Lone Peak Cirque, August 16-18, 2019

Driving just outside the town of Alpine, Utah led us to a locked gate. The most direct route to the Jacob's Ladder trailhead was closed. Apparently it had been for years, but no one has bothered to tell Google. 

Nicole and I were planning to head to the Lone Peak Cirque, a five-ish mile, 5,000' gain stroll straight up the face of the Wasatch to the promise of sweeping 700' granite walls in an alpine setting. We rolled into the current trailhead at about 8:45, and started walking up the trail around 9. Knowing we were in for a long night, we had a few pre-made burritos for dinner on the trail. The Cirque usually dries out mid-July, but we knew there was a chance this wet winter could keep the springs running. Not knowing for sure, we had 10 liters of water between us, a little bonus weight to add to the rope, rack, and gear for two nights.

After five or so hours of walking, we quietly arrived in the Cirque and set up the tent, exhausted but relieved to be where we were supposed to. At 2:30am we were finally asleep. Despite it being the first night at 10,400', we slept great. 

The Summit and South Summit walls of the Lone Peak Cirque

The main objective for the trip was a three-pitch 5.8 on the Question Mark Wall, the Lowe Route. 

The tent is down there somewhere

This route includes a wandering low 5th class approach pitch, which I still managed to muff up. After some creative problem solving on Nicole's end, we were at the base of the first pitch of our route, a slightly off-vertical dihedral ranging from tight hands to fists, with a healthy dose of face holds. At the top of this dihedral is a nice ledge. I went up and noticed a few fixed pieces in the normal anchor spot, and deciding to save some time and gear, used them. While Nicole was switching from approach to climbing shoes, I unstuck one of the pieces and replaced it in a location it could be retrieved. Sweet! Nicole's improving crack skills were apparent on this pitch, and she joined me on the ledge in just a few minutes. 

Looking down the first pitch of the Lowe Route

While getting some water from my harness bottle to spray on the stuck cam, I managed to unclip one of my approach shoes from the carabiner they were sharing. We watched it bounce down the face, jettisoning my sock on the way down. It nestled itself just uphill of a snowfield, at least giving us a good spot to aim for to find it on the way down.

Smiling because my harness is a lot lighter without both shoes!

After the dihedral pitch is a wandering ledgy pitch, followed by the wild headwall above. 150' of easy face and relatively sparse pro lead to the top of the wall.

On top of the Question Mark Wall

We headed down and discussed our options for the rest of the day and the next. We decided to have lunch and explore the other basin in the Cirque, and maybe climb the Open Book on the Summit Wall the next morning, trying to make it out on time for dinner at home. The upper Cirque is beautiful, and definitely a more secluded place to camp for next time!

Perry's Primrose on the way down. Or, as Nicole says, Perryman's Penstemon. Must have been the altitude. 

Pika!

The next morning we awoke around 8, ate a quick breakfast, and decided to skip the Open Book in the interest of time, and make the hour or so walk to the top of Lone Peak. The hike up was great, with the last few hundred feet of ridge requiring a bit of exposed scrambling.

Up

The ? Wall from the summit of Lone Peak

On top!

Down

On the way down we ran into a family of goats in the upper Cirque, we had our eyes peeled after seeing a bunch of sign the days prior. 

Goats

After the summit we packed up, ate our remaining food, and boogied. We hoofed it down the cirque and out of the talus, stopped to fill up on the last water we could find, and made short work of the steep (80% max grade, 18% average grade!) hike out. Dusty and hot we began the quest for burgers in Salt Lake with Taylor and Chase.

The super fun talus at the base of the Cirque

Filtering water for the walk out