Cirque of the Towers Traverse

Six years ago while hiking the CDT from Mexico to Canada, I hiked through the cirque of the towers in the wind river mountain range. That experience left me mesmerized and inspired. Standing in the cirque, staring up at the crown of 11 rugged peaks that make up the Cirque of the Towers. “I want to climb all of them” I remarked to myself and in that moment I knew I had to come back. What preceded was 5 long years of making a yearly pilgrimage west with the ultimate goal to climb all 11 of those peaks.

The Cirque of the towers traverse is a premier alpine ridge traverse connecting all of the 11 peaks that make up the cirque. It’s half technical climbing and half scrambling through alpine boulder fields for miles. It summits all 11 peaks in a beautiful loop. It’s so pure and aesthetic that no other route has ever inspired me as much. It’s a route that demands respect, a good weather window, perfection when climbing and rappelling, and consistent movement the entire time.

In 2022 a year after my first visit to the cirque, the mission was still to get there. I am blessed with a strong and consistent best friend and climbing partner James Perkins. James has always been my partner in adventure ever since we meet hiking the Appalachian trail in 2015. He was an easy convince to join me for such an adventure. So that year we dirt bagged it that best way we knew how to get back to the winds. We posted on Facebook asking if we had any friends in the Wyoming/Colorado area that could help us get from Denver to Lander, Wyoming. A friend from our Appalachian trail thru hike, Tony, graciously offered to take us from the Denver airport all the way to lander! Once in Lander we were blessed to be able to stash a bag at the best gear store in the world, wild iris mountain sports! We stashed our climbing gear and set off with our backpacking gear and 9 days of food with intentions to hike the Wind River high route. On day two of our hike we were descending the north gully of wind river peak. The southernmost 13er in the winds is notoriously know for its steep gully of snow in early season. While descending we found ourselves in that steep snowy gully with only pull over micro spikes and a whippet for self arresting. About four steps onto the snow chute and I slipped. I dropped to my back and immediately began trying to self arrest as I rapidly gained speed sliding down the slope. I plunged my ice axe head into the snow and in a flash my left hand ripped off the tool holding the bottom two sections of my whippet. One hand trying to self arrest as I flew down the slope. I hit a protruding boulder and launched into the air miraculously landing in a notch between boulders rather unscathed. James was able to front point down safely to where I was. We reassessed our situation understanding that we may be here way too early season. We found a broken trekking pole and a phone at the base of the snow chute and realized that it likely belonged to the only other footprints we saw in the chute. I was a bit bloodied and banged up from my fall but we kept hiking in order to find a safe camp for that night. It was June and there was still snow everywhere in the mountains. That night I ended up showing the first signs of covid and over that next 24 hours it got worse. We made the call to bail and hike out to big sandy trailhead and then hitched back to Lander. We were far too early season, snow abounded everywhere, there was no way we were going to be able to get into the cirque and climb the traverse.

The following year and the same plan. Get to the winds, hike the wind river high route, and climb the cirque traverse. This year we were joined by our dear friend Murph! We drove out from our central meeting point in West Virginia. Straight to the winds. We waited for good weather in lander which would not cooperate. In the mean time we went down to salt lake for some climbing in the Wasatch. Then made it back north as the weather window opened back up. Me and James hoped on the wind river high route and were able to make the full route happen! It was an unreal hike and still the most rugged thru hike I’ve ever done. Truly amazing traversing the spine of the winds for 95 miles mostly off trail navigating. It was a hike of dreams. The weather collapsed the day after we finished and it didn’t clear up for us for the rest of our time in the winds. Our crewed moved to the Tetons and made an ascent of the full exum route up the Grand Teton before our trip ended and we had to head home.

Fast forward to year three in 2024 and we were headed back to the winds again. My beloved dog and best friend Luna had passed away in August to lymphoma. I was a wreck. Blessed with a best friend that supported me, James and I made another trip to the winds. We had a group of friends join us and we had an amazing week in the cirque. We climbed two of the peaks on that trip but ultimately realized that the traverse was honestly too big for us and our alpine skills and speed were not there yet. We still got to climb two 50 classic routes that are in the cirque. Northeast face of pingora and wolfs head east ridge. We headed north after that week and spent a long two days climbing Gannett Peak the highest peak in Wyoming. It was all an amazing trip that taught us a lot but ultimately I left still feeling incomplete on the one main goal.

2025 was the year we were dialed and ready. We made the trip out to the winds with our good friend Greg stopping along the way in the Colorado Rockies. We climbed longs peak, petit grepon and spearhead before heading north to the winds to meet up with a crew of friends for a week in the cirque. We arrived at the cirque a couple days before our friends and hiked in planning for a week out. Our party of three climbed east face, left side crack on pingora day two in the cirque before the weather collapsed and we were forced out of the winds by rain and snow. It was quite the let down to leave before climbing but the weather decides the plans. We pivoted to meet our friends in northern Wyoming in the bighorn mountains. Sport climbing in ten sleep wasn’t really on my bingo card so I suggested me and James should go climb cloud peak and mt woolsey. He was all aboard for an alpine mission. We set out just the two of us, climbing cloud peak and getting snowed off the summit and scrambling into the basin below woolsey. We setup camp in the basin before nightfall and while eating dinner noticed some strange color spot high on the cliffs of cloud peak nearby where we scrambled off the mountain. We knew of a missing person in the area and immediately began thinking we may have found them. As night fell we decided it was for sure something out of place and used our sat phones to reach out to search and rescue. We let them know of our sightings and planned to hike out in the morning to meet them at the trailhead. A sleepless night followed thinking that we were in the presence of a missing person. At 4am I woke James and told him we had to go see what it was. He agreed and we climbed up towards the orange coloring we were seeing. On the way up the scree slopes to the cliff we saw him. Lying on the slopes was the deceased missing hiker. We immediately contacted the SAR leader and confirmed we had in fact found the hiker. They were dropping into the valley via helicopter within an hour and a half. We assisted the two SAR officers in a body recovery helping haul the hiker down the mountain to the lake basin. They flew us out with the second wave of SAR members. That experience shaped me differently than any alpine experience ever could.

Goals never die for me. Reshaped, sure. 2026, James agreed yet again to happily join for another attempt at the cirque traverse. The plan was simple. Meet in California, hike the Sierra high route with our buddy John, climb something in the sierras then head to the winds. We crushed the high route over two weeks. It was another magical off trail high route traversing the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It was one of the most challenging hikes I’ve ever done but it strengthened us to the utmost level. We finished the hike strong and prepared for big days in the alpine. Before leaving the sierras we had a big climbing day linking Tenaya peak and Matthes crest before getting rained out of the mountains before climbing cathedral peak. The rainy weather pushed us out and we moved on to the winds for our ultimate goal. The El Niño rain continued on and off for the following week as we visited friends in salt lake and waited out the weather at the big sandy trailhead in the winds. Days of waiting payed off and we were blessed with a couple days of clear weather. Hiking in on Wednesday in morning rain showers. Getting into the cirque was pure bliss that evening. Windy and cold but the weather was clearing. Thursday we woke to bluebird skies and had an easy and restful morning. That afternoon we solo’d up east ledges of pingora and did the rappels into the col between tiger tower. There we stashed 7 liters of water which we would use the next day for our traverse. From there we scrambled down the southeast gully and back to camp for an early night. As per usual for alpine starts on big objectives I barely slept a wink. Tossing and turning all night rehearsing the whole route in my mind. Ring ring, ring ring. 2:30am already? I havent slept at all… Sleeplessness wasn’t killing my stoke. The stars were gleaming as bright as ever as we left camp at 3:36am. The wind wasn’t too bad in the alpine morning light but as the day moved along the wind got stronger. Living in the wind tunnel all day once we were up on the ridge. We moved efficiently and consistently climbing pingora and rappelling into the tiger tower col in less than 2:15 into the day. Soloing tiger tower, rappelling twice to wolf’s head and simul climbing to the first wolf’s head tower in the morning glow was surreal. The wolf’s head ridge is the most amazing summit traverse, consisting of climbing around, over, and even under a half dozen summit gendarmes before reaching the true summit block. Five rappels off wolfs head and onto overhanging tower. A quick solo up overhanging tower, two rappels into the sharks nose col. Moving deliberately and consistently we scrambled the first pitch up sharks nose before roping up for the four pitches to the north summit. The climbing up sharks nose was the coldest and windiest part of the day and each belay was a shiver fest. On the summit we were greeted by the sun again and a nice wind block. One rappel into the saddle then James lead the cruxy boulder mantel towards the south summit block and I took us to the top. Five progressively sketcher rappels followed to get us into the block tower col. Rappelling off old tat slung boulders and nut nests with cords of varying age and strength. It’s quite adrenaline filled rappelling such step terrain on gear you only half trust.. Block tower consisted of a long simul section up an exposed arete to the base of a flake and chimney section. James took us to the top on the last pitch up Block tower. The summit was exceptional but the five rappels off the summit were the worst of the whole traverse. Janky tat, old nut nests, and deteriorating cordage and webbing on every anchor. Hanging belays and overhanging lower offs on the rappels. It was one of the worst parts of the day. Getting into the col of watchtower we were done with all the rappels and technical climbing but the worst had yet to come. The mud gully to gain watchtower saddle was a 70° slope of dirt fresh off a hot summer of snowmelt. The whole gully was loose fluffy dirt holding loose boulders just ready to rip out. Every step up you hold your breath and trust nothing. That gully was the crux for me, I was up the gully tip toeing to avoid sending rocks down on James below. Reaching the saddle was a relief. Safe on stable ground. After bagging the watchtower summit we sat for our first real break. I was bonking hard but a tamale, bottle of tailwind and some peanut m&ms brought me back to life. We charged from here bagging south watchtower and pylon peak before dropping deep into the saddle to gain warrior 1. I kept the charge going and James relentlessly followed. Pushing over warrior 1 and warrior 2, on the charge to war bonnet, our final summit. At 6:13pm we summited war bonnet the final summit of the cirque traverse. That moment will live rent free in my memory for life. The weight lifted, the mind cleared, the body relaxed. It was pure bliss standing on the summit with my best friend and lifelong climbing partner. We had poured over five years into making that moment happen. We developed our climbing skills for that moment, spent countless amounts of time preparing for this. Grateful for such an amazing friendship. Standing there I felt the most powerful I’d ever felt. Strong, capable, resilient. Six years of chasing this goal and we were there standing on the summit of a dream. Goals are everything to me. If you’re not setting them high then you’re simply not living to the fullest!

On the summit of War Bonnet I spread some of Luna’s ashes. Luna was my dog and best friend that passed away in 2024. Luna inspired me to love the mountains, showed me the way, and left me with keys to chase massive goals. We shared a deep love of moving in the mountains and I will carry her with me forever.

-Marcus “Scope" Welker