Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains (Climbing Mountains Series)

In fall 1994, I flew from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City on one leg of a business trip return flight. The flight went farther north than expected, but toward the end it had to head SW toward Salt Lake. I had a window seat and realized I would be flying over the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming! I knew of them, but had never seen them before. I looked down and in a few minutes they appeared ... towering peaks, shining lakes, and glaciers. I knew then that I had to plan a backpack trip to them. Later, upon looking at maps, I realized I had flown right over the high peaks portion of the Wind Rivers ... Gannett Peak, Fremont Peak, Titcomb Basin ... followed by Fremont Lake at the base of the range.When I got home, I looked for Wind River guidebooks and Joe Kelsey's "Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains, 2nd Edition" was the best. I immediately purchased it and started planning. I made three separate backpack trips to the Wind River Mountains with the help of the book. I have been in areas from Titcomb Basin in the north to Cirque of the Towers in the south. I am a scrambler (nothing over Class 3), but for the hiking part and the scrambling part, the book was excellent.When I saw that this 3rd edition was available, I purchased copies for myself and friends and can see that it is still the same excellent (and expanded/improved) guidebook. It reminds me that I need to get back to the Wind River Mountains again. Besides all the information, the photos (many with climbing routes shown) are beautiful.One thing that Mr. Kelsey does well (that other guidebooks usually don't do) is have a subsection in each section that describes the mountain passes/cols and off-trail routes in sufficient detail, whether they are well known/designated passes or lesser known passes/cols and off-trail routes. I specifically benefited from his descriptions of Pass 11,120+ (Island Lake to Wall Lake; page 182 in the new 3rd edition), Monument Creek Route (Monument Creek to Pole Creek; page 208), and Pass 11,640+ (East Fork Valley to Bonneville Lake; page 257) ... I used all these passes/routes in my trips to the Wind Rivers and the descriptions (in the 2nd edition I used then ... and expanded in the new 3rd edition) saved valuable time/effort.I corresponded by letter with Mr. Kelsey in 1999 and I can see that he incorporates such discussion in future work. For example, on page 157 in the new 3rd edition, he expanded the Knapsack Col discussion, saying that one should bring along an ice ax for the Twins Glacier side of Knapsack Col (this was a subject in our 1999 correspondence).Anyone who loves backpacking and/or climbing has to experience the Wind River Mountains ... and they need the new 3rd edition of this guidebook.

Very helpful. I did a 8-day backpacking trip in the Northern Winds in Aug 2017 and this book was very helpful for planning the trip. It's a bit bulky to carry on a multi-day trip so I photocopied the key pages. It is well written with interesting general background about the range, and it has very comprehensive coverage of the peaks. I am not a technical climber so can't comment on that aspect, although it has lots of route descriptions for technical routes. I'm a scrambler - fine on class III and ok with a bit of class IV - whose goal is to reach the high summits, and for this it is ideal. The descriptions of the trails, passes and summit routes were clear and (in my experience) accurate without being excessively detailed. It does not include topo maps (I used Larson/Earthwalk Press) but it does have trail maps of each area, which are helpful for getting an overview and planning approach routes. Similar in spirit to Secor's guide to the Sierras, but with nice color photos. Highly recommended.

Great, interesting read. A good addition to any book shelf. As Kelsey says in the intro, this book is NOT a detailed guidebook in terms of technical route descriptions. It is very vague when describing descent options, belay locations, routes or pretty much anything. For anyone considering going to the winds for the first time, this book is great to get a general layout of the area and an idea for a new adventure, but should not be relied upon if you don't know the area or have experience climbing/hiking there.I can see the appeal of keeping the ethics in the winds and the sense of adventure, but lots of confusing/conflicting/misleading and missing information in this book. Just a heads up.For the cirque, "cirque of the towers and deep lake" by Bechtel is a much better choice because it is more detailed and reliable.

Nobody knows the Winds better than Joe, and few (Paul Horton and some others) know as much. This has been the "bible" since its first edition and it only gets better with each revision. Each edition features a little more "beta", but never too much where it would be excessive. In fact, I wish I had this edition when I got off-route on a "simple warm up" climb of War Bonnet. Nobody who walks into any part of this vast range with intentions of breaking out the climbing gear should be without it.

The only Wind River hiking guide you need to buy. Excellent trail, pass, and route synopses...completely comprehensive and pairs wonderfully with the Earthwalk maps. I love this book, because it forces you to really read it by scouring for overlapping sections and notes on specific segments of a larger trail, gives details of passes, like which ones have grassy vs. talus approaches, etc...incredibly impressive and helpful. Big improvement from previous edition!

The book had good description about various types of outdoor activities in the Wind River Range, and for those that need additional data, it covers general info. topics in an adequate level of detail. Overall, a recommended read for anyone plannig a trip to the area.

Excellent book, and definitive for this region. I'm especially pleased that the author was able to correct an error about a "Wolf's Head" climb that had slipped into the second edition.

This book is incredibly comprehensive and long. I bought it to take on a month-long trip into the high Wind Rivers but as soon as I picked it up, I knew it was not going on the trip. This is a good primer for the trip, but it weights quite a bit, much more than I wanted to carry.