Post by Peter Bakwin on Nov 7, 2009 10:21:52 GMT -5
Anton Krupicka smashed the FKT on September 18, 2012: 8h46m32s car-to-car (from Green River Lakes).
Previously the FKT was held by Peter Bakwin (August 1, 2009) at 12h39m29s car-to-car, 7h00m car-to-summit (from Green River Lakes).
And, Andy Dorias set the previous ascent record on August 26, 2011, 6h30m from the Elkhart TH, with a slightly slower RT time of 12h45m55s.
Gannett Peak (13,804') is the highest peak in Wyoming. Lying deep within the Wind River Range, it is surely one of the most difficult of the 50 state high points due to long approaches and tough climbing.
Most often, Gannett is approached from the south via the Titcomb Basin / Bonney Pass route (40 miles round trip), or from the northeast, via the Glacier Trail (50 miles round trip). Though the Glacier Trail route is longer, it allows for a shorter summit day for most parties.
Gannett is seldom climbed in a single day. An early speed record was by the legendary Chris Reveley, who posted 17h48m round trip via Bonney Pass. I have confirmation of this from Reveley, but so far have not been able to get details, and don't know the date of his trip. He climbed from Elkhart Park via Dinwoody Pass.
Buzz Burrell and I wanted to climb Gannett in a day, but we didn't relish the long approaches of the usual routes. Looking at a map of the area, we determined that an approach via the Highline Trail from Green River Lakes would be shorter, probably about 36 miles round trip. Two drainages allow access to the Gannett's west face from this direction, Tourist Creek and Wells Creek. Wells Creek is the most direct, but the map clearly shows several contours coming together near 10,200' in the drainage, a feature known ominously as "The Cleft". Throwing caution to the wind, Burrell & I gave Wells Creek a shot on August 8, 2004. We found a wonderful, challenging, beautiful route, with a crux pitch in the Cleft that required some exposed 5.6 rock climbing. After floundering around in the Cleft, and enjoying a blue-bird day, we reached the summit in 9h40m, and completed the round trip in 18h15m, not quite matching Reveley's record. Our trip report and photos are here.
The Wells & Tourist Creek routes join above the Cleft, and then ascend Minor Glacier to gain the north ridge of Gannett. Minor Glacier has been studied by Mauri Pelto of Nichols College, and is in retreat. On a glaciology blog Pelto writes "Minor Glacier on Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range of Wyoming is truly minor compared to when its name was given. The glacier has retreated about 500 m since 1966, which was 35% of its total length. The east side of the glacier is nearly gone. The area has been reduced from 0.87 to 0.26 km2 in the last 50 years."
Perhaps inspired by our trip, Dave Anderson did a speed ascent of Gannett in September 2006 via the Green River Lakes approach (probably Wells Creek), making the summit in 8h20m, as reported on climbing.com. I do not know Anderson's round trip time. Anderson said "I bonked really hard on the run back, I even laid down on the trail and slept for a while, thus the slow car to car time."
I was unaware of Anderson's trip until July 31, 2009, exactly one day before I was planning another speed ascent of Gannett, this time via the Tourist Creek route (in order to avoid the difficult pitch in the Cleft of Wells Creek). In one of the many strange twists that sometimes occurs with these speed record things, on that day someone posted to a summitpost thread about Gannett as follows: "Just thought you guys might like to know. The current speed record for Gannette (sic) is 8 hrs and 20 min by Dave Anderson from Green River Lakes Entrance. And thats CAR to CAR. 17 hrs should be nice and comfortable! ha ha right?" I was following the thread on my iPhone, and was not able to research it further that afternoon. When I got home, I quickly found that the 8h20m was car-to-summit, not car-to-car. But, at the time the posting kind of threw me as 8h20m car-to-car would be an exceptionally fast time for any route on Gannett. Nevertheless, on August 1, 2009, I went ahead with my climb, and achieved the true FKT for Gannett of 12h39m29s car-to-car (7h00m car-to-summit), via the Tourist Creek route. The summitpost Tourist Creek route description is based on my trip.
My splits were as follows (elapsed time starting at Green River Lakes at 4:22 a.m.):
*Includes 10 min. spent on summit.
While not fully aware of the exact FKT for Gannett, Andy Dorias ran from the Elkhart T.H. to the summit and back in 12h45m55s on August 26, 2011. See below. While slightly slower than Bakwin's FKT, this is the fastest time for the longer (42 miles?) Elkhart - Titicomb Basin - Dinwoody Pass - Gooseneck Glacier route. Dorias' ascent time of 6h30m is an overall ascent record for the peak. His trip report is here.
Courtney Pace reports below doing Gannett via Wells Creek in a speedy 11h14m20s car-to-car (5h43m ascent), September 20, 2014. Going late in the season, Pace was able to jump across Wells Creek, rather than doing the sketchy solo.
Gannett Peak from the west
Previously the FKT was held by Peter Bakwin (August 1, 2009) at 12h39m29s car-to-car, 7h00m car-to-summit (from Green River Lakes).
And, Andy Dorias set the previous ascent record on August 26, 2011, 6h30m from the Elkhart TH, with a slightly slower RT time of 12h45m55s.
Gannett Peak (13,804') is the highest peak in Wyoming. Lying deep within the Wind River Range, it is surely one of the most difficult of the 50 state high points due to long approaches and tough climbing.
Most often, Gannett is approached from the south via the Titcomb Basin / Bonney Pass route (40 miles round trip), or from the northeast, via the Glacier Trail (50 miles round trip). Though the Glacier Trail route is longer, it allows for a shorter summit day for most parties.
Gannett is seldom climbed in a single day. An early speed record was by the legendary Chris Reveley, who posted 17h48m round trip via Bonney Pass. I have confirmation of this from Reveley, but so far have not been able to get details, and don't know the date of his trip. He climbed from Elkhart Park via Dinwoody Pass.
Buzz Burrell and I wanted to climb Gannett in a day, but we didn't relish the long approaches of the usual routes. Looking at a map of the area, we determined that an approach via the Highline Trail from Green River Lakes would be shorter, probably about 36 miles round trip. Two drainages allow access to the Gannett's west face from this direction, Tourist Creek and Wells Creek. Wells Creek is the most direct, but the map clearly shows several contours coming together near 10,200' in the drainage, a feature known ominously as "The Cleft". Throwing caution to the wind, Burrell & I gave Wells Creek a shot on August 8, 2004. We found a wonderful, challenging, beautiful route, with a crux pitch in the Cleft that required some exposed 5.6 rock climbing. After floundering around in the Cleft, and enjoying a blue-bird day, we reached the summit in 9h40m, and completed the round trip in 18h15m, not quite matching Reveley's record. Our trip report and photos are here.
The Wells & Tourist Creek routes join above the Cleft, and then ascend Minor Glacier to gain the north ridge of Gannett. Minor Glacier has been studied by Mauri Pelto of Nichols College, and is in retreat. On a glaciology blog Pelto writes "Minor Glacier on Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range of Wyoming is truly minor compared to when its name was given. The glacier has retreated about 500 m since 1966, which was 35% of its total length. The east side of the glacier is nearly gone. The area has been reduced from 0.87 to 0.26 km2 in the last 50 years."
Perhaps inspired by our trip, Dave Anderson did a speed ascent of Gannett in September 2006 via the Green River Lakes approach (probably Wells Creek), making the summit in 8h20m, as reported on climbing.com. I do not know Anderson's round trip time. Anderson said "I bonked really hard on the run back, I even laid down on the trail and slept for a while, thus the slow car to car time."
I was unaware of Anderson's trip until July 31, 2009, exactly one day before I was planning another speed ascent of Gannett, this time via the Tourist Creek route (in order to avoid the difficult pitch in the Cleft of Wells Creek). In one of the many strange twists that sometimes occurs with these speed record things, on that day someone posted to a summitpost thread about Gannett as follows: "Just thought you guys might like to know. The current speed record for Gannette (sic) is 8 hrs and 20 min by Dave Anderson from Green River Lakes Entrance. And thats CAR to CAR. 17 hrs should be nice and comfortable! ha ha right?" I was following the thread on my iPhone, and was not able to research it further that afternoon. When I got home, I quickly found that the 8h20m was car-to-summit, not car-to-car. But, at the time the posting kind of threw me as 8h20m car-to-car would be an exceptionally fast time for any route on Gannett. Nevertheless, on August 1, 2009, I went ahead with my climb, and achieved the true FKT for Gannett of 12h39m29s car-to-car (7h00m car-to-summit), via the Tourist Creek route. The summitpost Tourist Creek route description is based on my trip.
My splits were as follows (elapsed time starting at Green River Lakes at 4:22 a.m.):
| Start at Green River Lakes | 0:00 |
| bridge over Green River | 2:02 |
| Tourist / Wells divide | 4:35 |
| lower edge of Minor Glacier | 5:45 |
| summit | 7:00 |
| lower edge of Minor Glacier | 7:51* |
| Tourist / Wells divide | 8:54 |
| bridge over Green River | 10:57 |
| Green River Lakes trail head | 12:39 |
*Includes 10 min. spent on summit.
While not fully aware of the exact FKT for Gannett, Andy Dorias ran from the Elkhart T.H. to the summit and back in 12h45m55s on August 26, 2011. See below. While slightly slower than Bakwin's FKT, this is the fastest time for the longer (42 miles?) Elkhart - Titicomb Basin - Dinwoody Pass - Gooseneck Glacier route. Dorias' ascent time of 6h30m is an overall ascent record for the peak. His trip report is here.
Courtney Pace reports below doing Gannett via Wells Creek in a speedy 11h14m20s car-to-car (5h43m ascent), September 20, 2014. Going late in the season, Pace was able to jump across Wells Creek, rather than doing the sketchy solo.
Gannett Peak from the west
