Scrambles around Cirque of the Towers

[nolanr]

Going road tripping in a little over a week. Planning on moving around a lot and hitting a bunch of different areas. Going solo, mostly I'll just be hiking/backpacking. Planning on going in to Lonesome Lake, any suggestions on scrambles nearby? Anything from 3rd class to a little bit of low 5th. I've been too lazy to check out a climbing guide on the area, I can always eyeball it when I get there, just curious what experiences some of you have had out there.

[lummox]

easy solo up the north side of haystack. or the south side of steeple peak (short 5.8 steps. easy to boulder out and only an ankle breaker if you blow it). wolfs head would be the shit but thaz a long day of exposure for me. prolly get pretty high on pingora going up the descent route.

[russ]

Hike into the valley on the north side of Pingora - doesn't see much traffic and is kind of cool. Also the valley to the east of Lizards Head (Bear Lake??) is fun.

[nolanr]

Cool, sounds good. Keep the ideas coming.

[dberdinka]

Tower Ridge is on the "backside" of The Cirque facing Shadow Lake. Could easily be accessed from the Cirque though by climbing up to the Wolfs Head/Overhang Tower col and dropping down the other side.

 

A "10-pitch" low-angle arete of slabby granite rated 5.3 in the guide book. This is followed by 1-2 pitches of 4th or low 5th to the top of Overhang Tower. Included in the authors top-20 list.

 

So is the NW Ridge of Temple Peak another super long 5.3 on a 13.000' peak (I think). This is south of Big Sandy in the Deep Lake Area. A very beautiful place with a lonelier feel than the Cirque.

 

Both would probably put anything in the Cascades to shame but I wouldn't know I've only looked at them.