Sawtooth Ridge

Kurt had told me how wonderful the ridge was south of Snowslide. When I mentioned this to Dave, he wanted to give it a go. After looking at it, and considering Dave's earlier interest in climbing Sawtooth Peak, I decided to try tying the entire ridge together. In a day.

So we met at 6:30 and were on our feet by 7:15. Cool but smoky. It took us a little less than an hour to get to Snowslide Lake, with Snowslide Peak behind.

Things slowed a bit as we labored up the steep hillside to Snowslide Summit.

At the summit, we got a good view of our ridge route to Sawtooth.

I had climbed Sawtooth last in 2001. I vaguely remembered an impassable gendarme on the ridge, so we stayed below and sidehilled. Dave doesn't like heights, so we called this passage "Dave's Corner". He did fine.

And then we were on top. Note the smoke to the west (right). Also, the peaks as you travel south on the ridge: the massive dark face of Snowslide, the light colored walls of Peak 8361, and the dark slopes of Peak 8291 between them.

To the left of Peak 8361 you see a forested ridge with two humps- that is more of our ridge before it continues south into the East Fork of Lake Fork Creek. It's gonna be a long day!

A gorgeous little lake below the plunging north face of Sawtooth.

Okay, time to get going. On the way back, we stayed more on top of the ridge, which was better going. But we still got to repeat Dave's Corner.

Back at Snowslide Summit, we started up the ridge to Snowslide. Surprisingly, we ran into a camp with two tents. Later, we saw these folks at a distance near the summit.

Then, just below the summit, I found this little clear laminated plastic piece, apparently left on top 40 years ago. From a quick google search, it appears Mr. Peebles worked for the Idaho Topographic survey. Anyone know more? I'd love to return this to someone...

Getting up this peak required a little rock climbing, and as noted before Dave does not like heights. So I was busy spotting and coaching instead of taking pictures. Until Dave successfully made the summit.

It's an easy walk off the south side of Snowslide, one that I've done many times, including on snow. But the point of this picture is to show the cliffy area on the right that Dave had climbed.

And a quick one of Maki Lake and Maki Peak.

And our next objective, Peak 8291.

This peak was of interest because although it was not listed as a peak on Lists of John, the contours indicated there was a possibility that it actually had 300' of prominence. It's also a cool peak because its position right above Golden Lake makes it quite impressive from there.

When we got to the saddle, I checked the GPS, then again on the summit. Drat- 280'.

From 8291, looking back at 8361 on the right, Snowslide on the left, and Sawtooth in the distance between them.

An interesting perspective on Slick Rock.

If you're interested, note the little white scar on the face to the left of the Three Cracks.

Four peaks done. Hot. Running out of water. But miles to go.

First, we followed the ridge to a known water source so that poor, hot Ruby could go for a swim. Then down, down, down to Lake Fork Creek and our waiting vehicle.

It's a nice hike, again with lots of views. But the most noteworthy thing, and a topic of our conversation, was how crispy-crackly the vegetation is. Extremely dry. Almost devoid of wildflowers. Sad and a bit scary.

Map of a great, but arduous hike. Thanks, Dave!

Dave's report

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