Months ago, when Jen and Colin proposed a road trip vacation in the time of COVID to the Tetons and Wind River Range, I didn’t need much convincing, but I didn’t know anything about the climbing in the Winds. After doing a bit of research, it became clear that there were two 50-Classic routes in addition to many other great routes on good rock, most of which were moderate. Wolf’s Head stuck out as an improbable feature—a thin, serrated knife blade of granite, rising up from Cirque Lake.
After hiking in to the Cirque on Tuesday, climbing Pingora as two groups of two on Wednesday, and taking an easy day exploring the area on Thursday, Friday was the day for me and Colin to go up Wolf’s Head. We got up at 4am and were moving before 5. As the early morning light illuminated the Cirque, we could see some climbers on the grassy ledges and they were making very slow progress pitching it out, so we decided to head for the Tiger Tower-Pingora gully. It ended up being a good way to access the climb, save some loose rock in the middle. We put the rope on before the first 5th-class move and then short roped to simul-climb the rest. From the summit of Tiger Tower , we could see parties headed up the start of the route—it looks so improbable from the East, but ends up being very reasonable.
After a couple of raps and some down climbing, we were at the base of the route, waiting for a couple of parties at about 9:15am. When it was our turn, I headed off across The Sidewalk, enjoying exposure on both sides, and then cruising up 5.fun terrain a ways before putting Colin on belay. We’d planned to simul-climb the first 5 pitches, but parties ahead of us were pitching it out, so there was little point in trying to move faster.
We had lots of fun gaining the flatter part of the ridge—lots of fun climbing on secure holds with good protection. At the ridge crest, we doubled the rope in half to simul climb until the first tower. The short traversing down climb and move around the boulder were fun (avoid heading for the tat up high). We waited in this alcove a while for the other parties and then I headed up and around for the squeeze chimney, which was my least-favorite part of the climb. It was hard to make progress, especially with a small pack on. I briefly got off route, chimneying up onto a large chockstone before realizing I was supposed to exit straight through onto a sandy ledge to start the Piton Pitch, so I climbed back down and brought Colin up.
The Piton Pitch traverse was exciting and somewhat improbable, with minimal features for hands necessitating a trust on the feet. I followed suggested beta to clip the last piton at my feet before finishing the traverse rightwards and then climbing up a ways before putting in more protection so Colin would be belayed from above as opposed to getting pulled sideways.
The Piton Pitch Traverse
The next pitch might have been my favorite—a fun layback followed by some vertical finger crack moves, followed by an exposed traverse on a good foot rail, followed by exposed climbing on the ridge crest. Great stuff. We hung out in the overhang alcove for a while waiting for the party ahead of us before setting off on the last “real” pitch, with a fun horizontal crack traverse. The hands were really secure, which made up for pretty smeary feet. The final squeeze through was awkward with gear getting stuck on both sides, but short-lived and we were finally done with the technical climbing. We were able to get from there to just below the summit in one 70m rope length before hitting the other party and then did a final 30-foot pitch to gain the summit.
It was a perfectly clear day with bright blue skies and the granite spires of the Cirque framed an awe-inspiring view. We soaked it in and ate our lunch there at 3pm before beginning the raps. Contrary to some beta, we found 4 raps consistently heading slightly skier’s left down the West Face, followed by a long traverse toward Overhanging Tower, then one last rap there. Our single 70m rope worked swimmingly.
After a swim in Cirque Lake and finally getting down to our camp at about 6:15pm, our work wasn’t done. While we’d been climbing, our wives had moved camp to explore a new area and we were to meet them with our share of the gear at Clear Lake. The distance wasn’t crazy, but there was a lot of up and down to get there. We arrived a bit after dark to a lovely campsite and much-needed dinner.
The climb was quite varied, with good rock and an improbable line. As much as I didn’t like the chimney, the rest of the route was surely classic and I can understand the nod from Steck and Roper.
