Lander Rock Climbs

Lander Rock Climbs 2018 von Steve Bechtel ist der aktuellste und umfassendste
Kletterführer zu den Crags um Lander, Wyoming. Dieser Führer, der im Juli 2018
brandneu erschienen ist, enthält 400 neue Routen seit die erste Ausgabe 2015
erschienen ist. Die Entwicklung in den Dolomit-Klettergärten in und um Lander
ist nach wie vor voll im Gange, was wesentlich zu den neuen Routen beiträgt,
die in dieser Ausgabe von Lander Rock Climbs enthalten sind. Die wohl
bedeutendste Teil dieses Führers ist die erstmalige Veröffentlichung der
langen und bisher immer noch halb geheimen Routen der North Country Wall. Auch
die umfangreiche Erschließung im riesigen Little Popo Agie Canyon zählt zu
trägt wesentlich zu den Neuzugängen bei. Ein aktualisiertes und
übersichtlicheres Layout der Karten und Bilder macht diesen Kletterführer zum
idealen Gefährten für das Klettern in Lander.

Lander is home to several cliffs dispersed throughout the foothills of the
eastern Wind River Mountains. The rock is mainly Bighorn Dolomite Limestone
and occurs in two basic types. There are wind eroded butresses like those of
Wild Iris and Suicide Point, and there are walls lining the sides of river
canyons, such as Sinks Canyon and Wolf Point. The rock varies in quality from
very good to very featured and consists mainly of crimps and positive pockets,
some being as small as one-finger on the more difficult lines.

There is a bit of granite climbing as well, the Joint wall and the Sanctuary
at the top of Sinks being 2 areas that have about 50 sport climbs all
together. There are some fantastic routes on these cliffs if you get tired of
pocket pulling. Sinks also has some sandy sandstone at the entrance of the
canyon, but it is not worth your time unless you are on a NOLS course or like
insecure trad climbing.

It is possible to climb throughout much of the year here. Sinks is the best
winter area, with a paved approach and an inversion that keeps the wall toasty
when it is freezing in town. It is not uncommon to climb in a t-shirt on sunny
days in January and February when the temperature in town is 10 degrees.
Summer is better spent at Wild Iris and its surrounding crags as they are much
higher in elevation, and mainly under snow in the winter. Spring is sometimes
great but often snowy and wet. Fall is the best time for climbing in Lander,
with crisp temps, sunny skies, and access to every crag here.

Steve Bechtel’s guidebook does a great job of describing the sport routes
around Lander and is the best resource for any climber visiting the area. It
describes the following cliffs:

Sinks Canyon
Fairfield Hill
Fossil Hill
Wild Iris
Miner’s Delight
The Strawberry Roan
The Sweat Lodge
Wolf Point
Wolf Pup
Baldwin Creek
Suicide Point