Trip: [TR] Sawtooths - Elephant's Perch - Sunrise Book
Date: 7/5/2007
Trip Report:Spent a couple days last week out in the Sawtooth's last week. One intriguing line I had yet to sink my paws into was the sunrise book on the Elephant's Perch.
After driving thru the night from PDX....It sure was nice to see the dock at redfish lake lodge once again
After a quick ride across the lake, we hit the trail. The same trail where my wife and I got engaged two years ago. This scene was re-enacted oh so well in one of John's TR’s from last year.
TR here 
That afternoon, we decided to take it easy and enjoy what the sawtooths had to offer. Did some swimming and even pulled out the fly rod landing a few lil brookies that evening. Don't worry
...I threw em back
Next morning we set out for the sunrise book. After a short hike up the gully, we were off. Although short by sawtooth standards, Sunrise Book is one of the most aesthetic lines on the perch with a right facing corner for most of the route, capped by a chimney/roof on the final pitch
P1 (5.9+): nice warmup for the more sustained pitches above. Two mini cruxes on the pitch kept things interesting One short 5.9+ section down low, followed by a small roof right below the comfy belay
P2: 5.8 -> A1 or 5.12-. P2 started out pretty chill, then came the aid section. Considering I’m not much of an aid climber, things went pretty smooth. Protect pretty easy with small nuts and tcu’s (up to yellow) or small aliens (up to red)
Here's Christina rodeoing up the short aid section
P3: 5.9++: flaring corner crack that was good to protect, but I found the jams less than straightforward.
P4: 5.10-: Perfect hand jams up the open book, which takes you into a deep chimney for the next belay. This pitch felt much more relaxing than the pitch below
P4
P5: 5.9+: some chimey fun gets you just below the roof, which protects really nice. Then it’s another 40 feet or so of smooth sailing to the top
P4 and P5 could be combined, but I decided rope drag coulda got a bit nasty, and stuck with the standard plan
Capped off the trip by a lil trip to Bend to see a living legend before he bids us goodnight
Can't wait till I return
Gear Notes:- C4's up to 3", doubles in the hand sizes. My #4 C4 was a boat anchor, a set of aliens, plus a few extra tcu's and small nuts for the aid
- 4 wt rod
- Lots of D.E.E.T. Mosiquitos are nasty this year!
Approach Notes:chill
Previous Topic
Index