Cirque of the Towers

The Cirque of the Towers is located in the Wind River Range Wyoming, U.S., part of which is in the Bridger Wilderness in Bridger-Teton National Forest, while the remainder is in the Popo Agie Wilderness in Shoshone National Forest. Located in the southern section of the Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short), the cirque is a very popular destination for technical rock climbers. Climber Orrin Bonney gave the area its current name in 1941 after his survey of the cirque. Prior to this, few if any visitors had ventured into the cirque due to the remote location. The cirque is an almost circular hole or valley carved by a glacier that retreated over 8,000 years ago. As is true with the rest of the Winds, the mountains are composed almost entirely of granite. The Continental Divide spans the crest of the main peaks.The towers average lower in altitude than the highest mountains in the northern Winds, with Lizard Head Peak (12847ft) being the tallest. Other individual mountains in the cirque include Shark's Nose, Warbonnet, Warrior Peak, Wolf's Head and Pingora Peak. There are hundreds of routes to choose from in difficulties ranging from 5.1 to 5.11a and since the mountains are composed primarily of granite rock, there is good anchoring. These climbs include two featured in Steck and Roper's Fifty Classic Climbs of North America the Northeast Face of Pingora (IV, 5.9) and the East Ridge of the Wolf's Head (III, 5.6).