Gannett Peak - Wyoming - USA

Day 4:  Summit Day

Robert and Jane roping up and getting ready to cross Dinwoody Glacier.

Day 4:  Summit Day.  Our wakeup call was at 3am.  The wind was still howling, as it had been all night.  With the tent being ripped around by the wind all night none of us got too much sleep that night.  We got dressed and had breakfast and a hot cup of tea.

At 4:45am we set out for Gannett Peak.  The sky was crispy clear and the air was surprisingly warm.  We put on our headlamps and crampons and hiked down some steep, hard snow. After descending 1,200 ft to Dinwoody Glacier, we roped up.  This was the first time we had used crampons and hiked over snow and ice so we took all safety precautions.  We had ice axes, 5 ice screws, 2 pickets,  50m of  line and several slings and wedges, ready for anything that may present itself to us.  Now we just had 2,000 ft to climb to reach the summit.

Sunrise as seen from the bottom of Bonney Pass.

Robert and Jane on the crest of the first moat just after sunrise.

We stopped for a quick breather just before rounding the first moat after crossing Dinwoody Glacier.  The sun came up at around 5:25am.  We were all feeling well and ready for the start of the ascent.  John had been taking high altitude pills for the past few days so he was not feeling the altitude much.  I had headaches every time we exerted ourselves a bit too much, but a quick breather and a good drink of water soon fixed that.  Whenever I felt a headache coming on I would drink about a cup or so of water, and the headache would go away.  As the weather was good and we had enough time to reach the summit before noon we went at a slow pace, taking several long breaks.  I ate at least a few bites of granola bar or some dried fruit every hour or so.  From time to time Robert munched on his GoLEAN bars and dried fruit and John had chocolate granola bars.

We considered going up the south side of Gooseneck Pinnacle, but after going a few feet that way we decided to stick to the trail we had planned on, which was to go up the northern side of Gooseneck as most trip reports show.  From the moat at the bottom of Gooseneck Pinnacle we went up the north side until we got to a very steep (about 50 degree incline) snowy hill between two ridges of rock  Robert toe kicked all the way up the steep stuff.  John and I then followed his lead, placing each foot where Robert had made a step.  Fortunately someone else had summitted a day or two before so we just followed their path.  I have since seen photos of this area and now realize that there is a serious bergschrund right there where we went up that hill.  As there was so much snow when we were there we saw no sign of it.  In fact we saw no crevasses or bergshrunds all the way to the top due to the amount of snow that was on the ground covering everything up.

Once we reached the top of the ridge we went across some more snow and then got to a section of rock where we decided to take our crampons off.  We stayed roped up and just carried the coiled-up line.  That saved some time as we did not have to "re-rope."  After some easy rock scrambling we had to don our crampons again.  We melted some snow for water at this point.  I suggest you bring a stove, as there is no running water once you get above the glaciers.  Also snow takes a long time to melt with a Whisper-lite stove.

The final summit trail is along the snow capped ridge up to the top.  I don't have any photos of this area as we were concentrating on our footing rather than thinking of capturing the scenery on film.  As it was morning the snow was still somewhat hard, but not as crunchy as it was when we set out.  The last few hundred feet along a narrow ridge was quite scary as one wrong footing could be quite disastrous.  A 400 ft slide down a 45 degree snow bank, then a 800 ft (or more) vertical drop over jagged rock.

Robert pulling the rope in front of John as he gets to the summit.

We got to the summit at 10:50am.  We could not find an altitude marker as it was probably under snow.  There was a metal commemorative plate for 9/11/2001.

The moment of triumph!

Robert and Jane enjoying the top of Wyoming.

We stayed at the summit for an hour.  We had lunch, explored the top and took lots of photos.  The scene from up there is simply spectacular.  It wasn't a perfectly clear day, but we could still see for miles.

Proof that the boys made it to the top too.  Festus and Ruffus (left) rode on Robert's pack and Grumpy and Treasure (right) rode along with me.  Ruffus and Festus have been to many high points and interesting places with Roberts over the years.  Grumpy, who is actually from Oregon, has been accompanying me on my hiking expeditions for the past 2 years.  Treasure, who is actually from Treasure Island in Las Vegas, joined the rest of the boys for his very first high point as he only joined the family in April 2003 when Robert and I were on our honeymoon.

On our way down, along the ridge the snow had already started getting soft.  The thought kept on going through my mind that if my foot happened to slip, I could pull the guys over the edge with me, seeing as I was roped in the middle.  We all went along placing our ice axe in the snow, then moving one pace, placing the ice axe in ahead of us and taking another step.  The going was slow, but we at least felt we were doing everything possible to ensure we got down safely.  The further down we went the softer the snow got.  By the time we got to the 50 degree slope we were sinking in up to our knees.

When we got to the bottom of this hill we met a group of 6 who were on their way up.  They had come on horseback along the other trail in the valley.  They must have had a difficult time from there on as the snow was getting softer by the hour.  This was around 1:30pm.

On the way down, Robert and Jane stop for a quick photo.

We had come past this area in the early hours of the morning when there was still not much light so we had not seen the crevasses that were on either side of the route we were walking.  On the way down we had to do a bit of side stepping to stay away from two nasty looking crevasses in Gooseneck Glacier.  Once we were past these we were able to glassade done to where the lower moat was.

We got to the bottom moat at 2:15pm, 2 hours 25 minutes after leaving the summit.  All that was left was to get to the top of Bonney Pass again, which we did not look forward to (1,200 ft climb).  We ran out of water at around 3:15pm so we tried to find some running water.  The first water we found was the middle of the glacier to the north, at the bottom of Bonney Pass.  The glacier had a small stream running down the center of it where Robert and John filled our water bottles.  On leaving the stream Robert asked us to take up the slack in the rope as he was not sure of the terrain ahead of us.  He had gone only 50 feet when he fell into a narrow crevasse.  Fortunately he only fell in up to his waist as his pack caught on the sides.  He managed to get himself out and retrace his steps back to where we were standing.  From there we went downhill for a while and took a wide track around the area to avoid any other possible crevasses.

The trail we took.  Picture taken from just before the top of Bonney Pass.

The trudge up the snowy hill to the top of Bonney Pass was slow and very tiring.  Robert got tired of leading so John offered to lead.  To John's surprise "leading" is much more work than he expected as toe kicking was tiring work. There was a section of rock which we considered climbing along but we decided to stick to going up the snow as it was actually easier than going over rock.  We had a rest of about 40 minutes, knowing the top was not far away and the hike would soon be over.  We had a good meal of dried fruit, granola bars and anything else we had on us. After running out of food and water during last year's Montana summit day;  we had plenty of food and a stove to melt snow with this year.

We finally got to the top of Bonney Pass and back to our tents at 5pm, 2 hours 45 minutes after leaving the first moat.

Total time ascent:  4:45am to 10:50am = 6 hours 5 minutes.

Total time on top:  10:50am to 11:50am = 1 hour

Total time descent:  11:50 to 5pm = 5 hours 10

Home

Copyright Reserved - Created July 2003 - Greentree Creations - e-mail me