Wildfire in Ten Sleep?

I took the week off travel to Wyoming to climb in Ten Sleep, but just discovered there is a fire threatening the climbing areas. Does anyone have any info? Should I cancel my plans for Ten Sleep and drive to Wild Iris or somewhere else?

Last I heard the fire was traveling s-se. They're closing down large stretches of 16. If I get any updates I'll let you know. Supposed to guide s group in the alpine near Woolsey on Sat....if the road is open. It's really freaking dry.

Thanks for the Info! I believe we are going to head up to Devils Towe for a couple days to see what unfolds and make moves after that. I've always wanted to climb the tower, just didn't know it would be happening this week. Glad we packed that trad rack

Yeah, I hesitated to recommend the tower because most head to Ten with 13 draws and a harness. :) It's hard to tell how long the road will be closed....weather may end up being the jury on this one. The tower is great. But it's a stupid hot year....bring lots of water.

We just left. The fire had jumped the ridge and was across the street from the old road entrance, which is where the camping was where we were at. We got the hell out in a hurry. It looked as though it was moving through the canyons as we were leaving. Not surprising, considering the winds and dryness.

Yeah, and the winds picked up again today. :(

If you head to the tower and still want to climb limestone Spearfish Canyon is only an hour from DT. Tons to do there as well. Hoping for rain. Could see the smoke when driving into the black hills from the east today.

I spoke with the Bighorn National Forest rep. Rt 16 is open and it's all good now.

Hey Jim, thanks for posting. Did you get a sense for what 'all good' means? Is it that you can just drive between buffalo & ten sleep, or is there a chance that the climbing and camping may reopen in the near future? My experience has been that burned areas can stay closed for years.

It's hard to find up-to-date info on this, but this is the latest update I can find. The map makes it look like it's burning along the rim. The media release says it is 60% contained.

The closure may have been reduced, but the link to the update isn't working. The original closure makes it look like all the climbing to the west/north of the road is closed.

Yeah. I saw the closure map posted yesterday, & it looks as if camping is open, as well as possibly some of the climbing above the switchbacks. It isn't terribly clear however, & seems optimistic to me in light of a large & currently active fire in the area.

Bump! Any more info on camping and climbing affected?

I had a trip planned for this weekend. Talked to a friend last night who's been in Ten Sleep the past couple weeks. As of last night, all climbing was still closed (technically), but most camping is open. There's still ash falling in the lower canyon so sleeping in your car is best. They still have all the parking at the picnic area by the lake closed for helicopter landing, but you can access the trail from the ski area with a longer walk. She said lots of firefighters and forest service people left yesterday, so that's a good sign I guess.

Has anyone heard if the climbing is open yet? Had planned on going there this weekend, guess we're going to Spearfish instead...

Taketaketaketaketake wrote:Has anyone heard if the climbing is open yet? Had planned on going there this weekend, guess we're going to Spearfish instead...

The latest I've seen is that the closure area was reduced. See map here. Looks like everything north of the road and west of the big switchbacks is closed.

We have plans to head there starting Saturday for the week. According to inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4… it is 100% contained and there are only 4 people left working on it. Hopefully that means closures should be removed by the end of the week.

Alexander Stathis wrote:We have plans to head there starting Saturday for the week. According to inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4… it is 100% contained and there are only 4 people left working on it. Hopefully that means closures should be removed by the end of the week.

I spoke with a lady a the USFS on 8/1/16 and she said the closures that are currently in place will stay that way for awhile. She said it could be anywhere from a couple weeks or until next year. There is no current timeline due to falling debris.

Sebastian Christopher wrote: I spoke with a lady a the USFS on 8/1/16 and she said the closures that are currently in place will stay that way for awhile. She said it could be anywhere from a couple weeks or until next year. There is no current timeline due to falling debris.

Thanks for that update. Are people still climbing there or is it pretty vacant? I'll talk with my friends about going somewhere else, I guess.

Bummer.

Alexander Stathis wrote: Thanks for that update. Are people still climbing there or is it pretty vacant? I'll talk with my friends about going somewhere else, I guess. Bummer.

It's pretty quiet out here now compared to before the fire, but people are trickling back. There are only a couple of walls still closed in the lower canyon, almost everything else is open.

beccs wrote: It's pretty quiet out here now compared to before the fire, but people are trickling back. There are only a couple of walls still closed in the lower canyon, almost everything else is open.

Thanks. We'll probably mosey on over that-a-way then.

Just an update: we are here now and have climbed many days. Most areas are open and we haven't encountered anything to make climbing difficult. We heard that everything from circus up was open, but not sure if that's true. Climbed at FCR and Mondo and it was fine.