Pilot Peak is one of the most famous and iconic mountains on the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park. It’s so prominent and picturesque that’d you’d expect to see the Grinch pushing a sleigh full of stolen Christmas presents off its 11,699-foot summit.
Some people refer to Pilot Peak as a “mini-Matterhorn” because of its striking appearance. Fewer people have reached its summit, as it’s one of the more challenging climbs Wyoming has to offer.
“There are more technically challenging climbing routes in the state to be sure, but Pilot Peak is one of the most challenging summits to attain by its easiest route,” said Zach Lentsch, owner and lead guide at Wyoming Mountain Guides.
'The Leader'
Pilot Peak has a unique place in Wyoming’s history.
Many sources say Pilot Peak was a critical landmark for the 1870 Washburn Expedition. They allegedly used it as a visual guide as they navigated into the interior of what would become Yellowstone National Park.
Thomas Turiano, author of “Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone: A Mountaineering History & Guide,” said that account is more fiction than fact. It was an important navigational landmark, but not for the Washburn Expedition.
“It was actually an 1869 mining expedition,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “They were going from Emigrant to Cooke City. They were climbing high, and time they crested a ridge, they'd be like, "Oh, there's that sharp pointy dagger-like peak, let's keep on that target.’”
In fact, Pilot Peak isn’t visible from most places inside Yellowstone. Unlike Granite Peak, Gannon Peak, or Grand Teton, Pilot Peak can’t be seen unless one gets really high up.
“It’s only visible from 20 or 30 miles away if you climb above 10,000 feet,” he said. “You can't see it from the anywhere in the park unless you climb.”
The mountain was officially named by geologist and famous Yellowstone explorer Ferdinand Hayden. He wrote about the pointy peak during the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871.
“One of (the mountains) derives its name from its shape, like a closed hand with the index-finger extending upward, while the other is visible from so great a distance on every side, that it forms an excellent landmark for the wandering miner, and thus its appropriate name of Pilot Knob,” he wrote.
Turiano believes Hayden might have heard the story of the 1869 mining expedition, which further inspired him to call it “Pilot Peak.”
Hayden was enthralled by the entire Absaroka Range, calling it “one of the most symmetrical and remarkable ranges of mountains I have ever seen in the West.” Pilot Peak appeared to be “the leader” of the mountains and was named in recognition of that.
“Several of my party who had visited Europe regarded this range as in no way inferior in beauty to any in that far-famed country,” he wrote.
Bart Henderson, one of the founders of Cooke City, Montana, had a less-inspired name for the mountain. Because of its brown, crumbly rock, he referred to it as “Dog Turd Peak.”
Hayden’s name stuck, for obvious reasons.
How’d They Do That?
The first documented ascent of Pilot Peak occurred on Aug. 12, 1932. Robert McKenzie and Hollis Mees reached the summit, and nobody knows how “the Cowboys” did it.
“One was a wrangler, the other was a highway worker,” Turiano said. “These guys became friends somehow and reached the top with no ropes or climbing equipment. That has baffled mountaineers forever.”
The second summit was done by legendary Wyoming mountaineer Phil Smith on Sept. 15, 1940. He established the standard route that is still in use today.
Smith, who Turiano qualified as “one of America’s greatest climbers,” needed belayed rope pitches, rappels, and a considerable amount of expertise to get to the top. If Smith had a hard time getting to the top of Pilot Peak, how did McKenzie and Mees do it?
“If you read some of the accounts of their ascent, they were terrified,” Turiano said. “One of them said he was ‘too scared to be thrilled’ when they reached the top.”
Remarkably, McKenzie and Mees managed to capture their historic ascent of Pilot Peak on film. To Turiano, their faces in the film said everything.
“You can tell McKenzie had a lot of youthful energy, bouncing around the summit,” he said. “Mees is terrified. He's trying to smile, but he knows he's going to have to down climb that thing, and it's not going to be fun.”
Climbing The Mini Matterhorn
Wyoming Mountain Guides is one of two local outfits that offers guided climbs of Pilot Peak and Index Peak, which Lentsch called “Pilot’s s slightly shorter sibling.” They describe it as “one of the most aesthetic but demanding summits of any mountain in Wyoming.”
“We often do Pilot and Index together as they make an excellent pair of climbs,” Lentsch said. “All the folks we guide have experience rock climbing in alpine terrain, such as the Grand Teton and the Wind River Mountains, and want to take on a more challenging but highly rewarding objective.”
Pilot Peak is what’s called a glacial horn or pyramidal peak, just like the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. The peaks get their angular shape and sheer slopes from the erosion caused by multiple glaciers diverging from a central point.
Climbing Pilot Peak is more daunting than it looks, and it’s already an intimidating presence.
For a start, Lentsch said there’s no “walk-up” to Pilot Peak. Climbers will be using all their skills and expertise from top to bottom.
“There's not a non-technical route up the peak,” he said. “A climb of Pilot often involves both technical snow and steep rock climbing at considerable difficulty on loose volcanic rock.”
Breccia and trachyandesite are the volcanic rocks that make up Pilot Peak. They’re beautiful rocks, but their soft, crumbly texture making them a less-than-ideal for rock climbing.
Turiano reached the top of Pilot Peak once. He called it “magical but harrowing.”
“If you compare the easiest routes on Grand Teton and Pilot Peak, Pilot is harder and more technical,” he said. “You got to be good with loose rock, and extreme exposure on loose rock. Lots of sloping ledges with scree overhanging cliffs. It’s not for casual mountaineers.”
Smith found a harrowing reminder of the mountain’s difficult ascent when he reached the top in 1940.
“He found a ram skull on the summit,” Turiano said. “The ram either couldn’t or didn’t want to get down and went up there to die.”
Smith was baffled by the ram skull. It clearly knew a route to the summit that he failed to find.
“Somehow, the ram and the Cowboys were the better route finders than he was,” Turiano said.
Experience Needed And Worthwhile
Lentsch and Wyoming Mountain Guides offer a custom two-to-three-day trip for experienced mountaineers to climb Pilot and Index Peaks. A full climb up and down Pilot peak takes between 10 and 12 hours.
Climbing Index Peak, which Lentsch described as “even more challenging” than Pilot, takes between 6 and 7 hours.
“If folks are climbing without a guide, they need to have plenty of experience mountaineering and climbing on loose alpine rock, advanced knowledge of traditional rock-climbing protection systems, and a good ability to route find in complex terrain,” Lentsch said.
For mountaineers, getting there is more than half of fun. The journey is more exciting than the destination, although Lentsch admitted that the view from the top of Pilot Peak is “pretty spectacular.”
“The true summit is a very exposed, overhanging boulder perched on the summit ridge,” he said. “The Matterhorn-like north face of the mountain has great views of upper Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone valley.”
Turiano said Pilot Peak’s history is unique because it’s “more mysterious than controversial.”
The first summits of many mountains, like the Grand Teton, is highly disputed. Nobody disputed that McKenzie and Mees were the first to summit Pilot Peak, but they still don’t know how they did it.
“They raved about it for the rest of their lives, but never made a big deal out of it,” Turiano said. “They went back to their lives and didn’t seek attention.”
Turiano has his own theory on how McKenzie and Mees made the ascent.
“I theorize in my book that there were other people that climbed ‘the easy route’ in 1932, but they kept it a well-guarded secret,” he said. “They did something different than what Phil Smith and every other climber who followed them did.”
The mystery of how two inexperienced friends climbed what was and remains one of the most difficult climbs in Wyoming, in nothing but their work boots, is a mystery for the ages. And yes, it was their work boots.
“It was said at the time that McKenzie and Mees climbed Pilot Peak in cowboy boots, but that’s a misconception,” Turiano said. “Nobody’s climbing Pilot Peak in cowboy boots."
Contact Andrew Rossi at andrew@cowboystatedaily.com
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
