Has anyone been in the Cirque of the Towers yet this year? I would like to head in this long weekend to do Pingora's NE face. I have been in the Cirque before, but not this early.

Some concerns:
Snow/Ice? Is the approach still buried?
Wet Route? Big snow ledge usually holds snow and drip on first pitch.
Weather? Has the Cirque entered the summer Thunderstorm cycle yet?
Bugs?

Thanks,
Jeremy

Bump. Gotta make my mind up on this right away. Any help is appreciated.

Ok. Looks like I'm the guinea pig. I'll post up when I get back. Leaving tomorrow (Thurs) afternoon. Home Monday night.

I just thought of checking this yesterday.
Taken from: www.wildirisclimbing.com/


6-25-08
Cirque of the Towers/Haystack
The road to Big Sandy trailhead is open. The trail is clear to Big Sandy Lake, but heavy snow will make continued travel into the Cirque very difficult. Gaiters and snowshoes may come in handy. The Rainbow Family is currently camped at Dutch Joe, just before the Big Sandy Trailhead. There is very limited parking available if any.


Cheers,
Greg

NE face was open the last time we headed there at this time of year while Wolf's Head and other higher destinations needed points and an alpine attitude

going there at this time may also require an ample-supply of deet in the highest percentage available - good luck..!!

anything more recent?

I posted an aerial photo of Titcomb Basin as of 7/1, but couldn't seem to get it onto the forum. You can see it in the Winds section of Wyoming. The snow may be going fast, but there sure is alot of it.

NOTE: I originally wrote this mini-TR in response to an email from another mp.com user. Have fun everyone...

We had an awesome trip into the Cirque. I do not know about Deep Lake conditions, but I will tell you what I know about the Cirque.

Approach/Snow: Snow was an insignificant factor- good thing because all we had were running shoes. The snow line is around Black Lake on the way into the Cirque. When you climb up the hill to bypass Black Lake on the right, there is some minor snow slogging while you traverse the slope. When you get to Arrowhead Lake, go left of the lake to take the "climber's shortcut." This is much faster and safer (when T-storms are around) than going up the actual Jackass Pass trail. You can walk along the the left side of the lake on nicely frozen snow/ice. Then up a scree trail for 1/4 mile and into the Cirque. All downhill on somewhat mushy snow to your chosen campsite. The morning approach up to Pingora had crusty snow covering much of the talus, meaning more speed. The descent off the South Buttress was mushy but allowed quick plunge-stepping straight into camp. A little looking around should reveal snow-free camp spots. The creeks are running everywhere giving easy access to water.


The Route: We did the NE Face of Pingora on Saturday 7/5/08. The route was dry and beautiful. We topped out around 1:30pm into gorgeous sunshine. The route was nice, with interesting and somewhat sustained climbing around 5.8 throughout. We did maybe 7 or 8 pitches stretching out a 70 meter rope. I thought the crux was the Pitch 1 friction traverse. The 5.8 "crux" slot accepted finger and hand jams and all sizes of gear. I did not place anything larger than 1 inch in the slot and sewed it up comfortably. A size 4 cam was not taken and definitely not needed. The size 3 (blue) added nothing to the safety of the climb, in my opinion. If done again, I would just bring to 2" cam, then a large orange Tricam for belays.

Rack: set of nuts
#7 hex
Tricams- brown, blue, orange
Aliens- green, green/yellow, yellow, yellow/red, red
Camalots- Green, Red, Yellow, Blue
Link Cams- #1, #2
10 24" slings

Crowds: There were no other climbers in the Cirque. We only saw a small hiking group and were aware of no one else camped in the Cirque.



Wolf's Head: We had considered doing Wolf's Head on Sunday. Instead, we opted to hike out Sunday and climb at Wild Iris a few hours on Monday. I believe the standard approach to WH would be trouble right now. The snow has piled high against the rock leaving what appeared to be large moats. The moats were crumbling and avalanching car sized chunks down the approach slope. Perhaps the Tiger Tower approach or the South Buttress route on Pingora as an approach would be more feasible/safer now.

A few more things...Bugs:

Bring strong DEET bugspray for the skeeters. They were thick at trailhead and somewhat thick at camp in Cirque. We had one "bug jacket" from REI-of course the girlfriend gets to wear this luxery item, not me. It was about 3-4 oz and green, $15. Highly recommended face and body coverage. The bugs were tolerable without the jacket if you keep long clothing on and well sprayed with the DEET. Overall, very tolerable and nothing like the horror stories I have heard. Much better than hoards of peple buzzing around...

Rainbow People:

Yes, they are probably still up there, packed by the thousands into the camps below Big Sandy. They are not at Big Sandy. When we arrived at Big Sandy, there were just a few cars there and no hippies to be seen. When we were leaving, they were slowly caravaning out of Dutch Joe and trying to bum rides. Pretty laid back scene- lots of peace signs and environmental advocacy. Strange how the cars were parked everywhere obviously destroying massive amounts of vegetation...

Jeremy-

All the beta on conditions is much appreciated! I'm leaving this Friday (11th) for a week in the Winds.

-Mark