ay after Kari's wedding Lucas flew into Denver to meet me. We had Indian food with my fam, said goodbyes to the fam, went shopping, and got everything packed for an early start. Packing was no small feat - four kegs, 200 plus pounds of grain, climbing gear, and everything else in a golf. About 8 or 9 hours driving time and we were at the trailhead. On the way we stopped at Bitter Creek Brewery in downtown Rock Springs, WY for some good beer and food. We decided to have them cook up an extra deli sandwhich and some fries for that evening. We arrived at the TH at about 5 or so and decided that it would be adventageos to hike in as far as possible. Set up camp half way to big sandy lake and found a decent camp spot. French fries on a camping trip was a welcomed first - a new tradition might have been born. Pictured is me and my absurly huge backpack entering the wilderness area.In the morning we continued up to Big Sandy Lake and up to Jackass pass. We deviated and went over the climbers pass that saved sufficient elevation gain/loss and distance. As we approached we could see Pingora, but the views from the pass were incredible. Pictured just below is the cirque how we entered. Pingora just left of center with the rest of the cirque around. We hiked in, dropped out packs and found the spot that we'd call home for the next few nights. We even had refrigeration right next to us, although by the end of the trip the refrigerating snow was down to a patch or two.
So while we set up camp, we discovered what would be the most annoying thing for the trip. The mosquitos. We doused ourselves with three different types of carcinogenic goop, but still the mosquitos swarmed us. We considered it to be some motivation to get our asses in gear and get out climbing. Weather was wonderful so we decided to get out and hike but not try anything technical. We ran away from the mosquitos towards Skunk's nob which turned out to be our first "summit. " I have to quote the guide book describing this a popular summit because "any kid can walk up it." We rested, were eaten by mosquitos, and continued. Below is a pic from the knoll of Pingora ... and me, in the bottom left.
We climbed up to Texas Pass and then up Camel's Hump, pictured below right. We meant to do an easy scramble but we started up some very low class five stuff from Texas pass, but soon figured a way out and into class 3/4. A pleasant scramble up to a slightly more prestigious summit. We chilled at the summit for a bit, took a few pics (shown on the left) and headed back to camp. We were soon met by the mosquitoes and retreated back into the tent for refuge.
Day 1 - Hike in, skunk's knob and camel's hump
Day 2 - Pingora N face
Day 3/4 - Wolf's Head E ridge
Day 5 - Overhanging tower
Day 6 - End of the trip
Lucas' trip report
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