Cirque of the Towers Traverse, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming
July 24th 2024
Written July 25th 2024
Wilson Cutbirth
On July 24th I left the Big Sandy trail head with my sights set on setting a new Fastest Known Time on the Cirque of the Towers Traverse. This would be my second attempt, the first attempt 1minute and 20 seconds slow of Dave Kesonie’s time of 10Hrs 7Min and 45Sec.
I wore a Garmin Forerunner 265 on my wrist as my primary recording device, my old Garmin instinct watch in my pack as a secondary device and also had my inreach tracking.
My climbing kit included a 70M 5.9mm power cord rope to rappel with, an ultra light Blue Ice climbing harness, atc style rappel device with prussik back up, La Sportiva TC pro climbing shoes, chalk bag, spare sling, 2 climbing rated carabiners and 4 4kn micro carabiners. Other kit included an ultra lightweight rain shell with alpha fleece lining, small knife, small headlamp. For food I brought a lot of gels and gummies, a couple bars, a PB&J, some granola and high carb drink mix. I brought capacity for 1.75L of water. All crammed into a Black Diamond Distance 4 running vest. I ran in a pair of La Sportiva Mutants. My pack weighed 13lbs when I left the trail head.
I left the trail head, starting at the info board and trail sign at about 9:40AM. I started relatively late in hopes that any climbers camped in the Cirque would have gotten a proper “alpine start” and been past the climbing sections on Pingora and the Wolfs Head by the time I caught up to pass.
The first 5 miles to Big Sandy lake went well, albeit my heart rate was high and I had a hard time pacing my self. I slowed down on the slog up Jack Ass Pass often speed hiking. I made it to the top of JA Pass in 1Hr 36Min.
From JA Pass to the base of Pingora went smoothly, I filled up all my water bottles from a small stream just before starting the scramble to the start of the climbing on Pingora. At the base of the S Buttress of Pingora I switched out of running shoes and into climbing shoes. I did not try and climb fast focusing more on moving smooth and in control. I summited Pingora 2Hrs 47Min after leaving the TH. I down climbed around the first couple of rappels on the way to the Wolfs Head and managed to only do 3 rappels between Pingora and The Wolfs Head all about 30 meters.
The climbing on the WH went well but was very taxing on the legs. My feet also started to hurt more than I’d like in my climbing shoes. I switched back into my running shoes for the last bit. I Summited WH at 3Hr 59Min. I down climbed around all the rappels getting off the Wolfs Head.
The OverHanging Tower was a slog but went quickly, I found the down climb to be the most technical and difficult part. I down climbed one particularly scary part that consisted of chimneying down a steep wet loose chimney, this could have been avoided by rappelling. This was maybe the most risk I took on the entire route. I found snow in the col between OH and the Sharks Nose, I added snow to half filled water bottles to melt and got more water.
The Sharks Nose went well, I switched back into climbing shoes about half way up. I Summited both the North and South summit and took extra caution on the technical climbing here as its high consequence and I was fatigued. I summited at 5Hrs 18 Min. I rappelled 3 times off the SN. All long and steep.
Climbing the Block Tower went fast and I rappelled 3 times to get into the gulley marking the last of the technical terrain. I found more snow in the gulley and added it to my partial water bottles. It is a terrible slog getting out of the gulley.
I got out of the gully and made my way to the Watchtower, it felt good to be back on semi runnable terrain. I Summited the Watchtower at 6Hr 50Min. On the way down from the Watchtower I detoured to tag the summit of the South Buttress of the Watchtower, It seemed prominent enough to me to warrant tagging as a bonus summit.
I got back on course and reached the actual summit of the S watchtower at 7Hrs 8Mins, the terrain to Pylon peak was steep and a lot of crawling over boulders, my legs started to cramp bad here. I summited Pylon and descended into what I called the mile 13 trench. I wanted to open it up on the steep down hill but bad leg cramps in my quads limited me. The crawl out of the trench I found to be the physically and mentally hardest hurdle of the traverse. I reached the summit of Warrior 1 with visually misshapen quad muscles. Despite the intense leg pain, I made it quickly to Warrior 2 at 8Hrs and summited the final peak, Warbonnet at 8hrs 25min.
The descent off Warbonnet attacked my downhill muscles more and I dealt with painful cramps on the insides of my quads locking my legs up all the way down to the meadows between the base and the main trail. When the Terrain leveled out in the meadows the cramps eased. Route finding was a little tricky in this part connecting marshy meadows with drainages trying to find the path of least resistance to the main trail.
I connected with the trail at the south end of Big Sandy lake at about 9Hrs 13Mins, I knew I had close to 5 miles to the finish. I paced my self at 9:45/mile, as fast as I thought I could go without blowing my legs out. I made it back to the trail head with a final time of 10Hrs 3mins 22secs.
My primary watch recorded 21.91 miles and 7825’ of elevation gain. My average heart rate was 145. I was unable to consume much solid food and recieved the vast majority of calories from gummies, gels and high carb drink mixes. I had no pre stashed gear, received no support along the way and every thing I brought in I either consumed or also brought out within my final time.