7/13  Drive the rest of the way to the Sawtooths.  Route 21 through Idaho is very scenic, but takes longer than I anticipate.  We reach the crowded resort of Redfish Lake late in the day and take the 7pm boat shuttle across the lake.  From there we hike three or four miles to our bivy site at the base of Elephant's Perch, arriving just as the sun sets.  Coming from sea level just one day before we are not acclimated, and carrying heavy packs to over 8000' in elevation has us winded.  We swat several dozen mosquitoes, eat some food and dive into our bivy bags to sleep.

7/14  Our whole reason for coming to this part of Idaho is to climb Mountaineer's Route.  So we wake at 7am and off we go... to epic.  At least it is funny in retrospect.  The route is only supposed to be 5.9, and nothing harder than 5.8 in the first three pitches.  But by the start of the third pitch we are totally shut down.  I figure we are off route and with a ton of work we manage a traverse/pendulum to another crack system.  Where we are again totally shut down.  Finally, after using every self rescue trick in the book and leaving a webolette, we manage to bail.  Total of six hours of climbing.  Once on the ground we spend some time looking and realize that we are on the wrong part of the mountain.  In retrospect, it was a silly mistake, but the climb we did matched the topo so exactly (left leaning gully with chockstone, topped by a triple tiered roof) that we never questioned the location.  It turned out that we were attempting The Seagull (5.10 A3), and we pendulumed to Lost Horizons (5.10 A2).  From the five or so bail anchors we saw, others have made the same mistake.

Reading the route description more carefully, we discover that we are supposed to be on the southwest face, and we are on the south face.  That little detail solved, it is easy to find the correct left leaning gully with chockstone topped by triple tiered roof.  Now  we were all set for tomorrow.

7/15  A much better day.  Again we wake at 7am and off we go... to not epic.  Mountaineer's Route has some really nice pitches. Guy leads p1 (the left leaning gully with a chockstone).  I get p2 which has a tough mantel and p3 which is fun crack climbing on good rock.  Guy leads p4 around the triple tiered roof.  He has horrible rope drag through the loose gully after the roof.  Then I get p5 which is delicate face climbing to a lousy belay.  Guy leads p6 and gets a bit of rain to spice things up.  The rain stops while I lead p7, the crux of the climb and a very long pitch.  Guy takes us to the top leading p8 which is easy fifth class.

We reach the top of the climb around 3pm.  The weather has cleared, so we hang out for a half hour, then start the walk down.  The standard descent route is very, very loose.  It isn't so steep that you worry about falling, but you do worry about sending rocks on to your partner below.  The descent finishes with a single 30m rappel and we are back to our bivy site at 6pm.

7/16  We sleep late, pack camp, and hike back to the dock just in time to catch the noon shuttle.  The shuttle is $15/person round trip which is moderately expensive, but it saves 10 miles of hiking.  We are lazy climbers, we have no problem paying the fee.

From here we are driving to City of Rocks.  The drive takes us right past Sun Valley, where I spent a week skiing the previous winter break -- back in Sophomore year.  I drive to the resort hotel and we walk in to the pool locker room like we belong there.  The mahogany and marble is a step up from the dirt and DEET in which we have been immersed.  We take what will be our last shower for the next 26 days.  To make amends, my shower lasts 26 times longer than normal.  I even bring my pants into the shower to get them clean, then throw them in the swimsuit dryer.  It is amazing how clean I feel.  We sit in the climate controlled lobby on plush chairs and take advantage of free WiFi.  We are blocking EVERYTHING!  Finally we depart for City of Rocks.  While driving, we spot a badger (living, not road kill).  I think that's the first one I've ever seen.

Current Quota Status:

Pitches climbed so far: 34
Hours driven so far: 50