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Thursday, August 04, 2005
Being a signature hack of my slacker generation, I just returned from another week off. My good friend Jeff (not W. Jeffrey, the other Jeff) invited me on a climbing trip with some of the teachers from his school. I probably should have asked more questions about where we were going before I clambered into his mini-van, but everyone needs some adventure, right? And that's how I found myself on the Eagan High School Science Department's Annual Summer Trip to the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Luckily I brought far more gear than I needed. Denny handed me a guidebook with a few select climbs highlighted as we left the Twin Cities southbound on I-35 and I realized we weren't going "rock-climbing" as I assumed, but rather summer alpine routing. The goal was the North Face of Gannett Peak, the highest point in Wyoming and one of the few glaciated peaks in the Rockies. There were also some steep ice and mixed lines up nearby peaks we could try if the weather held. We drove through the night stopping at Maggie's for breakfast. Maggies is incredible; good food, cheap, Maggie herself takes your order, cooks your food, and brings you the local paper. I would recommend it but I have no idea where in Wyoming it is... I was asleep when we drove in and the next town I remember coming to was Riverton. I'll look into it. We pulled into the trailhead outside Dubois and I started to shed equipment. According to the book it was a 23 mile approach hike with a 4000 foot gain in the first four miles over an 11000 ft pass. With heavy boots, crampons, and ice tools already in the pack I dumped any extra clothes I wasn't wearing except for a spare pair of socks, left my raingear, opted for a lighter but less comfortable sleeping pad, and even accidentally forgot my headlamp, Doh! Of course, it rained and hailed on us the first two days, when it wasn't 97 degrees. Over the next six days I used almost all my sunscreen and fully depleted my bug dope. It was a pretty brutal hike, especially for five of the eight of us who had never done any backpacking before. But, the scenery was beautiful and despite the blisters and bugbites everyone had a pretty good attitude. Hopefully I can get some pictures from Howie or Jeff to post for you, and tomorrow I'll describe the actual climb. For now, I have to get my biking legs back on for the ride to work. -Pierce Posted by Pierce : 8:10 AM 0 comments | permalink  |
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