Cirque of the Towers trail conditions?

[alpenho]

Anyone know if the trail over Jackass Pass is snow-free?

[bwrts]

Based on the photos in this post I would guess likely some snow

[wfinley]

Two questions for people who have been to the Cirque:

(1) How bad are the bears? Are you doing the whole grizzly / cook away from your tent / carry bear spray or will I be lucky to see a bear? I live in bear country so I'm familiar with all the things you should do... but do people really worry about it in WY?

 

(2) The new guidebook recommends carrying out your shit. Is this a common practice - should I haul out my shit or should I just be responsible where I go and haul out TP?

[denalidave]

I used to go there every year and I never actually saw a bear but this was over 10 years ago, maybe the population has grown a lot since then. That said, we were very careful about storing food and cooking away from camp and not so much as a crumb in the tent, toothpaste or anything smelly in the tents. Also, there was a bear resistant food bin at the Cirque, which is likely still there.

[Lisa_D]

The only protective measure we took last year was to put our food on top of giant boulders. There are many around the camp areas, and they often have large sticks for hanging bags.

[letsroll]

What is the guide book for the area? Looking for low 5th class or under. I will be solo for the scrambling. Rappeling not a problem.

[Argus]

What is the guide book for the area? Looking for low 5th class or under. I will be solo for the scrambling. Rappeling not a problem.

 

I'll give a plug for JoJo's new book:

 

http://www.firstascentpress.com/cirque-guide.html

 

If you prefer a guidebook with less beta, then I'd get:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Hiking-Wind-River-Mountains/dp/0934641706

[letsroll]

THanks.

[ryland_moore]

The only protective measure we took last year was to put our food on top of giant boulders. There are many around the camp areas, and they often have large sticks for hanging bags.

 

Lisa D, those are not for bears, those are to prevent marmots from getting into your bags. Bears could easily reach those food bags if they wanted it.

[Lisa_D]

yep, we were protecting from snaffles and optimistically chose not to worry about bears.