I am impressed that you started climbing young with your family and have continued building your skills and knowledge and your writing really drew me in.
Thanks for the kind reply and encouragement. Turn about will be fair play. I look forward to reading about Grinell Glacier when I get a chance. Happy adventures!
I'm really happy to see this report. Sawtooth is my number 1 goal for summer, but I've had some difficulties trying to figure out how to tackle this incredible peak. This report is easily the single best resource for anyone with ambitions of summiting this peak, with that said I'd still like to pick your brain for a little more info, if that's alright...
First, do you know anything about approaching the peak from the Smith Lake side? Trinityalpsmans page suggests this is the most straightforward approach, but the details he provides are spartan at best.
Also, do you know what the easiest route up the summit block is? The info I've found seems contradictory. Trinityalpsmans page claims that the southern coulior is not climbable, (It sound like this is the route you climbed in your report, but I'm not sure), here's a picture I found
This looks like its not even the true summit anyway, I don't know why the maps show the north summit as the highest, having seen the peak from numerous vantage points it's obvious the south is higher, even from miles away.
I greatly appreciate any advice you can offer, like you describe in your report, I too have spent hours pouring over maps and other resources trying to figure out how to tackle this awesome peak, but even after that I'm still left scratching my head.
So, to get back to you about some of the info:
It would seem that the southern gully would be best accessed from Smith Lake. Beyond that, I don't really know about the approach or climbing on that side other than what was mentioned in that adventurestories.com article about the abundant opportunity for technical rock on Sawtooth being located there. I go up Canyon Creek most often simply for the fact that its the closest trailhead to my hometown.
The north ridge, to my mind, in a dry year could be soloed by the person very confident in their skills with only a slight dash of mania. In other words, it isn't inconceivable. But if you're wanting a good place to practice rope skills in the mountains or you're feeling like soloing something like 5.2 in a couple of airy spots is not what you're up for, a rope, maybe not a full-length, could be handy.
The route I did was on the West side of Sawtooth. On the USGS topos it is marked as a small tributary to Canyon Creek not far below the lower lake called 'Stonehouse Gulch" on the western side of Sawtooth. The Southern gully is the gully I described as a descent route we contemplated, but it looked like a choss-fest of large rocks just waiting to fall and hit someone in the head. 'Un-climable?' Dunno. It 'looked' easy-ish from above. Just hazardous.
I recently re-read TrinityAlpsMan's 1930's page and noticed that it actually mentions the true summit. I climbed to the top of the true summit that first trip when I was 8. There is one little airy move, maybe not even technical, but just really exposed, to get to the top. Indeed, Sawtooth is formidable! :)
Happy climbing. Feel free to ask about more info any time. I've summitted all 5 highest in the range (all accessible from Canyon Creek trail), and a few others in the range.
Thanks for the quick response, I really appreciate it. I kinda figured the north ridge was more technical than the Summitpost page made it out to be. I think a lot of my confusion about how to tackle this peak I have now will be resolved once I'm actually standing on the mountain, instead of messing around with Google Earth and TOPO! software. Anyway your report really got me excited to get out there. I'm hoping to get out to the Trinities a lot this summer so I'll probably bug you for more info on other peaks once the snow starts to melt. Thanks again!
Thanks a lot for sharing, I'm more of a backpacker than a climber, but I know I've admired that peak from a few different angles inside the wilderness area.
silversummit - Apr 7, 2011 9:28 am - Voted 10/10
Thorough and well done report!I am impressed that you started climbing young with your family and have continued building your skills and knowledge and your writing really drew me in.
Nice contribution to SP!
AriehDavid - Apr 7, 2011 11:47 am - Hasn't voted
Many Thanks!Thanks for the kind reply and encouragement. Turn about will be fair play. I look forward to reading about Grinell Glacier when I get a chance. Happy adventures!
OOG - Apr 7, 2011 3:47 pm - Voted 10/10
Thanks for posting!I'm really happy to see this report. Sawtooth is my number 1 goal for summer, but I've had some difficulties trying to figure out how to tackle this incredible peak. This report is easily the single best resource for anyone with ambitions of summiting this peak, with that said I'd still like to pick your brain for a little more info, if that's alright...
First, do you know anything about approaching the peak from the Smith Lake side? Trinityalpsmans page suggests this is the most straightforward approach, but the details he provides are spartan at best.
Also, do you know what the easiest route up the summit block is? The info I've found seems contradictory. Trinityalpsmans page claims that the southern coulior is not climbable, (It sound like this is the route you climbed in your report, but I'm not sure), here's a picture I found
http://www.adventurestories.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/view-of-access-to-sawtooth-summit.jpg
he instead claims the easiest route is from the north which looks a bit crazy to climb without a rope (which he suggests doing).
http://www.adventurestories.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/another-summit-approach-to-sawtooth.jpg
This looks like its not even the true summit anyway, I don't know why the maps show the north summit as the highest, having seen the peak from numerous vantage points it's obvious the south is higher, even from miles away.
I greatly appreciate any advice you can offer, like you describe in your report, I too have spent hours pouring over maps and other resources trying to figure out how to tackle this awesome peak, but even after that I'm still left scratching my head.
Again awesome report!
AriehDavid - Apr 7, 2011 7:43 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Thanks for posting!Thanks man! I appreciate the kudos.
So, to get back to you about some of the info:
It would seem that the southern gully would be best accessed from Smith Lake. Beyond that, I don't really know about the approach or climbing on that side other than what was mentioned in that adventurestories.com article about the abundant opportunity for technical rock on Sawtooth being located there. I go up Canyon Creek most often simply for the fact that its the closest trailhead to my hometown.
The north ridge, to my mind, in a dry year could be soloed by the person very confident in their skills with only a slight dash of mania. In other words, it isn't inconceivable. But if you're wanting a good place to practice rope skills in the mountains or you're feeling like soloing something like 5.2 in a couple of airy spots is not what you're up for, a rope, maybe not a full-length, could be handy.
The route I did was on the West side of Sawtooth. On the USGS topos it is marked as a small tributary to Canyon Creek not far below the lower lake called 'Stonehouse Gulch" on the western side of Sawtooth. The Southern gully is the gully I described as a descent route we contemplated, but it looked like a choss-fest of large rocks just waiting to fall and hit someone in the head. 'Un-climable?' Dunno. It 'looked' easy-ish from above. Just hazardous.
I recently re-read TrinityAlpsMan's 1930's page and noticed that it actually mentions the true summit. I climbed to the top of the true summit that first trip when I was 8. There is one little airy move, maybe not even technical, but just really exposed, to get to the top. Indeed, Sawtooth is formidable! :)
Happy climbing. Feel free to ask about more info any time. I've summitted all 5 highest in the range (all accessible from Canyon Creek trail), and a few others in the range.
L'chaim!
OOG - Apr 7, 2011 10:07 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Thanks for posting!Thanks for the quick response, I really appreciate it. I kinda figured the north ridge was more technical than the Summitpost page made it out to be. I think a lot of my confusion about how to tackle this peak I have now will be resolved once I'm actually standing on the mountain, instead of messing around with Google Earth and TOPO! software. Anyway your report really got me excited to get out there. I'm hoping to get out to the Trinities a lot this summer so I'll probably bug you for more info on other peaks once the snow starts to melt. Thanks again!
pschwerdt - Jun 23, 2011 4:28 pm - Voted 10/10
Great write up!Thanks a lot for sharing, I'm more of a backpacker than a climber, but I know I've admired that peak from a few different angles inside the wilderness area.
AriehDavid - Jul 26, 2011 11:14 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Great write up!thanks for appreciating it! happy trails!