It's hard to convey what makes these adventures worth the time and effort. To visit these places requires a Wind River Reservation fishing permit, a long windy drive up a potholed road, and a full day's effort with or without pack horses to get in, and another full day of hiking to get out. Jesse made the trip from Seattle. I drove up from Grand Junction, and we both did it twice. We did it because it is worth it. The exploratory aspect, the romance of heading into the mountains for days to see what you will find, the slightly hallucinatory effect that this much wilderness, nature, scale and solitude can have on you. The fun bouldering feels like an incredible bonus. If you're interested in seeing my packing list for an expedition like this, I put it at the end of this post.
The trip was Jesse Brown's idea. He wanted to do a horse packing bouldering trip into the Winds. It wasn't a completely original idea. Todd Skinner and crew bouldered around Mt. Hooker from a horse pack supported camp when they weren't busy climbing the big wall, and I'd paid a deposit for horse packing back in 2010 for a trip to the Cirque of the Boulders before the other developers backed out. But this was the first horse packing trip with bouldering as its main pursuit, that actually happened, that I was aware of.
Jesse Brown psyched to hike in without a big pack!
Cathedral Lake was just below some incredible looking boulder fields on Google Earth, horse packers go there regularly, and it has established camping areas with a bear box. The more the merrier with alpine bouldering, and having more people helps distribute the cost of the horses and wranglers.
Regular Organic Pads fit on the horses well.
Jesse and I invited friends. Josephine made the trip to see the Winds. Andy made the trip to climb, but also to get photos. Nick wanted first ascents. I was excited to see new boulders and hopefully put up something cool.
Collin came in excited for all of it.
We hiked in, it started to rain. We searched for blocks in the rain. Boulders were plentiful, but not the quality we hoped for. It was cold too. We hung out by the fire when it wasn't actively raining, and sat in our tents when it was.
The next day started wet, but things dried out in the afternoon. Nick went exploring early and found blocks to develop by himself at the base of Cathedral. The rest of the crew got started on a nice set of blocks in a saddle just north of Cathedral that we called the "Badger Boulders." We actually saw a badger in them when we arrived. We put up 7 problems, and I made this topo for them.
This was my favorite.
We couldn't stop exploring, but I did take time to put up one line in this valley. A V2 called "The Outlier."
Josephine was feeling wiped out by the hiking and altitude. So she waited for us down valley while we explored. We found her asleep on a rock when we returned. I guess she wasn't that scared of the bears.
The next day was dry and Jesse, Josephine and I went back to the coolest block we saw up valley. I put up this line, the highlight of my trip, and Jesse put up an exciting V3 up the left arete called "The Mountains are Calling"
The horses allowed us to pack in incredible food, which was nice, but expensive. We paid $500-600 per person after tip. Is it worth it? It depends on how much you need to suffer to get $600 I guess. My big pad wouldn't fit on the horses, so I still needed to carry a lot of weight myself.
The Hemingways 2022
Another horse pack supported trip organized by Jesse. This time to a valley south of Cathedral Lake. He invited his friend Greg, who brought his family for a bit of fishing and bouldering.
I decided to carry all my own gear and food in myself. I wanted to see what I could do, and avoid the high cost of horses. My pack was heavy, but when I saw the valley and the boulders, the burden was worth it.
One key to making the expedition work, was my ultralight tent. I set up the tent, and then Jesse and I hiked our pads into the boulder field.
We hung the pads for the night. No one else was in the entire valley, and they were safe from critters.
The next morning we hiked in, just carrying our day packs.
At first we were disappointed by the unexpectedly high amount of snow. Many of the featured overhangs Jesse photographed on his hike the year before were buried. We made the best of our situation, climbing some lines that might only be possible over snow landings.
The next day was a rest day. I bathed in water warmed by the sun running over rock slabs. Amazing!
The next climbing day I put up my favorite line of the trip. It starts where it does because it's where I could reach the horizontal crack. Traversing right, just to then traverse back left seemed silly, so I didn't.
Jesse put up a classic!
And I added one more interesting line.
Greg was surprised how good the boulders were. He ditched his fishing to spend an afternoon developing this nice block with his daughter. They did four good lines up this block V2-V4.
Jesse climbing "Dirty Sally" V2
I was surprised at how well my expedition bouldering system worked for a five day trip. I've used it many times since. Everything I needed, nothing I didn't.
In a plastic bear canister I put five days of food. For me that's ten packets of instant oatmeal for breakfast, ten Starbucks Via instant coffee packets. One package of hard cheese, one bag of crackers, 16 oz of beef jerky, peanut M&Ms, 8 cliff bars, and 5 freeze dried back packing dinners.
Two Nalgene water bottles, iodine tablets for water treatment.
Day pack with climbing shoes, chalk, athletic tape, brushes
Puffy coat, hoody, one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, 2 t-shirts, 4 pairs of socks and underwear. Camp Suds to do laundry and for bathing in a stream, toothbrush and paste, wag bags
Headlamp, Compass, Map, Rain Coat, Pocket Knife, Pen, Small Journal, Phone, Extra Battery and charging cord, Insect Repellent, head net, hat, sunscreen, backpacking stove, and one fuel canister, lighter, emergency matches.
Hiking Poles (required for the tent)
Gossamer Gear Tent called The One.
Inflatable sleeping pad
Ultralight plastic ground cloth
Down Sleeping Bag
Approach shoes
A couple cams and slings for hanging your pad.
Stuff everything into an Organic Backfourty Big Pad, and start hiking.
That's all you need for a five day bouldering expedition into the Winds.
Thanks go out to Jesse and everyone who came along for making these trips happen!
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