Wind River High Route Attempt July 2020
Vložit
- čas přidán 7. 11. 2020
- In July of 2020 Dave, Steve, and I made an attempt at the Wind River High Route. While things didn't go as planned, Dave, Steve, and I all agree that it is the most epic adventure we have ever been on. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy.
Beautiful video! I hope some adventures are still ahead!
Always!
Just found out this Channel. Amazing, Brian!
Hey, thanks!
Awesome video. Hope Steve is OK. 100% agree you could argue that the Wind River mountain range is the best mountain range in the lower 48.
Thanks Richard! Steve is doing good. He is hard core.
The Wind River Range is certainly a magical place. I went back for more adventure in 2021 and 2022.
As an alternative, you could take (refer to Beyond Trails Guide by Nancy Palister) the South and North Black Joe passes off the north side of Wind River Peak to get down to Black Joe Lake and perhaps avoid some of the talus piles between East Temple Lake and Black Joe Lake. May I suggest a much more robust set of micro spikes if you are not going to take crampons. Hillsound offers several better choices. Even still, when the snow softens up, micro spikes can be more of a liability than a benefit. It's then that crampons shine as the all around better choice for alpine environments. There are lots of super lite choices out there from Black Diamond, Petzl etc.
Only 17 likes... Here's another one... Great Vid. I'm about to tackle this trail this summer with a group of friends too.
Thanks! Best of luck to you! It’s a beautiful area. I’m heading back there this Summer as well.
have to agree on your comments on the west gully of wind river peak! Very scary terrain descending that mountain. thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment. It sounds like you have done a descent into the west gully. Did you take the Skurka route or the route we went down in the video?
@@briangaller We followed the skurka route, but from being in there that's the only gully we found that doesn't get cliffed out. Seeing this one i don't know that it's any safer. took us over 4 hours to go just 2,500ft. I guess it would have been nice to know about just we could split up into smaller groups and reduce the risk of rock fall.
@@TheBuffaloSamurai Thanks for the additional detail. It sounds like both routes are pretty comparable. We started our descent from the summit at about noon. We didn’t get to our campsite near the first lake until after 5 pm.
I did a lot of slope angle analysis on Caltopo and both routes appeared to be about the same in terms of max slope. We chose the straight shot route because it didn’t have any cliffs to slide off. :-) However, I’ve always wondered if we should have taken the Skurka route.
I'm so late to this, but I wanted to thank you for making such a cool video. When I was 19, I went on a NOLs semester and we backpacked the Cirque of the Towers (including Jackass Pass and Texas Pass!) and 2.5 years since that trip this video is giving me such nostalgia. You are so right that the scale of the peaks (and the boulders, and the lakes and everything) is just impossible to capture on video. So cool that you got out there on your own, that takes guts as it is no joke doing some of those descents!
Thank you for your comments. I’m glad you got to experience The Cirque and surrounding areas. The Wind River Range is a magical place for sure.
This is excellent Brian! Thanks for creating and sharing this.
Thanks!
I love the narrative. I remember you talking about your trip, but it takes it to a whole new level with the video.
Thanks Scott!
Thank you for the wonderful story and adventure, I m going to do it this July.
Best of luck to you. It is a very rugged and beautiful route.
Great video!!! Could you explain how you got yourself to the starting trailhead while also leaving transportation at ending TH? Thanks so much!
We had two vehicles out there so we were able to drive both to the exit trailhead and then shuttle one back to the start.
Did you do the Skurka trail or the Adventure Alan Trail? I might have missed it but I didn't see mention of the distance. Thanks for the video, it was great!
Thanks Jason. I’m glad you enjoyed it. We attempted the Skurka route. However, instead of taking his recommended traverse into the West Gulley off Wind River Peak we took the alternative traverse that is a little South and a straight shot into the West Gulley. If I make another attempt I’ll go down the traverse he recommends. We chose the straight shot because it didn’t have any cliffs along it and is a similar slope angle. However, it was very loose and sketchy.
Thanks. My buddy and I are looking at doing Alan's route in 2022. Mostly due to time. We are hoping to do it in 8 days or less.
@@jasonericdean Best of luck on your trip.
Looking to do part of this with my brothers in early August. Thanks for this video, trying to research as much as I can. These vids help a bunch. You mentioned another way off Wind River, would you have taken that path in hindsight?
Hi Josh,
Thanks! I’m glad you found it useful for your planning. Short answer to your question is yes. I hope to make another attempt and if I do I will probably take the other traverse down. However, since I haven’t been down the other route, I can’t really compare them. We took the straight route for two basic reasons. First, my measurements via CalTopo showed that the slope angles of both routes were very similar. Secondly, the route we took didn’t have any cliffs to fall off. The other route does skirt along a cliff. You can see that at about 33:50 in the video.
Best of luck to you and your brothers.