Photo 1 - Mount Temple from Jack Ass Pass, 20 July 2007
Day 1 - Reach Trailhead at ~2pm. Somehow we manage to put our packs on (mine weights 65 lbs and Marc's weighs 76 lbs). It is a 6 mile easy (depending on how much weight is on your back) to Big Sandy Lake and then a another 2 miles over Jack Ass Pass (the actual and apt name for the pass) to get to the Cirque of Towers. We arrived at a nice camp site before you hit the nice upper meadow above Lonesome Lake that most people camp at. It is close to 10pm when we crawl into bed. But we can't sleep. We don't feel anxious for the following days planned route, we just can't sleep.
Day 2 - 2am. Marc and I take our pulses. Mine is ~80 bpm, his is 75 bpm. The elevation is just under 10,000 ft. Normally I don't think that the elevation would bother us so much, but the hike in took a lot out of us and we haven't recovered. Normally my heart rate is ~55 bpm, and Marc's is about 50 bpm. Right now, we're laying in bed with the heart rate of a brisk walker. Eventually, we fall asleep but the alarm goes off at 4am. Now my heart rate is ~70 bpm.
photo 2 - Mitchel Peak from across Lonesome Lake
In our hike to the base of Pindora, we chose to skirt the boulder field on the east side. Later we read that this is not the recommended approach, and sure enough it takes significant time to get to the north east side of Pindora. But we took some lovely pictures. Photo 2 shows Mitchel Peak to the east and photo 3 is a pano with includes Mitch on the left, then Jack Ass Pass, on the right of Jack Ass Pass is War Bonnet Peak and then Warrior I and Warrior II Peaks.
photo 3 -Mitchel and the Warrior Peaks early morning 21 July 2007
The climb basically follows a right facing corner system from bottom to top. It is steep and defined where rated 5.7 and grassy where not rated. The climb would have been awesome had we gotten some sleep. I think we did it in 10 pitches and in 8 hours. The descent took another 3 hours since we rope pulling was a nightmare at the rapels. The rope was officially stuck on the 3rd rapel and I had to climb up and cut 3 inches off the end of the rope. Good thing I carry a big sharp knife with me (also is great as a peanut butter spreader). Marc is looking very debonair in photo 4 by the time we hit the trail back to camp around 8pm.
photo 4 - Snack time after Pingora
Day 3 - High time for a rest day. We slept in, read and took a walk to Lonesome Lake.
photo 5. Pingora - the queen of the cirque
photo 6. Warbonet to Pingora pano
photo 7. Striking a pose in front of Pingora