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Published: August 2nd 2008
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Lander, Wyoming
en route to Lander. whole lotta not too much. After the rodent rampage that precipitated our departure from Vedauwoo it is safe to say that spirits were low-ish... Also, when preparing a nice meal, on our last night, a car filled with Wyoming ne-er do wells sped by in a maroon Beretta, spewing epithets- most of which pertained to various bodily orifices...Also, on our last climb (which didn't go well) Stefanie's phone gave up the ghost- or at least the screen did, courtesy of a large gash to the front panel. I forgot to mention that in the preceding entry, so that may explain spotty communication on our end...
So about Lander...
We were given the run around in Laramie trying to get the phone fixed/transferred/replaced/working etc so that ate up a good bit of time. I should say that ate up a good bit of Stefanie's time. I sat in the car and guarded the remainder of our rations... But by early afternoon we were on our way. The route from Laramie to Lander follows I-80 west and then veers off on some infrequently traveled byways which call to mind scenes from the Mad Max series.
About every five minutes one of us would turn to
Ghost Town
I believe this town is called Jeffrey City and none of the buildings on the main strip seem to be inhabited... the other and remark something about "a whole lot of nothing". To be fair that is just what it is. If they are looking for a good location to build some oil refineries (which someone ought to be doing) then I have just the place. The black widow spiders, rattle snakes and antelope could, at length, suck up the loss of a few precious acres of nothingness, and move to a new nowhere, only a few feet away.
This is not to imply that I do not appreciate all the wide open spaces. It definitely lends perspective to the whole concept of crowded living. Also it is nice to see so much area that has not been made "user friendly". I literally hit a tumbling tumble weed en route to Lander.
So by the time we pull into Lander it is nearly 11pm and we have no idea where to go. Based on the rough sketch in the guidebook I navigate us towards the city park which I expect to be filled with hippes, impromptu drum circles and vagrants living out of early 1980s model station wagons...
Instead, we find a well lit, well laid out, clean
Open Road
Return to Thunderdome anyone? park that is relatively uncrowded. After an uneventful night we broke camp in the morning and decided to head up into the mountains for Wild Iris. Wild Iris is a premier bolted limestone venue which is very climber friendly. There is a whopping 16 day stay limit and campsites are well maintained, shaded and near a pit toilet. Also, they are free. The weather is ideal- in the sun the temperatures climb into the 80s but ample shade and brisk winds mitigate that very nicely. The trees provide a good bit of shade and block the wind so you aren't forced to chase down your eating utensils intermittently while cooking.
We stayed for four days and climbed plenty. Unlike the other areas, the approaches were less than 5 minutes walk, with paths connecting each campsite to the climbing. It was a pretty eventful because we nearly didn't visit Wild Iris due to the fact that most of the climbs are 5.10 or harder. (Climbs in most of North America are rated according to the Yosemite Decimal System which goes from 5.0 Easy-5.15 Insanely Difficult. It does not correspond to normal mathematical decimal numerology) With only a free internet printout
Beautiful
plenty of sky to go around guide, we had very little idea where to find the easy climbs.
Our first day out, after setting up camp we strolled around to check out the climbing and to see if any of it looked doable. The elevation caused us to suck wind, but a little light walking turned up several short routes (60 feet) that looked like they might go. Next day I led one of the first routes we had looked at and Stef followed it. Some passersby who had been naive enough to spend money on a guidebook informed us that it was rated at 5.10b. This is the hardest climb I have led clean (no falls, no hangs) although the neighboring climb goes at 5.11a and I led that with multiple falls at the crux of the route (the hardest series of moves in a climb) eventually getting through it. Once at the top Stef also followed it on toprope with only a little difficulty at the crux.
The crux was very mental since I was able to do the moves on top rope cleanly but when I pulled the rope and tried (again) to lead it cleanly I kept backing off or
Red Cliffs Preserve
Just outside Lander on the way up into the mountains falling. Oh well. Long story short, Wild Iris is an amazing place, my favorite overall that we have seen in Wyoming. We will definitely be back. If you like clipping bolts on multi-faceted, porous limestone then you dont want to miss the Iris.
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