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TRIP SUMMARY
Day 1
Trailhead at Elkhart Park near Pindeale WY at 9469' traveling to Island Lake (10,346') with some minor ups and downs on the trail. 7 hours time & approx. 13 miles travel.
Day 2
Island Lake to Upper Titcomb Lake (10,600'). 4 hours travel arriving at mile 16 of the trip.
Day 3
Upper Titcomb Lake to Bonney Pass (12,900'). Bonney Pass is sometimes called Dinwoody Pass. We called it: "Dimwit Pass" because of the difficult loose gravel and rock up this pass. We get our first view of the summit. It is blocked on the entire approach until now. Fortunately, going down the other side of the pass was much easier and not as steep. 2.5 hours travel time and 2,300' vertical arriving at mile 20 of the trip.
Day 4
(16 August 2001, summit day)
Bonney Pass (3:30am) to the bergschrund (7:30am) on Gooseneck Pinnacle. Finally arriving on top (13,804', 11:00am & mile 25) for a 7.5 hour one way trip. Approx. 1.5 hours spent on top. Down climbing and rappelling (with 5 people) to bottom of Grund arriving at 3:30pm. Finally arriving back at camp at Bonney Pass at 7:30pm for a 16-hour day with total vertical gained at 3304', minus lost elevation (from Bonney to Dinwoody Glacier) 1200' for a net gain of 2104'. (Note the summit is only 904' higher than Bonney Pass.) For more route information, read photo captions below or click on photos to see an enlarged version, many with call outs and route information.
Route Traveled
(Click here to skip down to route photos.)
We followed the most common route called the Gooseneck Route (via the Gooseneck Glacier) as described by Joe Kelsey in the book Wind River Mountains (p. 122-123). The rating of our route according to Joe's own method of rating was Grade I, Snow 4. (On p. 4 of his book he says: "Snow/Ice 4 [indicates] that you need a rope and a belay, but no protection between belays, and a Snow/Ice 5 that you're likely to placing protection--either in ice or rock alongside--between belays.")
-- Richard Stum [ ] added by me.
In Hindsight
Our schedule was very casual. If we had a tight time frame, we could have gone from the car to Island Lake the first day (as we did) and then up the Bonney Pass the second day, summited the third and finally back to the car on day four. Some younger climbers go from the car to Upper Titcomb basin the first day or occasionally all the way to Bonney Pass, but that makes for a long day, leaving very little "body recovery time" for the summit day.
If we were to change anything we would have brought more ice screws (one was insufficient--we left several in the car to save weight). If we had made this climb earlier in the season, then it problably would have just been a "snow climb" not requiring screws. The lower part of the snowfield below the 'grund was soft snow, yet everything above the 'grund was alpine ice, covered by a firm layer of snow or crust. Of course the advantage of making this climb later in the season is the crevassases are open and you can see them. All of us took helmets which was wise as there is some loose rock at the 'grund. There was much rockfall spilling into other glaciers in the nearby area.
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Total stats for trip
Vertical Gain: 7,130' minus loss of 2,686' for a net gain of 4,444'. Approx. 50 miles round trip.
Water availability
Water faucets were available at the trailhead campgrounds. $7/night for car camping. Small water run-offs from melting snowfields were available at Bonney Pass (on the east side) for drinking. There may be no run-off later in the summer. On the approach, at Upper Titcomb basin, we could see small snow patches on Bonney Pass--I suppose if I wasn't able to see these snowfields on the approach I might hesitate in make plans to camp on the pass. There was plenty of water en-route to summit (along the ridge below snowfields) and along the lower trail earlier in the trip, however.
The Team
Steve Frisby, 51?, from Orem, Utah.
Karl Stum, 49, from Vancouver, Washington.
Richard Stum, 47, from Mt. Pleasant, Utah.
Clint Dorny, 28, from Orem, Utah.
Chad Frisby, 27, from Orem, Utah.
Misc. Mountain Trivia
Bergschrunds as defined in Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills (5th Ed.), p. 305 says "A bergschrund is the giant crevasse found at the upper limit of glacier movement, formed where the moving glacier breaks away from the ice cap." This explains why snow above our grund was "ice" and below the grund was softer snow. Also on the same page: "Moats--The gap that separates a snowfield from its rock borders is a moat, formed when the snow melts and settles away from the warmer rock." Then on p. 317 says "protuberances of rock under the ice, called nunataks, usually form a halo of crevasses. If the rock doesn't actually reach the surface so you can see it, you may be at a loss to explain the odd crevassing."
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17. Once we arrived at the bergschrund cirque we were faced with two general snow routes. The shortest snow route was the one on the left, but it had a larger 'grund or crack to conquer. The route on the right was a direct line to the summit ridge, plus, the snow looked more intact. The drawback was the length: we would have had to set up a belay half-way up the snow tongue as it was rather steep.
We decided to take the left route as it appeared to have all the footprints indicating the "logical" route. This later proved to be the wisest choice as the right-hand snow field had some rock fall, as it was below the ridge where everyone crosses.
This photo is at the crux just above the bergschrund. We crossed it and then traversed over to the rocks on the left side, as we had only brought one ice screw. The snow (ice under snow) was too hard for pickets. Earlier in the season, this would probably be a casual snow climb. In August, the difficulty increases. The previous day a party turned back due to the this crux.
The rock on the left side of the "left snow route" was lower class 5 right above the 'grund. Because we traversed at an angle unto the rock, we avoided any class 5 stuff, entering on the rock on some easy 4th class terrain. After about a half a pitch later it eased back to class 3. We eventually crossed above the snowfield (traverse) below the ridge line, working our way to the summit ridge. Other climbers that day were climbing one long pitch on the ice to the right side, gaining the rock (they had more ice screws than we).
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