Bouldering at the Perch?
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Gonna be at the (Elephant) Perch next month. |
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On your way to the perch, about an hour's walk from the boat shuttle drop off point, you'll cross the creek on some logs, to an island, and then cross off the island on more logs. You would have hiked upstream and turned left (south?) towards the creek to cross it. Instead, if you turn right, away from the creek, you will find the Super Slabs. Multipitch slab climbing, walk offs. It's not cragging per se, but you can find some easy and moderate routes. Might be some single pitch potential, maybe you could spot a slung tree...The closest "crag" would be down river, past Stanley, at Sunbeam. If you head up the Yankee Fork, a mile or so, you'll see some cragging cliffs. A handful of sport routes. |
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Don't bother with the rope if you don't have a partner. Just bring your fly rod, and approach shoes. You can scramble up to the top of the perch as well as several other satellite summits nearby. |
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Thanks for the feedback and advise. |
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First off I feel bad for you because although it is an amazing place on its own, staring at the perch all day as a climber with no prospect of climbing it sounds maddening. But more to your point, no fixed anchors in the Sawtooths since the mid 90s so you are not likely to find any two bolt anchors, especially at the perch. I have heard of a single pitch 5.10 crack that has anchors (first pitch of an old aid route between myopia and becky) and also I believe the first pitch of becky route has fixed anchors of some sort. there are also fixed anchors used to rap at the end of the descent, it always seemed to me that there would be some fun topropes from there or near there, the top can be reached with a low 5th class scramble up the descent gully. Good luck! I would say it may not be worth hauling the rope up in your situation but if you can manage to bring a pad some world class bouldering awaits you. |
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shakey wrote:First off I feel bad for you because although it is an amazing place on its own, staring at the perch all day as a climber with no prospect of climbing it sounds maddening.I'm pretty easy. Spending time with loved ones in amazing place really does it for me. Climbing is cool too. shakey wrote:Good luck! I would say it may not be worth hauling the rope up in your situation but if you can manage to bring a pad some world class bouldering awaits you.Awesome, this sounds promising. Have you seen any boulders near the Saddleback Lakes? It would be cool to camp by the lake and the boulders!! |
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Yes, world class boulders are right at the lake. There might even be an opportunity for some deep water solo stuff (nothing big, maybe 25 feet?) on one of the lakes. |
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You can deepwater solo the jump rock and leave your pad at home! There are a few scattered boulders one could climb...the last part of the approach to the lakes is steep, and I always seem to end up bushwacking part of the way, so a big pad might be a pain in the neck. |
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a route i posted. very fun climb. bring some webbing |