Gan­nett Peak

Gan­nett Peak is thought amongst moun­taineers to be one of the most dif­fi­cult state high-point sum­mits in the nation, and climb­ing it is one of America’s pre­mier wilder­ness moun­taineer­ing trips.

There are no suit­able camp­ing areas on the peak itself, so be pre­pared for a long day in and out (20-hour day) hik­ing part of the trip on snow and glac­i­ers. It is NOT rec­om­mend­ed or safe to camp on glac­i­ers, so suit­able base­camps are approx­i­mate­ly 3000’ below the peak sum­mit. Gan­nett is the longest round trip approach of any state high-point in the nation.

Camp­site loca­tions are rather sparse near Tit­comb Basin, and pri­va­cy is min­i­mal due to the alpine set­ting. Bears are plen­ti­ful in this area and campers are required to keep a clean camp and store food away from bears and oth­er ani­mals. Bear-proof portable food stor­age con­tain­ers are avail­able for loan at the Pinedale Ranger Dis­trict and the Great Out­door Shop in Pinedale for a small fee.

Gan­nett Peak is acces­si­ble from sev­er­al routes. From Elkhart Park trail­head near Pinedale, the route of approach usu­al­ly goes past Seneca and Island Lakes to the head of the Tit­comb Basin. Depend­ing on the over­all length of the trip, train­ing require­ments, and whether horse pack­ers have been used or not, it will take you 1 to 4 days to reach the upper Tit­comb Lake. Weath­er, con­di­tion­ing, tim­ing, and oth­er vari­ables may deter­mine the exact loca­tion of the sum­mit camp. Start ear­ly on sum­mit day to reach the top in the morn­ing hours before storms move in and return to camp before dark. The most pop­u­lar route up Gan­nett is Goose­neck Glacier. 

All approach­es are tech­ni­cal and entail cross­ing glac­i­ers, snow climb­ing, and rock scram­bling. Approach­es from the Green Riv­er Lakes or New Fork Lake trail­heads on the west side of the Wind Riv­er Range are longer than the tra­di­tion­al approach routes but pro­vide more soli­tude. Access to Gan­nett Peak is also pos­si­ble from the Dubois side, with the Glac­i­er Trail being the main and most pop­u­lar trail. If access­ing Gan­nett via the more scenic Tit­comb Basin, expect to see oth­er back­pack­ers, climbers, and folks with livestock.

It is impor­tant to plan for addi­tion­al time to become accli­mat­ed to the high ele­va­tion, to be phys­i­cal­ly fit for the stren­u­ous hike and climb, and knowl­edge­able about equip­ment and tech­niques for safe­ty. Typ­i­cal con­di­tions on Gan­nett Peak require a boot stur­dy enough for glac­i­er cram­pons and stiff enough for snow climb­ing. Plas­tic moun­taineer­ing boots are not nec­es­sary; a mid-weight leather or water­proof fab­ric boot is ade­quate. Ice axes and cram­pons should be of good qual­i­ty and the cor­rect size, and each par­ty mem­ber should be aware of how to safe­ly use them, includ­ing in a self-arrest sit­u­a­tion. Most peo­ple rope up. 

It is com­mon for sum­mit par­ties to plan a week for the approach to Gan­nett, the ascent, and delays due to bad weath­er days. Be pre­pared for dras­tic, unex­pect­ed weath­er con­di­tions, includ­ing snow­fall any day of the year. Sum­mer days typ­i­cal­ly come with after­noon thun­der­storms and dan­ger­ous light­ning. Before head­ing out, get cur­rent trail con­di­tions and advi­sories for the area. The hike is over 45 miles roundtrip and an almost 9,000-foot ver­ti­cal climb. The best climb­ing months are late June, July, August, and ear­ly Sep­tem­ber. Con­di­tions vary from sea­son to sea­son, so check ahead of time to know what to expect. Novices and new­com­ers are advised to hire guides to lead them through any trip.

CON­DI­TION OF GLACIERS

Over the past years, climbers report that the Goose­neck Route has changed dra­mat­i­cal­ly due to reced­ing and melt­ing glac­i­ers. The bergschrund is also becom­ing a more com­plex obsta­cle to over­come. It is rec­om­mend­ed that groups attempt­ing to climb this peak go ear­ly in the sea­son so that snow bridges are in bet­ter con­di­tion for trav­el­ing. Check on con­di­tions reg­u­lar­ly, as snow­fall can be incon­sis­tent from sea­son to season.