikers leaving the mountains and managed to talk
with one group that had just completed Gooseneck Glacier, our proposed route on
Gannett.
I
was thrilled to be back in the west and away from the hot, moist summer air of
Knoxville, a force I felt in constant struggle with. We got great views on the
drive in and from a few overlooks along the trail. I had finally upgraded to a
new internal frame pack, a Gregory Terraplane, and it proved reliably comfortable
despite its heavy load. Our route in was the Pole Creek Trail past
Photographers Point and Hobbs Lake to a campsite on the north end of Seneca
Lake.
Seneca Lake, 9.5 miles
9-5-93
We were repaid for our hard work of the previous day with a glorious walk through Titcomb Basin. In the Winds, the Cirque of the Towers is gets most of the glory, but to me Titcomb Basin with its endless parade of sharp black peaks is every bit its match for alpine glory. Just a glance explains why the peaks in the range are so formidable, sharp, steep, jagged peaks, glazed with ice in every direction. Even our weather had cleared up, yesterday’s rain replaced by just a few brief showers of corn snow.
 |
| Titcomb Basin. |
At Seneca Lake we joined our 1988 route just south of Island Lake. Past Island Lake there is maintained trail through Titcomb Basin before the route finally splits to go over Knapsack Col or Dinwoody Pass. The route winds between the Titcomb Lakes and the giant walls of Indian Basin and the imposing peaks of Jackson, Fremont, and Helen to the east. Wanting to make our next day as short as possible, we took the right fork and went up the basin as far as we expected to be able to find a decent campsite. Previous groups had had the same idea and we found a snug spot just off the northwest shoulder of Mt. Helen. One other small party was bivouacking nearby, otherwise we had the upper basin to ourselves.
We
went through the usual pre-peak packing. Robin was slowed by the altitude of
the basin and decided to sit out the Gannett attempt. I was mostly nervous
about the fit of my crampoons on my hiking boots (they worked fine). We carried
a rope, ice axes, and crampons for the Gooseneck Glacier section. With only
fanny packs we were limited in the amount of clothing and water we could carry.
Upper
Titcomb Basin 7.7 miles
9-6-93
Robin’s
alarm went off at 5AM and instead of seeing the bright moon shadow we’d seen
earlier, the sky was dark with a cloud line at about 12,000’. After eating,
Buddy and I hiked the short way to the base of 12,800’ Dinwoody (aka Bonney) Pass
and put on our crampons. The snow was harder and steeper that I’d hoped for.
The 1,400’ climb to the top of the pass took us 90 minutes.
Gannett Peak and the the routes up Stroud and Winifred.
The tough part of our approach was that from Dinwoody Pass you must drop down 1,000’ to Dinwoody Glacier to bypass two pinnacles extending out from the main crest. As we descended the clouds broke, yielding the classic view of Gannett and Gooseneck Pinnacle. This side of the pass was gentler but still required caution. We wrapped around one pinnacle and then crossed Gooseneck Pinnacle on rock, then onto Gooseneck Glacier. The glacier steepened toward the top. There’s an infamous bergschrund at the head of the glacier, so we set boot/ax belays for the 200’ of snow above and below the bergschrund.
 |
There was a flat area at thhe summit of Gannett Peak.e top of the glacier where we stopped to rest and stashed
our rope for the final section. My notes indicate it took 45 minutes from the
top of the Glacier to the summit. That seems like a long time, but the summit
ridge was spectacular, and we likely did a lot of gawking. There was a mix of
steep snow patches, rocky stretches, and some knife edge snow ridges. Our total
time to the summit was 4:45. There was a nice flat spot on top to rest and admire
the surrounding peaks. Curiously, Fremont and some of the other peaks at the
head of Titcomb Basin appeared higher than Gannett to us. Despite the multitude
of peaks we could see around us, very few of them were not technical climbs and
thus were beyond our reach. |
 |
| The summit of Granite Peak. |
We
were able to follow some snowboard tracks down from the ridge onto Gooseneck
Glacier. At the bergschrund, Buddy gave me a belay and once below it, I put him
on belay. Just as he crossed, he slipped and slid past me down the glacier I
was able to stop him, but the jolt pulled my axe out and I had to self-arrest.
Once stopped we were shortly on gentler ground, glad to have passed the belay
test in the kiddie pool.
We got a little off route looking for water crossing Gooseneck Pinnacle, but that put us in contact with our campsite neighbors, who were still on their way up the peak. The traverse across Dinwoody Glacier and the climb to the pass went slowly, the climbing was simple, but it took all our remaining energy. At the pass we met another party of two looking to camp near Gannett and climb it the next day. We were able to glissade much of the Titcomb side of the pass and stumbled into camp around 3PM. We both napped for about two hours, and that was enough to cure me of a headache and queasy stomach. Our neighbors pulled back into their camp about dusk.
Upper Titcomb Basin, ~10 miles, Gannett Peak 13,804’
9-7-93
Not
surprisingly we slept late the next morning. We were using Robin’s tent and it
held up well through some violent thunderstorms during the night. After much
debate we decided to return to Island Lake via 12,240’ Knapsack Col, the route
we had used in 1988. Knapsack is normally an easy exit at the end of Titcomb
Basin, but the Col can be dangerous if covered in hard ice. The climb took us
90 minutes and we found a cornice on the crest that caused us to scramble
around on the rocks on the north side for the last ~50’ to avoid the near
vertical snow. In 1988 we had tried to climb Twins Peak on the north side of
the Col and failed miserably, with me sustaining an abrasion that covered
almost my entire left butt cheek. But the lure of a nearby summit is strong, so
Buddy and I decided to try for Winifred, only 500’ of class 3 scrambling above
us on the south side of the Col. Robin decided to stay behind and take
pictures. There was a short section of steep snow, then a nice snow covered
ridge before we finished the climb on talus to the summit. From the top all was
jagged mountains and snow, no grass or trees to be seen. We glissaded down the
lower slopes back to Robin at the col.
We
had one more short glissade below the pass and then an easy hike down to Peak
Lake. The skies had looked ominous most of the day but all the precipitation we
got was just a little bit of sleet. We were into our camp at the northwest
corner of Peak Lake early, but we decided our lounging about qualified as
acclimatization.
Peak
Lake, ~6 miles, Mt. Winifred 12,775
9-8-93
We awoke to our clearest morning of the trip so far. Under clear blue skies we climbed up Shannon Pass to a beautiful table land dotted with lakes and glacial boulders. Buddy and I decided to climb Stroud Peak. The climb was a ton of fun. We started on easy slopes up to the south ridge, then on rock and solid talus to the pinnacled summit. The views from Stroud are fantastic, especially the near vertical drop off the north face down to Peak Lake. We could also spot the Grand Teton to the west and Squaretop to our north. Kelsey rates the climb as class 2 and cites the solid footing and fine views.
 |
| Peak Lake from the summit of Stroud. |
After the climb we walked through the Jean Lakes Basin which reminded me of the high plateau on the John Muir Trail just north of Mt Whitney. At Fremont Crossing we elected to take a short cut to Island Lake. We expected the route to be cross country hiking but were pleasantly surprised to find a well beaten trail all the way to the southwest corner of the lake, how often does that happen? We camped at the lake and debated our options for the next day. Robin was finally ready to try for a summit and we tried to figure out if Fremont or Jackson would be the best for him. I took a very brief swim in the lake. We spent the rest of the evening swatting mosquitos.
 |
| Buddy on the summit of Stroud. |
Island
Lake, ~10 miles, Stroud Peak 12,198’
9-9-93
Robin
and I rose early for our attempt on Jackson Peak. All went well until we
reached the upper lake in Indian Basin where we had trouble finding our route.
We tried one broken ramp then reached some cliffs. We descended and traversed
toward Indian Pass and tried another ramp. At the top of this ramp, we reached
Indian Pass and realized we were well off course. We decided to skip the climb
and did some ice ax practice on Knife Point Glacier. At this point Buddy,
supposedly on an off day, showed up. We enjoyed some of the best views of
mountain glaciers possible in the lower 48 before heading back to camp. There
we packed up and hiked down to Seneca Lake to spend another buggy evening.
Seneca
Lake, ~10 miles
9-10-93
My
notes for the last day of the trip are brief. Basically, we hiked as fast as
possible back down our entry route to Elkhart Park. The trip was unremarkable
except for passing a group of ~4 year old girls a couple miles from the
trailhead. We drove up to Bozeman for the wedding of my friends Karl and Laurie
the next day. Buddy and Robin flew out on Saturday and I left after the wedding
on Sunday.
Elkhart
Park TH, 9.5 miles
