Wyoming 13ers Quest

[mtn_nut]

Eli, do you have a GPS track of your cloud peak to blacktooth traverse?

Thank you

[Eli Boardman]

And then there was one.

Nice work but what are we going to look at when you finish posting these beautiful pictures from the north country?

Thanks! Next comes the trip report.

[Eli Boardman]

Done!

I finished this morning with a fun and easy ascent of Francs Peak with my parents and dog. We approached via the Phelps Mountain Road, a very steep rocky route which was a bit more 4wd-intensive than we anticipated. In fact, the Subaru got a flat tire partway up the road, but we made it most of the way to the higher parking area (and back to the lower road, thankfully) on a spare.

We parked around 10,600 ft.; while only 1,000 feet higher than Elkhart, it felt quite alpine because the upper road traverses a vast treeless ridge/plateau. This area of the Absarokas reminds me of the northern San Juans, except the grizzlies never left here.

We hiked the standard route on Francs, which was an undulating class-2 ridge run made more interesting by extensive amounts of hail left from a storm a couple days ago. From the summit, I could see Gannett, the Grand Teton, Downs Mountain, and countless other mountains spreading out across Wyoming. A few grizzlies roamed the basins, one of which was eating (moths supposedly) only about a hundred feet below the summit.

It was a wonderful thing to share my finish with my family, who as you all know, have been incredibly supportive on all fronts--I couldn't have done it without them. Thanks also to the forum, and everyone who provided encouragement and motivation! I probably would have bailed on the whole quest in June if it weren't for feeling obligated to keep updating this thread. I will post further reflections/comments here later, as well as a trip report eventually.

So anyway, I became likely the 4th WY 13er finisher, and the first to report climbing all 36 peaks in a single year. Wyoming 13ers, fastest known time as of today: 45 days, June 22 - August 5, 2020.

[Eli Boardman]

Francs Peak, the only Absaroka 13er, seen from upper Phelps Mountain Road

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Getting closer, but still a lot of false summits to go

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Summit of Francs Peak, 36/36 Wyoming 13ers in 45 days

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[Bale]

Congrats Eli and much respect! Thanks for the TR’s, awesome pics, and the stoke. We will be in the Winds in a couple weeks doing much more pedestrian things and loving every minute.

[Brian C]

Rad! Nice work!

[bdloftin77]

Wow, great work, Eli! Kudos for keeping on keeping on! And for being the 4th to finish! The CO 14ers is a cool accomplishment, but being the 4th to finish something is definitely more noteworthy than being the ~3000th. Amazing.

Which were your favorites? Which were the hardest?

[cougar]

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Great achievement! What next? Doing them all in winter?

[arthurspiderman]

Nice work Eli! Francs Peak is such a unique 13er for Wyoming; I’m glad you got to finish on it. It’s a gorgeous peak, especially when not in grizzly season!

[Eli Watson]

Congrats Eli, that was an incredible journey to watch unfold and a stunning achievement. It was clear you put a lot of time and research into this project, glad to see it has paid off.

Aside: cougar, I think you can just make that your avatar at this point? appreciate the enthusiasm

[Teresa Gergen]

Much respect, Eli. It's a tough list, let alone to do it solo in one season. Congrats!

[mtn_nut]

Congrats on finishing

I haven't recorded tracks for any of these trips (10-min Delorme pings only), but I can send you a picture and description of the way I went if you want, or a rough hand-drawn KML. It was pretty much just a straight descent of the northeast corner of Cloud's north face, then the route on Blacktooth is obvious from Wilderness Basin.

A rough line of your route on caltopo or something similar would be awesome. I'm planning on doing cloud peak in a few weeks, and I was thinking about linking it up with blacktooth since its northernmost high peak in Greater Rocky mountains, and the only peak in the L48 that is further north and higher is Rainier.