Archive for 8/1/10

In a few days I will be traveling to the Wind River Range in Wyoming with Dave Sharratt. Our intention is to climb the massive, 1,800' North face of Mount Hooker, hopefully free. The Winds are remote to put it simply and are highest range in the Wyoming-Idaho-Montana group. It also contains the largest system of glaciers in the American portion of the Rockies. The 63 glaciers are only surpassed in the contiguous by the Cascades in Washington. This mountain range is the southernmost Continental Divide range of the Central Rockies and from the southern end of the Divide to the north end of the range at Union Pass, no road crosses or even penetrates the crest; it is entirely wilderness (both management-designated and defacto). The range is bound by high desert on both the west (Green River Basin) and the east (Wind River Basin).

Aerial photo of the Wind River Range from the north. The large lake in the foreground is Middle Fork Lake. The massive wall in the center of the photo is Mt Hooker. Sept 26, 2006.

According to what I have read from past accounts, this wall on Hooker is large, remote and cold. Several characteristics about it stand out to me as being significant; Firstly, I don’t have to get on a plane and fly overseas, but still get to revel in the greatness of long, wild alpine routes – this one is the biggest wilderness wall in the lower 48, with a success rate of around 60%. Secondly, all the established routes, the few that exist, are hard…real hard, established by some of Americas best climbers. The possibility for new hard free climbs seems to be screaming at us!

The last couple of years I have been going on big trips in Asia to climb, this will be a real treat doing an expedition in the States. It’s pretty much the same routine: Gather a bunch of good backcountry recipes, count out the calories, stock-up, pack-up the kit, get horse dude, walk for a few days and then climb a big, cold alpine route…perfect! Hard to believe I have not been there yet.

The North Face as viewed from the east at Baptiste Lake. It was first climbed in 1964 at VI 5.10 A4 by Royal Robbins and co.

Todd Skinner climbing Jaded Lady, during the walls first free ascent in 1990.

http://www.toddskinner.com/expeditions/Wyoming/

The first time I paid much attention to Hooker was in 1998; I was in Lander, WY at a coffee shop and happened upon a fresh copy of Big Walls by Paul Piana. This book contains the first person accounts of what Paul calls “Breakthroughs on the free-climbing frontier.” A unique view on the first free ascents of what Skinner and Piana consider the four premier rock faces of North America: El Cap’s Salathe Wall, Half Dome’s Southwest Face, Wyoming’s Mount Hooker and Mount Proboscis’s East Face in the Northwest Territories of Canada. I would add there are a few more proud walls here, but those four could very well be the proudest.

Mt. Hooker is the premier big wall monolith in the Wind River range, with a 1800 foot just off vertical North Face.

Why have I never climbed here before? Well, the last time I tried in 1999, after spending a few days at the trailhead hunkered down in my truck, waiting for the rain to stop. We (Brad Jackson, Tate Reece, Jim O’Connor and I) decided it would be best to wait at the Bar, where we promptly proceeded to get in a fight, the resulting damage to Jackson’s hand was a deal breaker. More than 10 years have lapsed since then and I am looking forward to another grand adventure in Wyoming – hopefully this time we get to at least hike in…

Steve Quinlan during the first ascent of Third Eye 5.10, A4 in 1993.

http://www.bigwalls.net/climb/Hooker.html

The spectacular and wild country surrounding Baptiste Lake. The 1800 foot high north face of Mount Hooker.

In the distance are the Twin Lions, Mount Lander, the Saber Tooth, Cusp Peak and other summits of the remote Wind River Indian Reservation area. Baptiste Lake is just past the snowfield-dotted moraine.