Wind River Range Rack

If your buddy suggests a trip to the Wind River Range in Northwest Wyoming, there is only one question to ask:

“When do we go?”

The towering peaks that dot the range hold stellar granite pitches in a remote setting. The classic climbs on Pingora and the Wolf’s Head are popular for a reason: the rock is solid, the climbing engaging, and the views spectacular in all directions. And if you prefer absolute solitude, there are cirques deeper in the Wind River Range that rarely get repeated—undiscovered classics just waiting to be climbed.

Of course, the logistics for climbing in the Wind River Range—usually called “The Winds” by lovers of the range—are rather complex. You have to be a strong backpacker with overnight gear and an adept alpine climber. The shortest “approach” to any of the climbing areas is roughly 12 miles with nearly 4,000 feet of gain. All the routes are remote and above treeline, where thunderstorms can roll in without warning. Your nearest “towns” are Pinedale, Dubois, and Lander, each hours from any trailhead, and only Lander has more advanced services like a grocery store and hospital.

You need to be prepared before heading out into the Winds.

But what gear should you bring? And what is the best rack for the Winds? You don’t want to bring your whole gear room; that will make for a heavy backpacking pack, but you don’t want to be 4 pitches up, below the crux, and missing a key cam. In this article, we offer a suggested starting point for a Wind River Range climbing rack and gear list. This list was built by climbers who know the routes, whether they felt the exhilaration of summiting or learned hard lessons while bailing.

Depending on your route, you will need to swap out pieces of gear or bring extra cams of certain sizes, but the list below covers the basics that will set you up for success in the classic zones of Cirque of the Towers, Deep Lake, or the challenging Mt. Hooker at Baptiste Lake.

WIND RIVER RANGE RACK

• Double rack of C4 Ultralight Cams #1-3, then a single #4 (and a #5 if you’re feeling the wide)
• A set of Z4 cams, minimum doubles in #.4-.75
• A set of smaller Z4 Offset cams, #.1-.2 through .3-.4
• Classic Set of Stoppers
• Nut Tool
• 8-10 Miniwire Alpine Quickdraws
• ATC Guide
• Miniwire Carabiners on all cams and alpines.

* The Miniwire carabiners are 9g lighter than the Litewire carabiners; the weight adds up over a whole rack. *

• 2 extra Vaporlock carabiners
• 3-4 Dynex Dyneema slings, with at least 1 being 240cm in case you need to replace slings on a rappel
• 180cm Infinity Cord
• 8.8 Dry Rope
• Tagline
  

OTHER IMPORTANT GEAR

• Crack Gloves
• Solution Guide Harness
• Vapor Helmet
• Aspect Pro Climbing Shoes
• Crag Gloves
• Blitz 20 or Rock Blitz 15 for an on-route pack
• Sleeping bag and sleeping pad
• 2 32oz water bottles
• Backpacking stove, bowl, and utensils
• Firstlight Tent (or alternative)
• Wag Bags
• Mission 75 Backpack
• Trail Vista Trekking Poles
• Headlamp

Neither of these lists is comprehensive; they are simply starting points—We’ll see you out there!