My friend and I are hoping to climb both Gannett Peak in Wyoming and Granite Peak in Montana this summer. We have done a fair amount of the highpoints in the SW (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona) but nothing in the NW. From what I can tell by reading, we should be knowledgeable on using crampons, ice axes, rappelling gear, ect. Since we are new to this type of climbing, I am curious to know if we are crazy to consider doing these two peaks without the use of a guide?

Thanks for any advice!

Mark

I would highly recommend that you learn how to use crampons, ice axes, and rappelling gear if you choose to go without a guide. Granite is going to involve some rock climbing no matter which route you take and Gannett will require glacier crossings and snow climbing on the standard route from either approach. Depending upon conditions (and your state of mind), you may need to rig a rappell or two on either mountain and trust me, you really don't want to learn how to do a crevasse rescue without the gear or practice (a friend of mine fell in one while crossing the Dinwoody Glacier unroped - his pack kept him from going to the bottom). The same goes for rappelling. It's one thing to learn it in a gym on fixed gear but it's a whole new ballgame when you're looking down a couple of thousand feet from the side of a mountain.

As for crazy, heck no. With the proper preparation and planning self-guided trips are the only way to go IMO. However, If you only plan to do Granite and Gannett a guided trip would make sense. They provide most of the gear so you don't have to invest in a bunch of gear that you may not use again.

Good luck either way you choose to go!

Bob

There is a less technical route that comes in from the Green Lakes trailhead from the NW aspect. You can take the Highline trail from there to the Tourist Creek drainage and head up that drainage then angle on a bench south to Scott lake. I haven't done this approach and it involves a 6 mile boulder field. However, it minimizes your elevation gained/lost, and there is a 3rd/4th class couloir/ridge on the NW side that is technically less challenging than the Gooseneck route. Route finding from the West side is def more challenging from what I've read and there are plenty of technical rock climbs that I was planning for this summer on that side. I've been wanting to do that couloir/ridge as well. The descent would definitely be expedited if you have rappelling knowledge.....but from reading I don't think it's a requirement. Crossing minor glacier may require crampons depending on conditions, but it's fairly low angle. Snow conditions in the couloir may require crampons unless you're willing to do some 4th/lower 5th rock scrambling. There are some trip reports about in on here.....look for the Tourist creek approach. As for Granite, I'd highly recommend rope skills for that one if you're not used to moving quickly over technical 4th class/snow unroped.

I,m afraid, I will have to disagree with wyoming summit, Tourest creek is shorter,but will require all your mountaineering skills,and this is a very remote way to climb Gannett. The thing about the standard route,although longer, and slightly more Technical, there will be a lot of parties climbing, and getting beta, from other people along the way can boost your chances of summiting. the green river lakes approach will be most likely a solo adventure, and you will be on your own.

As far as skills, practice rappelling, a lot, Make sure you can set up a rap station, from just about anywhere, using gear, slings, rocks, snow, ect... If your off route, or the weather is moving in, or you just had enough,you can always rap down.

Keep in mind, as soon as you use any climbing gear, ropes, crampons, pro, you will add a lot of time, fooling around with gear, so plan (VERY EARLY) summit day.

I like Early Aug, for Gannett, The Skeeters are almost gone, and the snow is still in good shape (not to icy).although that is dictated by the winters snowpack.

Granite peak, Well Off the summit by noon.

As far as a guide?????? Don't know about that. Try some controlled rock climbing, see how that feels. some basic route finding skills are a must. If you are looking at just getting up the mountain, a guide may be the way to go. If you like the pure adventure, of it, whether you make it or not, doing it on your own is very rewarding.


Good luck, and enjoy the journey! Peter

I've done both, unguided...

First off, you do NOT need technical equipment for Granite! At least, not if you take the less-frequented Southwest Couloir route, approaching from Cooke City. You'll need some routefinding expertise, and if you go early enough in the season, the couloir could still hold snow (in a typical year, mid-August is probably a safe bet). Without snow, the route barely exceeds class 3, and virtually nobody would consider a rope necessary. Even with a slower hiking partner in his late 60s, with a start at first light, we were on top by mid-morning from camp in the upper Sky Top Basin. From the standard northern approaches, however, technical climbing gear is generally a must. Here's my account of the trip: http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=11231

Gannett--I came in from the east via the Indian route (Ink Wells), which is the easiest (but most expensive!) way to climb the peak. I think the key to success for this one is hitting it at the sweet spot when the approach is melted out, but the 'schrund hasn't yet significantly opened. In a low snow year, we found June 30th to be perfect; most years, probably early-mid July would be better. Be aware the eastern approaches melt out sooner than the western approach, so even with these dates, you could be doing miles of snowshoeing coming in from the west. Snow-wise, we were able to get up to 11800' or so on bare rock alone, and except at the 'schrund, crevasses were basically nonexistent. We gave ourselves nearly a week for the trip, though we had good weather throughout.

Hope this helps--PM me if you have questions!

At least, not if you take the less-frequented Southwest Couloir route, approaching from Cooke City. You'll need some routefinding expertise, and if you go early enough in the season, the couloir could still hold snow (in a typical year, mid-August is probably a safe bet). Without snow, the route barely exceeds class 3, and virtually nobody would consider a rope necessary.

While I hear this is generally true, I know someone who did this route on late July or August and found not only snow in the couloir but ice as well. His party wasn't prepared for that and nearly got into serious trouble. Luckily, they came across a very experienced climber who was able to help out.

Even for this route, I would check first on winter snowfall amounts and what kind of summer it has been. That's a long approach in, and it would really suck to get there and find yourself underprepared due to ice.

Bob Sihler wrote:

At least, not if you take the less-frequented Southwest Couloir route, approaching from Cooke City. You'll need some routefinding expertise, and if you go early enough in the season, the couloir could still hold snow (in a typical year, mid-August is probably a safe bet). Without snow, the route barely exceeds class 3, and virtually nobody would consider a rope necessary.

While I hear this is generally true, I know someone who did this route on late July or August and found not only snow in the couloir but ice as well. His party wasn't prepared for that and nearly got into serious trouble. Luckily, they came across a very experienced climber who was able to help out.

Even for this route, I would check first on winter snowfall amounts and what kind of summer it has been. That's a long approach in, and it would really suck to get there and find yourself underprepared due to ice.

I was part of the mentioned party. We climbed on July 24, 2012 and, for whatever reason, didn't bring our crampons. While I would agree the coulior is class 3 in ideal conditions, I can't see it being ideal more than maybe 1-3 weeks out of the summer (meaning no hard snow or ice from previous winter and no fresh snow recently). We found a steep, hard snowbank at the base of the mountain that we had to climb around on loose rock because we didn't have our crampons. Then there was a small section of steep ice with wet rock above in the coulior, no more than 20 feet but there was no way around it. Luckily another climber came up right behind us and had crampons and cut steps in the ice for us. Even so, it was super sketchy, even with an ice axe. We had to stand on the top edge of the ice and use our ice axe on the wet rock to get above it. Not sure how we got back down it but we did!

Moral of the story: bring your crampons if you are climbing anything big unless you have recent, reliable info that you won't need them. And yeah, the approach is really long for the SW coulior, so it would have sucked to turn around when we were so close to the summit. Here is a shot of the ice section in the coulior.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =675%2C900

Bob Sihler wrote:While I hear this is generally true, I know someone who did this route on late July or August and found not only snow in the couloir but ice as well. His party wasn't prepared for that and nearly got into serious trouble. Luckily, they came across a very experienced climber who was able to help out.

Even for this route, I would check first on winter snowfall amounts and what kind of summer it has been. That's a long approach in, and it would really suck to get there and find yourself underprepared due to ice.

Very true...I would imagine mid-August is generally a "safe" time to do the route without snow, but it's impossible to tell. I climbed it Labor Day after an incredibly high snow year (still TONS of snow in parts of Sky Top basin), we'd heard descriptions of the couloir holding big patches of snow as late as mid-August then, but only found some verglas at a choke point when we were there, no actual snow in the couloir itself. The ice made that spot tricky to surmount, and it was probably the crux of the route.

As the route is gaining in popularity these days, hopefully you can get beta at some point before your climb. That said, I'd still recommend the second half of August to make the ascent, unless you enjoy snow climbs. Early September can have nice weather, but at that point I imagine you're pretty much rolling the dice.

pyerger wrote:I,m afraid, I will have to disagree with wyoming summit, Tourest creek is shorter,but will require all your mountaineering skills,and this is a very remote way to climb Gannett. The thing about the standard route,although longer, and slightly more Technical, there will be a lot of parties climbing, and getting beta, from other people along the way can boost your chances of summiting. the green river lakes approach will be most likely a solo adventure, and you will be on your own.

As far as skills, practice rappelling, a lot, Make sure you can set up a rap station, from just about anywhere, using gear, slings, rocks, snow, ect... If your off route, or the weather is moving in, or you just had enough,you can always rap down.

Keep in mind, as soon as you use any climbing gear, ropes, crampons, pro, you will add a lot of time, fooling around with gear, so plan (VERY EARLY) summit day.

I like Early Aug, for Gannett, The Skeeters are almost gone, and the snow is still in good shape (not to icy).although that is dictated by the winters snowpack.

Granite peak, Well Off the summit by noon.

As far as a guide?????? Don't know about that. Try some controlled rock climbing, see how that feels. some basic route finding skills are a must. If you are looking at just getting up the mountain, a guide may be the way to go. If you like the pure adventure, of it, whether you make it or not, doing it on your own is very rewarding.


Good luck, and enjoy the journey! Peter

Ok.....but I never said Tourist Creek was "easier" nor did I say it was "shorter". What I said was it minimizes elevation gained and lost(by cutting out a summit day with climbing and descending Bonney Pass twice if done via Titcomb) while providing as less technical summit day I was simply pointing out that there is a route that can be done without rappel or lead climbing/steep ice experience. I've read a bunch of TR's outside of SummitPost by folks who weren't climbers who used this route. The OP seems like someone who isn't new to the mountain world.....just doesn't have technical experience with ropes and crampons. Some people who I've known who did the NW ridge said the ice/snow was minimal(mid august) and the rock climbing was tame 4th/3rd class. Judging by the OP it seems they may have all of the other capabilities. The benefit of Tourist Creek is that while the approach is bushwacking and the boulderhopping/route finding is tougher, the necessary rope work is minimal, the need for technical ice/rap experience is less, and you have minimal if any crevasse issues on Minor Glacier compared to Dinwoody...which isn't that bad anyway. Seems as if this addresses the OP's concerns about the tech requirements he needs while still providing a route to the summit. I would strongly ADVISE that they get rope work in, especially if a storm comes up, to make getting off the ridge faster and safer(especially in icy conditions). It would benefit us all if everyone who traveled in the mountains spent more prep time working on self arrest, knots, rap systems, rope teams, self rescue, and crevasse rescue before heading out.....and I wasn't by any stretch trying to insinuate that Tourist Creek is easier! Sorry if it came across that way. On another note, if you decide to take a western approach, do try to make it a later date for your stream crossings to be a bit easier. It may look on your map like the Wells creek drainage would provide more direct access to Scott lake and the route than Tourist Creek. But this approach hits a very narrow pinch in the canyon that sometimes is not passable except for a risky stream crossing during high water, or a 100ft 5.6 rock climb. If you do not have roped climbing experience, stay on the Tourist Creek drainage.

Dartmouth Hiker wrote:I've done both, unguided...

virtually nobody would consider a rope necessary.

I'm not sure about this, I was there on Aug 14th, 2012, there was no snow but the exposure of the class3/4 climbing is significant.

The key comment in the OP is, "Since we are new to this type of climbing..."

If you have no experience with off-trail route finding, rock climbing or steep snow/glaciers, then you definitely should either get trained, hire a guide, or go with an experienced partner.

People frequently get themselves into serious trouble because they attempt to do something without the right level of experience. Both peaks are fairly challenging and very remote. A mistake on either could result in serious injury or death. A simple thing like getting off route could cause a serious problem. Be smart!

Agree with Alpinist.

For the new climber, I'd also like to point out something mentioned previously- the ideal time to climb Gannet is late June/early July, but the ideal time to climb Granite is late August. So if you want best conditions, plan on two trips.

Use the standard approaches for Gannett Peak: via Glacier Trail, via Ink Wells (but expensive!), or via Bonney Pass. Personally, I prefer the Glacier Trail route... despite it having 10 total extra miles (which is really only an extra five miles each way, i.e. a couple of hours each way) over the Bonney Pass route it has a less strenuous/less labor-intensive summit day.

As for Granite Peak, I had a failed attempt at the end of August 2009 via the SW couloir route. I chose that route because it is considered less technical than the Froze-To-Death Plateau approach. A major storm hit the peak while we were there and I turned us around to safety right before that happened. Where we turned around in the couloir was at a major snow blockage within the lower couloir which would have required a lot of extra time and rock skills to get by. I have heard that snow can sometimes stay in there until mid-to-late September. Ugh. Next time (hopefully this year), I will re-attempt the peak via the other (Froze-To-Death) approach.

I find it odd that so many people try the Froze to Death Plateau approach for Granite Peak! If you want to climb the standard East Ridge of Granite Peak (which BTW is a far superior route) approach via Huckleberry Creek. You can see my Granite Peak page here on SP for the reasons why

I have done 3 different routes on Granite Peak and although I did enjoy the SW couloir route, I would consider the Sky Top Lakes/Aero Lakes approach the best part of that route. The couloir itself is loose and dirty when dry.

Yeah, I think in a storm I would rather be about anywhere than Froze-to-Death. I can't imagine that is any fun in a lightning storm.