Gannett Peak, WY

[Ted E]

Im wondering if im trying to bite off more than i should by wanting to climb Gannett peak solo. I don't have any mountaineering experience on glaciers, but i do have high mountain navigation and rock climbing experience.

Next week, I'm going to go up to the wind river range to hike the glacier trail and would like to climb Gannett Peak IF the weather is clear. I'll be bringing an ice axe and crampons along with normal non-climbing backpacking gear.

For someone who doesn't have any specific ice climbing experience, should i skip trying to climb it solo, or is it doable if conditions are good?

[larry savage]

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150362/gannett-peak.html

Everyone's experience levels differ and everyone's ability to climb solo differs. Read the climber's log attached to the description, call the rangers for current conditions, expect any alpine condition, and remember the elevation is darn near 14,000 ft.

[Andrew Schriner]

I'd say if you're going to do it solo, you had better be extremely aware of crevasse danger. Climbing snow and rock solo should be no big deal (assuming you have experience using your ice axe and crampons, and especially with self arrest). I think the big is that if you fall and slide into a crevasse, or a snow bridge collapses over a crevasse and you fall in, you may not be coming back out. Good luck and be safe!

[Andrew Schriner]

And I forgot to mention – Gannett being about 20 miles from the trailhead, you're in deep if you take a nasty fall and have to get out that whole distance on a really bum leg.

[Ted E]

I ended up driving up there Monday afternoon, hiking the entire glacier trail Tuesday to the base of Gannett, then climbing Gannett on Wednesday and was the only person out of 10 to make it because a very quick and nasty storm blew in (ascended the peak in 4 hours and 30 minutes).
Unfortunately that meant i had to descend through sleet and no visibility. I made it down safely though, but it was pretty nerve racking. I then hiked back out on Thursday and drove back to fort collins.

I took some great photos and videos. i'll post them up when i get a chance.

-Ted

[Andrew Schriner]

Hey great work Ted! How was the hike in? How about the glacier conditions – open crevasses or still covered? Did you do the Gooseneck route?

I was there in mid June, and we made it to Double Lake before running into big, sloppy snowdrifts all over the trail that pretty much shut us down.

Glad you had a good trip!

[Ted E]

the hike in was compleatly clear, however the stream coming off gannett glacier was shin-high swift water, so i would be cautious there.

The glaciers on the mountain were good and there were some crevasses, but all were easy to avoid. there were two spots for ice bridge crossings.

here is an approximation of my route (i don't know how to make the image show up on this forum, so you'll have to go to my photobucket account)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/tedehrlich80227/DSC03697-1.jpg

[Ted E]

[YAMABUSHI !]

speed record was Buzz & Peter

Now AK: http://gearjunkie.com/record-ultra-run-Gannett-Peak

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