Sunday, August 9, 2009

Road trip!

It's been awhile since I've posted because we're in the midst of an awesome road trip to, so far, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. I'm most psyched to have been able to summit Gannett Peak, the high point of Wyoming, on August 2nd with Chris, Chris, and Peter. Well... Peter didn't actually climb with us; we met him on our way up as he was coming down. The rest of us did the three-day plan. We used the much less frequently traveled route via Tourist Creek. Peter set a new fastest known time on Gannett and wrote up a great route description for Summit Post.

The difference between the three- and the one-day versions of doing the peak. :) That's me, Peter and Chris where we met on the Talus Slope from Hell which went on and on and on:

We found a spectacular spot to set up the tents on a little ledge overlooking a waterfall and the next day climbed the summit. There was some steep snow and Class 3, 4, and a tiny bit of 5 (unroped!) to negotiate. We wore Kahtoolas over running shoes, and my ax got a lot of use for a change. FUN STUFF!!

Chris and I have kept busy the last few days tooling around the Winds, the Bighorn Mtns., Black Hills of South Dakota, high point of North Dakota (#48 for me), Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and even got to check out Sturgis during Bike Week. THAT was a hoot, and I may post some photos later... Gotta run now.

1 comment:

Damon said...

Sue,

I climbed Gannett and a number of the surrounding peaks in 2000. I think the summit register on Dinwoody was the original CMC register from the 1930s. My climbing partner and I were the only people who had signed it so far that summer.

We had a beautiful day on Gannett as well. One other party had started up the peak, from the other side of Dinwoody pass, but they bailed at the bergschrund. We offered them a belay, but the snow and exposure (not really bad at all, IMO) had them freaked out and they left. We spent an hour on the summit, taking photos, relaxing, and enjoying the solitude. Our views to the west prompted a climbing trip to the Tetons in 2001.