August trip to the Winds, and a lesson in improvised rappels

It's taken me a while to post this, but since I'm unemployed and it's the middle of January, I figured this as good of a time as any.

From May to October of 2010 I was working in Montana as an off-road driving instructor. I had managed to hook up with a few people to climb with there, including one girl that worked at the same place i did. Liz was psyched on climbing and down for some good adventures and relatively big missions, at least by my standards.

So round about July, Liz asks me if I'd be interested in a trip to the Wind River Range with her. I was on board without even knowing where it was or what we were gonna be climbing. After a little research, I couldn't wait to go. Our trip was scheduled for late August, the 21-27 if I remember correctly. This is by the way, prime time for the Winds. The weather is still really good for the most part, the flies are going away, and the flowers are still out.

So July passes and the first part of August drags on and my girlfriend and Liz's friend Ty have now joined the trip. This is good and bad. At first Ty coming meant we were a party of three, then with April we were 4, but April has only been climbing since February, 6 months ago.

In preparation for the trip I decide I need a set of double ropes. They'll be handy for the rappels and wandering routes of the nice big faces in the Cirque of the Towers. I spotted some on here around mid August and hopped on them right away. I received them right before the trip set out.

A quick note about myself. I've only really been cragging for the three years I've been climbing. I've done some multi-pitch up to about 3 or 4 pitches, but never anything like this. This was me jumping into a huge adventure head first. I had never really back country camped either so I had to get a few things to take with me, like a filter pump.

Well the night before we were to leave arrives. April had flown into Bozeman that day and I picked her up from work. We're at the condo packing our stuff and I pick up my new double ropes. I had received them a few days before, but was busy with work so I just tossed them aside. Anyway, I figure now is a good time to check them out. They looked brand new when I pulled them out but I uncoiled them and just ran my hands across the sheaths. Then I spot it, athletic tape wrapped around the sheath of the dark green rope. Curious, I unwrapped the tape and this is what I found:

SHEATH

I wasn't very happy but the core was fine so I figured I'd use it for this trip and then get another later. I paid $140 for the pair and the other was perfect so it's whatever.

Well April and I finished packing for the night, I had all of my stuff in my Osprey Atmos 65 and April had all of her stuff in her new Gregory Deva 70 that she caught a deal on for this trip. My pack weighed in around 70 pounds, hers a scant 45. I guess that's how it goes though.

The next morning Ty and Liz arrive, 45 minutes late. Their stuff isn't packed and we just cram it all into my car and get going as fast as possible. We intended to leave around 5am, we got out of Livingston around 6:30 in all actuality.

The drive down to Big Sandy National Forest (I think?) was around 8 hours if I remember correctly. After stops for gas and food I believe we got to the parking lot for the Big Sandy Campground and trail head around 3pm on the 21st. After waiting for Liz and Ty to pack, we started off around 3:45ish. This is April and I at the trail head with our packs stuffed full of food, camping gear, a change of clothes or two and climbing gear.

PACKS



The hike to the Cirque of the Towers is approximately 9 miles, with the first 7(?) being easy to moderate terrain. April and I hiked a bit faster than Liz and Ty in the beginning but by the time we got to Big Sandy Lake (5 miles in) they had caught up with us.

BIG SANDY PIC



It was here that April started to lose steam. She’s not the worlds strongest hiker by any means so we started to slow down and eventually Liz and Ty would have to stop and wait for us from time to time. We hiked on until around sunset and thought we were at Arrowhead Lake (but not 100% positive), which is right before Jackass Pass, the entrance to the Cirque of the Towers. So instead of pushing on through the night we set up camp there for the night and decided to go fresh the next day into the Cirque.

TENT PIC FROM NORTH LAKE


Well April and I got an earlier start than Ty and Liz the next day because we knew our pace was a little slower and we soon learned that we were actually at North Lake the night before. We found Arrowhead and decided to take the “climbers trail” over Jackass Pass. The climbers trail cuts across the bottom of the lake and up the left side of the pass instead of going to the far right. You hike through some talus and up over the pass and down to where most of the climbers camp when they get to the Cirque.

HIKING OVER THE PASS


Well we crested the pass and saw, in all its glory, Pingora, standing tall and majestic dead ahead. Below us was the beautiful and lush alpine valley that the Cirque surrouns, in full bloom. It was absolutely gorgeous and I was so excited that I almost took off in a sprint until April stopped me for pictures.

ME HIKING INTO CIRQUE


Well April and I crossed into the meadow below us and hiked onwards toward the base of Pingora. To our left, Sundance Pinnacle, The Warrior Towers and Warbonnet soared above us. Ahead, Pingora and Wolfs Head climbed out of the ground magnificently. We hiked on until we found a place to set up camp and dropped our stuff. Since we hadn’t seen Liz or Ty we decided to hike back and look for them. We met them as they were coming down from the pass. They too, could hardly hold back their excitement. We hiked with them back to where we had dropped our stuff behind a big boulder with a small cave. We stopped there for a while, at some food and they wandered across the stream to a spot about 100 yards from us and set their stuff down.

PIC OF CAMP WHILE ON PNGORA, BLUE TENT


April and I decided that because we had gotten there early we’d go and attempt the classic South Buttress of Pingora. We were armed with a new guidebook and figured we could knock out the three pitches of classic climbing quickly. We quickly unloaded all of our unnecessary gear and took off for Pingora. We followed the well used climbers trail through the meadow and patches of alpine woods and brush, through wild flowers and up some scree until we reached the gully that joins Pingora and Wolfs Head. According to the picture in the guide book, this is where it looked like the approach to the base of the climb went up. We scrambled up some nasty 4th class stuff, through some perma-snow, and soon realized this wasn’t right. We had gone too far up the trail.

We dropped back down and hiked back towards the massive shoulder that come off the East Face of Pingora and saw a trail winding up. At this point it was getting late and we decided to just drop our gear and hike up to see if this was the actual approach. After scouting it out, we were happy with our new beta and we hiked back to our stuff. We stopped for some pictures of the wild flowers that were in full bloom before heading back to camp and filling Liz and Ty in on our approach beta.

WILD FLOWERS




April and I set up camp after getting back, made some dinner and watched other parties continuously summit Pingora. Just before dark it started to rain so we took shelter under our small cave, made dinner and made plans for the next day. We decided that since we had a full day to climb, we’d attempt something bigger for our first route in the Cirque. We settled on the East Face, IV 5.7. It seemed manageable and took a beautiful line from the base of Pignora all the way to the summit. We hung up our food out of the way of critters and knocked out a little while after sundown.

FOOD STORAGE


EAST FACE LINE, WITH APPROXIMATE BELAYS


MY PINGORA EPIC

We awoke the next morning, to a cold but crisp air that had settled into the Cirque over the night. We waited for the sun to get up over Mitchell Peak to the east. The sun really warmed us up fast so we loaded up, grabbed some breakfast and headed on to the base of Pingora. We may have slightly under-estimated the hike, but the start time also played a role in how late we got to the base of Pingora. We arrived at the base of Pingora around 10:15 and promptly racked up. This was our first time dealing with double ropes, so after modifying Aprils belay technique slightly, I headed up the beautiful first pitch. I followed a ramp up and left until I reached the right of the two cracks that cleaved the face.

Now I have to admit, our communication wasn’t exactly the best so when I called down to her to ask how much rope I had left I think she said 15 feet, but I’m not sure. No matter, the top of the first pitch was 20 feet up and to my left so I stopped short at what was obviously a belay spot for many people. There was a ton of tat slung around a column of rock in the crack. I backed it up and brought April up.

APRIL ON THE FIRST PITCH


APRIL COMING UP THIRD PITCH


After that, I scooted over and up to the left to a ledge that you could have put a family tent on. I brought April over, we re-established the gear and I set off up a beautiful left facing corner system. The climbing was great, the rock was great, and everything was going good. On the way up I noticed a huge flake with some tat slung around it. I reached a nice belay spot and brought April up again. At first we were moving along slowly, but picked up speed when we hit some slabby pitches. On two or three of the pitches I probably placed two pieces of gear the entire rope length it was so easy. This started to ease the growing concerns I had of us making it to the top on time.

PIC OF APRIL COMING UP A HIGHER PITCH


Well, round up 800’ (I think) the climbing started to get a little tougher again. We were starting to hit “tougher” ground and the rapid progress slowed down a little bit. Remember, April has been climbing for 6 months prior to this. Also holding us back a little bit is the fact that April is climbing in Miuras sized for single pitch cragging and her toes are screaming at her.

Well I’m watching the little clock that is dangling off on my new Black Diamond BB Pack and it’s getting late. We’re getting close to the top but I think I took the wrong line and did some 5.10 variation of a pitch. This took April a good 30-45 minutes to get through the crux of. By the time she made it up to my belay she was beside herself. She was crying, in pain, scared, and just in bad shape. It was 8:00 now and I knew I had to make a decision. We could push on through the night and bivy at the top of Pingora, or we could rap the route in the dark. April didn’t seem like she was in any shape to keep going, we had hardly warm gear with us, and the night before it had rained on Pingora around a little after dark.

We were two-three pitches from the summit, no more than 300 feet probably and I decided we had to go down.

PIC OF LONESOME LAKE FROM PINGORA


Quick note, there is no standard rappel option for this route. The descent from Pingora is down the South Buttress route.

The first rappel wasn’t huge, but it was off a nice tusk that I slung for a belay. I wrapped some webbing around the foot diameter tusk of rock, put a rap ring on it, and set on down to a big ledge that we had left two pitches ago. Along came April, and we pulled the rope.

The sun was now behind block tower to the West and it was getting dark fast. On went the head lamps. I slung a boulder that was sitting on the ledge after doing some quick math and determining that it SHOULD hold. The boulder was about 3’x2’x1.5’. That put the boulder at approximately 9 cubic feet and using a unit weight of 150lbs/ft3, I decided I was good to go. I threaded the rope and headed off into the darkness, trying to remember the route and where I could possibly stop to build a rap.

I stretched the rope as far as I could in an attempt to get down faster and it paid off. I found a baseball sized chock-stone under a house sized block. I tied off to it, girth hitched it with a skinny sling and backed it up, and told April to come on down. She got to the rappel and anchored in. We pulled the rope and threaded it through the biner I had clipped to the sling and before setting off I left April with specific instructions.

“If this chock even twitches, leave the cam and rap. If it doesn’t move, pull the gear and come down on just the biner.”

I set off into the night constantly scanning for the tat that I had spotted on my way up earlier. I cut this rap short at about 100 feet and found another chock to sling and rap off of. April came down and I gave her the same instructions before heading off into the night again.

I continue to rap down and found a nice horn to sling. I slung the horn with some webbing, called for April, and then continued on after she arrived.

Now I was really looking for the tat. I knew it had to be close, but I remember it being about 50 to 75 feet out to the left of the route.

“WOOOOOO!!!! I found that tat!!!” I hollered. I was getting close to the end of the rope but I had enough to make it over. I locked off and started to traverse across the face to the tat. I made it to the tat, clipped in and called for April. When she was in sight I let her know what she was going to have to do and she managed to get over, albeit a little shook up. I backed the tat up and took off.

I was hoping that this next rap would get us to the big ledge at the top of the first pitch so I set off once again into the dark, this time trending back right across the face dimly lit by headlamp. I spotted the ledge, then looked at my rope below me. I was getting close to the ends and wouldn’t make it to the ledge like I’d hoped. I was sure I could down climb, but I built an anchor so April could rap to the ledge from where I’d made it to.

April got down to me and looked confused. I explained what was going on and she made the short rap to the ledge. I cleaned all but the #1 camalot in my anchor and was getting ready to down climb when April started hollering at me about not down climbing. So I found a small tusk of rock, dropped a sling and a biner on it, and made the short rap. I was hoping I’d be able to get the sling back my flipping the rope hard enough but that sling and biner is still up there, right off the ledge.

We sat on the party ledge for a second and collected our thoughts while staring out over the meadow below us. We noted some fires and headlamps down below and checked the time. It was around 10:45.

We needed to get going soon so I started to rap off a huge slung boulder on the ledge. On my way over I realized that I had broken this pitch up into two sections so not wanting to die this close to getting down I swung over to the old tat I had backed up earlier, clipped in, and dropped a nut in the crack nearby. I instructed April on what to do and after getting her over to me, we pulled the rope real quick and I headed down to the ground.

I got down and immediately started packing up. April got down, got out of her shoes and followed suit. It was now around 11:15. After packing up we started hiking back to camp picking our way through the talus at the base of Pingora in the dark thanks to some well placed cairns left by others. To those before me, thank you for the cairns.

We got back to the tent around 12, cooked a quick dinner and hit the sack. We talked about not climbing the next day and some other options before passing out for the night.

April and I awoke the next morning to the sun coming up over Mitchell and quickly warming our tent. To our surprise we both felt good and decided we’d hike up to Pingora, get on the East Ledges II 5.2, and intersect where we’d left off on our route the night before. Fortunately the routes intersect right below where we'd bailed so we could do the route in two pushes, I guess.

EAST LEDGES AND EAST FACE ROUTES


We cooked some breakfast, loaded up, and headed back out feeling good about the day. We arrived at the base of the shoulder of Pingora and headed up following the path we’d scoped out two days before. We hiked up gentle switchbacks, scrambled up some moderate 4th class, and eyed the East Ledges route.

GEAR


We weren’t really sure how to start the East Ledges and really wanted to do the classic line up the South Buttress. So we said hell with it, we’ll leave the gear and go up this beautiful line.

SOUTH BUTTRESS II 5.8
Approximation of line on left of picture


We got our stuff organized and I started up the beautiful right facing corner of the first pitch, plugging and chugging the hand crack in the corner to a nice belay spot on top of a pedestal. I brought April up and re-racked my gear. I headed out to the right, traversed around the face and back into another corner system, this time with twin cracks splitting it, one in the corner and one in the right face. This was like heaven. I was chugging along up beautiful 5.6 terrain split by perfect hand and fist cracks in immaculate granite in the stellar setting that is the Cirque of the Towers.

I gained the ledge at the top of that pitch, below the iconic K-Cracks and brought April up below me. She was having a blast and excited at the cool first two pitches. She was even more psyched when I pointed out the last pitch despite her throbbing toes. Some people were rappelling off the last pitch so we waited for them to pass, exchanged a few words about the pitch, and I headed off up the left crack. Good jams lead to a nicely textured face split by a beautiful crack with bomber finger locks. A couple of smeary moves and good finger locks lead to a ledge below some 4th class to the summit. I stopped and brought April up to my position, explained the next steps and we set off slowly up the 4th class scrambling.

K CRACKS


APRIL COMING UP K CRACKS


At this point April was crying her feet hurt so bad, but she didn’t let that get in her way as we summited Pingora shortly after. We stayed and looked around for a little while and ran into another party on the summit. They had just come up the North East Face IV 5.8. We talked to them and talked about our descent in the dark last night. They said they had watched us all night and were saying prayers hoping we’d get down safely. We said goodbye and headed back down the 4th class to where we’d left our ropes. We rappelled back down to a ledge near our packs, hiked over, packed our stuff and went back to camp.

SCRAMBLING TO THE SUMMIT


SUMMIT CELEBRATION, YAY WHISKEY



Later that evening we caught up with Ty and Liz. They had done a 5.10 route going up Warrior I. They had gotten a super early start and got back right before dark. We talked about plans for the next day and decided we wanted something easier as a group. April opted out of any climbing for the next day because of her feet so we decided on Block Tower as an easy route to knock out in a few hours the next day.

April and I awoke to another beautiful morning in the Cirque and I crawled out of bed to see if Ty and Liz were up. They were nowhere to be found so I got to work sorting gear, April pumped some water, and I made some breakfast. By the time April and I had eaten Liz and Ty were stirring and we got ready to head out for the Block Tower around 11:00.



April assumed the position for the rest of the day while we were gone:

APRIL SLEEPING ON ROCK AT CAMP


We picked this route because the guide said there was one pitch of 5.5, one pitch of 5.4 two pitches of 5.2, and about 600 feet of 4th class. We figured it wouldn’t be hard to knock out in four to five hours with three of us and one rope.

We headed up towards Pingora, passed by it, hiked along below Wolfs Head and it’s beautiful corners above us and arrived a permanent snow pack after crossing talus around the Cirque Lake. Cool thing about the Cirque Lake, it's totally hidden from view until you hike all the way up to it from down in the meadow. It's also the highest lake in the Cirque (I believe) and feeds the streams that run through the meadows. I assume something flows into Cirque Lake from the other side of Block Tower/Sharks Nose.

CIRQUE LAKE


After negotiating the snow pack to the base of Block Tower we found the route. It started in a chimney and went for what the book states as 120 feet. Ty lead the first pitch, Liz tied in short about 15 feet in front of me and I was on the end of the rope. Well Ty took the entire 60 meters of rope before he built a belay. Liz and I climbed up to the belay, scouted out the next “pitch” and decided I would lead it. Liz tied back in near Ty and I headed off for another 100 feet or so. I climbed what should have been 4th class by the book, but was really easy 5th class. I got up to a belay ledge in the 4th class terrain and brought Liz and Ty up. I set off again through moss and gravel covered ledges ranging from 6 inches wide to 2 feet wide. This was actually kind of scary… I was traversing up and right with hardly any pro on mossy and gravelly ledges some 400 feet up with nothing but ledges to hit below me.

BLOCK TOWER ROUTE


After about 4 more rope lengths of 4th class and easy 5th class (close to 800 feet probably) we arrived at the chimney pitch. Liz took the easy chimney up to an arête where we swapped leads again I climbed up the low angle arête. The guide gave this section 125 feet. I ran the rope out one whole length and then Ty and Liz passed me by on easy terrain until they reached the ledge another 75 feet away…

Now the last pitch is described in the guide as a “wide crack to the summit.” Normally when I think wide crack I think fist size to arm bar. This was a full on chimney and after sitting around scratching our asses for a few minutes Liz said “fuck it” and took off up the sketchy looking chimney. Confirming the route was an old nut. Liz made some sketchy moves out of the chimney, up the face, and onto the summit. Liz was our hero at that point. Ty and I followed suit with Ty trying to not kick loose rocks on me tied in 10 feet behind him. We reached the summit, took some pictures and evaluated our rappel. There were three pitons tied off in a crack. Good. We backed it up, rapped off, and cleaned our back up gear.

PITONS AND TAT


ME AND LIZ


VIEW FROM THE TOP



We reached the ledge and started to rappel back down the low angle blocky arête, trying not to fall off either side of it for fear of a heinous swing along the face dropping away 6 inches to either side of us. Two rappels took us to the top of the chimney where we rappelled back down to the last ledge at the top of the 4th class terrain. Since I had lead the way through here I took the lead on the way back. In a half ass down climb I meandered down the face to a huge block. We tied off the block and made another rappel hoping to barely reach a ledge below.

Halfway down the rope I realized the rope wouldn’t reach so I started looking for other options. I spotted some tat off to my left and started traversing along broken ledges and faces to until I was close to the end of the rope. I slid the rope out of my belay device by just letting the ends fall through and took a few steps over to some tat around a flake. Liz and Ty followed and we set up another rappel, not entirely sure of where we were going. Once I took off though I quickly found the tat that I had belayed off of at the end of my first pitch of 4th class on the way up. We rappelled the rest of the route without any incident, gathered our gear at the base and started back to camp.

Ty and Liz, more comfortable on snow glissaded down while I picked my steps carefully and slowly. I caught up to them in the talus and we hiked along Cirque Lake, back towards Pingora and eventually back to camp as the sun was setting behind the Block Tower.

That was our last day of climbing and the next day we packed up and headed out. Once again April and I went ahead of Liz and Ty but they soon caught us as April tried to cope with a big toe that was in excruciating pain. They passed us and we eventually caught up to them as they were taking a dip in North Lake near where we had camped earlier that week.

TY AND LIZ SWIMMING


April and I headed on trying to gain ground but Liz and Ty soon passed us again so we took our time and meandered back towards Big Sandy Lake.

APRIL HIKING OUT


APRIL AT BIG SANDY ON THE WAY OUT


We eventually made it back to the car and found Liz and Ty there ahead of us. They had my trunk open and were cleaning out trash. When we walked up and dumped their packs they tossed me a shirt that had been in my trunk. It was full of holes and they were picking up little pieces of torn paper and mouse shit from my trunk. Apparently a mouse had gotten in my car while we were gone and he built a little home somewhere in there.

After loading the gear up we headed out of Big Sandy and back to Montana. On the way back we saw a trailer on fire at a campground and Ty was pulled over because I told him my speedo reads 5 mph fast. The cop that pulled us over let him off, but not before giving me grief about my .38 special in the glove box (which was totally legal considering my permit). We drove through Teton and eventually made it back to Livingston late that night.

About three months later April lost her toe nail on one foot and the other is just now coming off. I learned about the ropes I had purchased and that the girl that sold them to me didn’t really know much about them but had to sell them due to a family issue that was going on.

The trip was definitely an experience. I learned a lot about myself and about climbing and camping in remote areas. It's definitely something I'll do again if I have the chance. It's an adventure that I had a blast being a part of and would recommend to anyone thinking about it.

Nice TR! Great photos, thanks for posting up.

Cool trip. The Cirque is so cool. You had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I'm glad everything turned out ok. Rappel fiascos are my nightmare.

which 'new' guide book did you have? the wind rivers hiking and climbing guide published in 1994 or is there a more currect version?

Sam,

Fantastic trip report and photos. Really, really enjoyed the read. We need more of this on MP.

Chris

Very cool TR! Looks like great climbing. April is a badass!!! That is quite an endeavor after having climbed for only 6 months! I don't know if I've ever done that long of an approach-great job to you all. Seems like a challenging climbing experience. I want to go there now. Thank you :)

Fun read. It was like a mini vacation in these subzero temps.

thanks for sharing!! loved the photos

Nice TR but for god sakes get her some comfy shoes if she's only been climbing 6 months!

Greg G - There's a new guidebook by Steve Bechtel "Cirque of the Towers and Deep Lake..."

amazon.com/Cirque-Towers-Se…

It's a nice compact size, good color photos- works well for trips in the Winds.

Looks like you had alright weather the whole trip. Looked like a blast!

This was so great - felt like I was looking over your shoulder in the Cirque while I was reading this. If you have more tr's, please post up!

Thanks for the kind comments ya'll. We had great weather the entire time we were there, and yes April now has a pair of womens Mythos. Now that her toe nails have fallen off and halfway re-grown, she's happier in them for the time being.

I can't wait to go back and glad to know that so many people enjoyed the read. I'll write up a trip report for Red Rocks from November when I get some more time.

Awesome TR! I don't want to preach but it sounds like you bought used ropes from here? That sketches me out man... If the sheath was messed up and hidden with athletic tape did you think about what else could be wrong with it? (Like being stored with a gasoline, etc or something you couldn't visibly check?) Glad it all worked out for you!

I appreciate the concern Nick, but I'll take my chances. I trust myself to check my gear and make correct conclusions about it's condition and usability. That rope was removed from service after the trip.

And FWIW, gasoline has no effect on nylon.

Sam Stephens wrote:I appreciate the concern Nick, but I'll take my chances. I trust myself to check my gear and make correct conclusions about it's condition and usability. That rope was removed from service after the trip. And FWIW, gasoline has no effect on nylon.

You're right but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. Replace gas battery acid, etc. it was the unknown. You are a braver man than I =) Awesome write up, I'd definitely like to take a trip out there in the future.

It's all good, I understand your point. Glad I could ignite a desire to make it out to a beautiful place.

I remember Sam called the girl out in the thread. She was some 16 year old girl if I remember correctly, and basically pulled one of the biggest dick moves I've seen on MP and denied everything.

Anyways great TR. I want to get up to the winds this summer myself, but are there more structured raps than what you experienced? It's great to keep it alpine, but you would think that constant tat all over the peaks is a negative too. It almost be better off to bolt the raps than leave piles of webbing and gear all over the routes.

Anyone have any experience / thoughts on the general raps in the area?

From what I remember, there weren't any bolted raps. Everything was slung or natural anchors. Looking at my guide book I don't see any mention of any either. The faces are so big and open that the tat is impossible to see from the ground though. I never noticed it til I was up there.

The descents are described in the guide book for the most part, but some can be and are vague.

Very Interesting...Im Pretty sure I was in the Cirque the same time you guys were...I definitely remember seeing many a party bailing off the East face, left side cracks route on Pingora.
Does this look familiar??

Sketchy Tat removed from Pingora. Wind river range Wyoming

A little advice when climbing in the alpine...
- Using old TAT anchors for belay anchors, not always a good idea
- Climbing a big grade IV route with little to no Alpine experience, not such a great idea.
- 10:00am Start...Really bad Idea in the Winds.

Now, dont start thinking that Im picking on you guys because Im trying to do the exact opposite.
All the guide books that you can read about the Cirque are vague for a reason...These are BIG routes and especially in regards to Pingora there are no standard "belay" stations listed in the guide book mainly because its choose your own adventure while climbing this route. My partner and myself removed some shitty tat from East Face route the day after you guys climbed it...there was also alot of Tat that I saw that was left because I could see that it was off route in places and not worth swinging over to remove.. all in all after 7 roped 200 foot stretchers and some 400 feet of simul-climbing through the easy slabby section , we never once used Tat anchors for belays...
Sam, I will say props to leading all those pitches, I didnt get the idea you guys were swapping leads which would have obviously made the climb go much faster. You were guiding your partner and unless your super fast on lead and building anchors I think it be tough to finish that climb in the daylight.
Also props for choosing such a bad ass place to gain some valuable alpine climbing experiences.
As far as your double ropes are concerned I'd throw those away dude. If your serious about alpine climbing get yourself some new doubles in like the 8.5 diameter or something. Your rope is essentially your life line up there.
Last but not least great job in getting down at night with headlamps. We were watching your mini epic from our camp below War Bonnett and could literally feel the tension in the air..Glad everyone is safe..Cool Pics man !!

my first alpine route was the NE face of Pingora in early season conditions. No ice on the actual route but snow pack and post-holing all the way up to the base. Also started around 9:30 am and made it down with natural light. Pretty mellow location actually all things considered to gain experience.

not all alpine routes start with an alpine start! We had 3 days of high pressure riding us when i was there and conditions were perfect.

Pingora due to travel could probably benefit from a fixed rap station guide. I dont know about bolts, but there was a shit ton of tat on it when i did the route. Some of it didnt even make sense location wise.