Francs Peak Winter Ascent

What started with a casual conversation of "what are you doing this weekend?" turned into a 3-day Winter ascent trip of the highest peak in the Absaroka Range and the fourth highest peak in Wyoming at 13,153'. We headed out late after work on Thursday, camped at the trailhead in the car and headed out to Francs Peak.



My coworker had been planning this trip for about 4 years and had figured that not many or if any have stood on top of the peak in the Winter. After waking up in the parking lot we got our gear together and headed out to Kirwin, Wy an old mining town that was abandoned soon after being established, from 1894-1907, because of frequent avalanches taking out houses.

From Kirwin we headed up Brown Basin to where we camped just above treeline. Waking up the next morning we stashed all of our camping gear in a hole under a rock so we could go up to Francs with a light and fast approach.

The hike up to Francs isn't difficult but it is a slog. Reading Summer trip reports you will read this, "...looks a lot closer than it is." This was definitely the case as we got the summit at 5:30pm.