Pingora and Wolf's Head

I was hoping to climb Pingora and Wolf's Head with a partner via the their classic East faces and wanted to get some beta if possible. Is this a doable objective car to car, simul climbing most if not all the route? Or would it be better to hike in, do the entire traverse, then hike out again? Lastly, what are the raps like, and would it be a good solo: ie. no super devious routefinding, locker jam on all the harder pitches etc.

Thanks for your help.

That'd be a long day. I love car to car, and live for the sufferfest but I don't think I'd give that one a go. Also, it's been a while since I've done the E ridge of Wolf's Head but I imagine that would be hard to simul-climb with the traversing of the towers.

Car-to-car might be feasible for a strong party that is familiar with the cirque, but that would be a long day.

It's a good hike in. And while none of the climbing is particularly difficult, the route finding can be tricky at times. (Even though Wolf's Head is just a ridge top traverse, it can be a bit like a maze up there, with several spots where you have to choose between cutting down under blocks or whatnot.)

As for the raps, I think you would rap off the south side of Pingora (it's only a pitch or two, if I remember correctly) and then simul over to the start of the Wolf's Head traverse. The descent from Wolf's Head (unless you choose to rap the notoriously rope-hungry chimney on the face) involves a winding hike down the back side of the ridge with a couple raps part way. Ultimately, you pass over the saddle at the far end of the ridge and finish hiking down a steep gully and back across the face.

To do all of this in a day would likely require that at least some of the route finding would have to occur in the dark ... which I wouldn't recommend as the preferred option.

For what it is worth, the camping is FANTASTIC.

Good beta. Thanks. I am sure the camping is amazing but my time is quite limited. I have studied the topos and approach well and don't think it will be too hard to stay on route. My main concern is getting caught behind another party if we decide on car to car.

You will almost certainly be behind several parties if you are moving quickly up the two most popular climbs in the cirque. You should plan on being first at pingora, which would probably require being there at 5am or earlier. People will probably let you pass on wolf's head. Are you simulclimbing pingora?

Simuling for sure. Probably hit the place mid week end of Aug/early Sept to minimize crowds.

In that case, I think you shouldn't have a problem. You can jog most of the trail to/from sandy lake to make good time since it is a very mild grade. Wish my knees and would let me do something that big that fast. Then again, if you had the time, you would have fun by spending more time in the cirque.

There is still a bit of snow and lots of runoff coming down the ledges approach on Wolf's Head which may slow you down a bit. Also, you can simulclimb a fair amount of the route but when you start going back and forth around the towers the pitches get a little shorter and slow you down a bit. Rope soloing this, in my opinion would be a pain with all of the traversing. Also, coming down the regular descent between overhanging tower and Wolfs Head still had a lot of snow. To pull off what you are talking about you would have to do a ton of simulclimbing or ropeless climbing. I know I'm old but car to car this is a lot of ground to cover. Good luck.