7/31  Our hike to Haystack Mountain is much easier than I expect.  It is about seven miles and relatively level.  We are a bit confused because the map in our guidebook doesn't show the trailhead, but eventually we are properly oriented and mange the entire approach without any errors.  Our packs are outrageously heavy with climbing gear and 10 days of camping supplies.  At least we don't need ice axes or crampons.  We are each carrying a two person tent which we appreciate when camping and regret when hiking.  We reach a beautiful spot to camp between Clear Lake and Haystack Mountain.

Tragedy!  As the sun sets I climb into my tent and pull out the paperback I have carried in my backpack (I listen to the Amber Spyglass while hiking, but prefer to read an actual book when in my tent) and discover it is hauntingly familiar.  I've got Larry McMurtry's Hud, but looking at the fine print on the title page, I see that it was originally published as Horseman, Pass By.  Curses!  I've read Horseman, Pass By -- back in Sophomore year.  Double Curses!  I'm not a fan of rereading books.  But what else can I do?  Hud and the guidebook are my only options until Guy finishes his book and we can trade.

8/1  Awake at 5:30am to climb the North Face of Haystack (5.6, 5 pitches).  I lead the first pitch and manage to climb a full 170' before realizing that I'm off route.  So I downclimb the entire pitch cleaning gear.  Then I lead the correct pitch.  After Guy follows the pitch, I lower to clean a stuck nut and reclimb the entire pitch.  We are less than 200' above the saddle and I've climbed four pitches already!  Things start to go more smoothly as Guy leads p2.  Then I lead p3 which wanders past some overhangs to easier ground.  We have stretched each pitch for a full rope length and by the end of p4 Guy has got us to easy 3rd class terrain.  We unrope and scramble to the north peak of Haystack (11,978').  From here we head down the Grassy Goat Trail on the west face.  We return to camp early and have plenty of time to enjoy the swimming hole just a few hundred feet from our tent.

8/2  We climb Railroad Tracks (5.8, 6 pitches) on the west face of Haystack.  This climb is very, very stiff for the grade.  It is also grassy and appears to not get much traffic.  Which might explain why the guidebook is so wrong about the pitch lengths.  We are definitely on route as the features were impossible to miss, but I find the guidebook to be wrong, sometimes by a factor of two or more (I have to break up a 130' pitch into two 150' pitches).  Let me compare the guidebook with reality:

In any case, the climb is fun and we again descend the Grassy Goat Trail.

8/3  I have been coughing for one week now.  Ever since getting down from the Grand.  Is it possible that I had a mild case of HAPE and that turned into bronchitis?  That's my theory.  [Update: The cough lasts for over four weeks, then turns into sinusitis.  Joy.]

Some rain early in the morning makes this a perfect day to move camp.  We pack up and hike to the Cirque of the Towers.  It is about a six mile hike, fairly strenuous, up hills and over talus.  We arrive in the Cirque and are instantly rejuvenated by the most amazing alpine rock location ever. Remote, beautiful, and absolutely surrounded by mountains. By now we truly are acclimated -- good thing because our new basecamp is well above 10000'.

8/4  Pingora.  Need I say more?  Most amazing peak ever.  Short approach, clean rock, amazing views, beautiful lines.  What an awesome day.  We wake early to climb the K-Crack variation of the South Buttress of Pingora (5.8, 4 pitches).  I get to lead the K-Crack which is the best pitch I climbed all summer.  By 10:30am we are on the summit, enjoying the view.

Again our guidebook has some errors, mistaking the number and lengths of the rappels.  It is fine with me if a guidebook wants to leave things vague to preserve a sense of adventure, but what information is provided should be accurate.  Especially on an uber-popular peak like Pingora.

Returning to camp, we move our tents to a perfect location.  I spot a mule walking into our old site as we vacate.  I assume it is a pack animal that an outfitter has brought into the Cirque.  Guy goes back to the old site to grab his climbing gear and sees my mule... a full grown female moose... awesome!  Ok, I can't tell a mule from a moose.  Four legs, ears, whatever.

8/5  We take a rest day.  Our new campsite has plenty of shade and we spend most of the day in our tents reading and avoiding mosquitoes.  We go to sleep early with plans to climb Wolf's Head the next morning.

8/6  It has rained all night.  It is raining when my alarm sounds at 4am.  It is still raining at 6am.  By 8am the rain clears, but clouds still loom.  Not a great day to attempt Wolf's Head.  We decide to climb Shark's Nose instead.  A long approach up the very loose col between Wolf's Head and Overhanging Tower, followed by a traverse around the north side of Overhanging Tower, gets us to the base of Shark's Nose.  We climb The Thoroughfare (5.6, 3 pitches) and finish the third pitch right at 1pm as another storm starts to move in.  Three quick rappels get us back to our packs just as it starts to rain again.  The long hike back to camp is made much easier by the fact that we can boot glissade several hundred feet of snow on the south flank of Wolf's Head.  The boot glissading is really really fun and we have our nut tools ready for self-arrest should it become necessary.

Optimistic about tomorrow's weather, we leave all our climbing gear at the start of the East Ridge of Wolf's Head.  Then enjoy the unencumbered walk back to camp.  As always we dive into our tents as soon as dinner is finished.  My strategy is to jump in, close the door, then kill all the mosquitoes that followed me in.  I bang on the tent walls to stir any hiding mosquitoes and make them more visible targets.  Weird, but it works.  I stay awake longer than I should finishing Guy's book, Dune: Battle of Corrin.  It is the third book of the second Dune prequel trilogy written by Frank Herbert's son.  I think I got that right.  Anyhow, it occupies tent time.  By now the battery in my MP3 player is dead, so I can't finish the Amber Spyglass.  Next time I'll take one of my players which accepts AAA batteries instead of the Zen which only has a rechargeable battery.

8/7  Wake at 4am for the East Ridge of Wolf's Head (5.6, around 14 pitches, grade IV).  Today the weather is clear.  We hike to our gear cache and begin climbing by headlamp.  The grassy ledges approach is wet and we rope up like most parties.  I lead the first pitch, about 250' with some simulclimbing.  Guy leads the second pitch, also about 250'.  By the way, these pitches are easily 5.4 in places and not third class as stated in the guidebook.  Then we relocate the belay 100' to the east and Guy leads a full rope length up to the saddle where the true East Ridge climb begins.  I have the pleasure of leading the spectacular sidewalk pitch for a full rope length.  Guy and I swing leads for three more full rope length pitches.  Then I lead a short 75' pitch to the top of the ridge.  Now we begin traversing.  I lead another short pitch down left around the first tower and through a squeeze chimney (I HATE squeeze chimneys).  Guy leads the 120' piton pitch, then I lead another full rope length.  Guy leads a 140' pitch in which he includes a unique 5.7 crack variation.  Then I lead a long 300' simul pitch to the summit at 12,163', arriving a bit before 2pm.  That is 13 pitches if you are keeping count.

In the middle of the climb my camera refuses to extend its lens (the dreaded Canon E18 error), so I miss a few good pictures.  At least I have an excellent... what's that called...  yeah... memory... I have an excellent memory.

From the summit we do two single rope rappels, then the double rope rappel from hell.  The anchor is in a bad spot such that the rope tends to pinch when you pull it.  We pulled the rope almost all the way down when it became irretrievably stuck.  I have to lead on the other end, free the rope and rappel.  On the second try, the rope AGAIN becomes stuck.  This time I move up and right a bit and am able to pull the rope from a different angle.  One more single rope rappel gets us to a spot on the north face where we can walk towards the Overhanging Tower col.  One last single rope rappel puts us on the col.  This is right on the Continental Divide, and I decide to pee here so that my urine can reach both the Atlantic and Pacific.  I'm weird.  Anyhow, now it is the same descent we did yesterday, including the amazingly fun glissades.  It is a great way to end a great climb, and a great climb to end a great trip.  I really like the Wind River Range and already have a tick list to fill my next 10 day trip there.  The rock is relatively solid as alpine rock goes, and once you have done the long hike to basecamp the approaches are only 1-3 hours long.

8/8  A big storm front moves in and we have showers and clouds all day.  We have one more day of food and enough time to spend one more day climbing before we have to start driving back to Ithaca.  But the weather is not conducive to climbing, so we pack our camp and hike nine miles back to the car.  We do the last 5.2 miles from Big Sandy Lake to the trailhead in 1:30 which is really fast considering our packs are still fairly heavy.  I have been having food dreams for the past few days and decide to make a giant milkshake as soon as we reach the car.  It is a 1 liter Nalgene with double strength powdered milk and a few inches of hot chocolate mix.  It is creamy and delicious!  And causes me massive intestinal distress for the next 24 hours.  Now I have food nightmares.

Driving away from the trailhead, we go for a much needed swim, then start heading east (with huge thunderstorms behind us -- hiking out was a good choice).  We drive until late in the evening and stop for the night at a horrid location near a giant coal fired power plant.

8/9  Drive through Wyoming and Nebraska, where we find a really expensive state park to spend the night.  This means that we...

8/10 ...wake early to avoid paying fees.  We drive through Nebraska and the boring I-states (Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana) finishing the Amber Spyglass on the way.  We spend the night in another state park where the attendant catches us around midnight and we have to pay the $15 camping fee.  Shouldn't he be asleep?  Indiana and Squamish are the only two times we pay for camping the entire trip.

8/11  Last day of the trip.  We drive back to Ithaca, stopping at a McDonalds for milkshakes and fries -- our only fast food of the trip, and a bill of exactly $6.66 which is somewhat ironic.  I've lost about 12lbs. in the past six weeks and will continue to lose another 5lbs. with my trips to the Gunks and Rumney in the next two weeks.  Probably lost a pound of dirt when showering at home.  First real shower... since... Sophomore year.

Final Quota Status:

Pitches climbed: 96
Hours driven: 90