Off_White

Funny. none of this much sounds like how i climbed the West Ridge, and we only roped up for the last pitch and a half to the summit. Still lots of adventure to be had on this moderate classic route.

I dunno, the state is developing a disturbing habit of losing it's summits. Both Baron Spire and the Finger of Fate in the Sawtooths have had house sized summit blocks fall off this year. I hope these are a little more solid ;-) Here's another teaser, no climbing in this part of Idaho either...

Dan, do you know the former moderator Minx? She moved to the Boise area from North Bend some years ago and really likes it. She's more into horses these days than climbing. I could probably connect you via email if you're interested & she's willing. Boise is more of a real city than Bozeman, and it's quite a bit more mild in the winter, but mountains are nearby. Sawtooths are like an hour and a half, wonderful range. Never skied at the area outside Boise but I hear it's good. Basalt cragging along the snake near town. If you like limestone sport climbing then Hells Canyon is just the ticket. Summers are hot though.

Wow, great adventure and super thorough TR, well done.

I'm only talking duration for the sake of a grade, I agree the routes have very little in common. We don't have a seriousness grade, which is too bad, because we could discuss that endlessly too. How cool you've repeated both of those recently!

We did it in 9 hours back in the stone age, but got benighted on the descent. Grade IV states that "some parties my bivouac", and complete N Ridge on Stuart still gets a IV; it's a comparable amount of work albeit a very different route and kind of climbing. I'd stay with IV, that is, if I had a vote.

It seemed appropriate to move this to the Alaska forum, what a cool range, thanks for posting.

Nice, that's a lot of ground to cover in a day, I recall being happy to make it in two days. That first early morning picture of the second lake is very beautiful, I like the way you framed it so that the lake just ends at the notch and the lower lake is completely hidden. Thanks for the TR.

You're on the other side of this, aren't you? Probably isn't any easier to approach via Owyhigh Lakes given the work to get around to the start. Out and about to less popular destinations sure seems like a good call this year! Thanks for the report and swell pictures. <Edit> Oh never mind, that's Governor's Ridge, Cowlitz Chimneys are behind me! That's from the only time I've been up in that area about 5 years ago.

I was just looking at that in the guidebook yesterday and wondering the same thing! In Beckey anyway it reads like the route to do up there on that face, though maybe the '65 line would also be fun. Has that hanging glacier receded and become less scary over time? Also, got any more pictures from that climb? I'd love to see 'em.

Wow, what a remarkable tale well told. It's remarkable that you were able to be evacuated that swiftly, the modern world does have its upsides.

Hear hear! You're still alive too, well done.

I did a hybrid version, starting on the '51 route (or probably even further left), up the lower brush to the snow patch, then somewhere above the snowpatch climbing to the right to get onto the '57 rib which was a cruise as long as you didn't worry about things. We didn't flake a rope out until we got to the rap into the gully and up to the snow arete. Gully was swell, though its long out of fashion, but I think it was more fun that the rock climbing over to the left sounds like. The old thread of neve did give an ominous "Whumpf" and settle about 6" while we were in it. Of course, that was 35 years ago so its old info and possibly a little fuzzy. We descended straight down the south side (lots of sketchy scrambling and two pitches of down leading) and around to the west ridge, over that and down the steep timber. It wasn't easy, and we did get benighted after we got down the technical stuff and the steep snow cone, but it was a cush bivy with as much firewood as we wanted. Sounds like the current East Ridge/Dougs Direct is no picnic either.

My home wall came with the property.

Well, at least the 120' tall summit block withe the Beckey Bolt Ladder on it did. Massive trundle. Here's the hilarious video shot from the lake below (you might want to turn the volume down a little bit): https://youtu.be/W2NlEZmT0MQ Also, this news article has a cool before/after photo, the kind you wipe from one side to the other. KTVB article Damn, should have climbed it last year, now it's keeping company with the Trigger Finger.