Perched on the Elephant

The Story

My first significant climbing trip was to Estes Park, CO, for multipitch trad climbing. I signed up through my college outdoor rec department on a whim. I didn't have gear. I didn't lead. For most of my life I'd barely been above sea level. Despite falling on 5.7 slab and bailing on 5.8 cracks, the feeling of being up high in the mountains seduced me. Now I've been climbing rocks for 7 years. I've spent most of my time in the Southeast climbing single pitch routes, but the tug of the mountains has never ceased.

Somewhere on the book of Lumpy Ridge in 2008. I had never been somewhere so impressive, climbing cracks while looking at the mountains.

The Bugaboos, Incredible Hulk, Patagonia, and Yosemite are the places that draw me. Places that will challenge me mentally and physically. Over the years, I have slowly acquired more skills in the mountains. Fortunate to have traveled to some great American climbing venues, I've been able to tick off maybe one bigger route per year. Each time the routes and approaches are getting longer, bringing me one step closer to the big mountain routes of my dreams. For several years now, the Elephant's Perch of Idaho has been on my radar as one of those stepping stones. I first saw the beautiful golden face and overhanging diamond in 2009. I've been to Idaho five times for family vacation, and the Perch has continued to wait for me.

Thankful for this log bridge being in place this year after turning around at the creek last year.

All the waiting and preparation made the ascent all the sweeter! I enjoy that part of the growing process. Every now and again I'm able to snag a harder-than-usual route, perhaps a nice onsight, and it is exciting, but I know I have gotten away with something. On any sort of project or goal route on which I have spent a lot of energy (physical or mental), the ascent feels earned. Trusting the process has allowed me to not rush my climbing. The project list is long, for sure, but I plan on climbing a long time, and I look forward to improving every year for many to come.

Looking up at P1. I found the climbing to be blocky and discontinuous up the gully with an occasional thought-provoking move. With the pitch moving quickly and not experiencing much rope drag (not much gear), I kept going past the mantle move and into a shallow crack system to belay (just below the nice, flat belay ledge of P2, unfortunately).

Each route teaches me something new. Getting a rope stuck (while leading) on the Flatirons taught me something about protecting a route and problem solving alone on a face. My first foray into Idaho climbing, on Super Slab, taught me how to retreat and to not overestimate my abilities or heed my ego. Devil's Tower taught me the benefits of racking light (because I brought too much). The Nose of Looking Glass taught me the importance of conditions (as we froze). The Mountaineer's Route of Elephant's Perch taught me how to string together a long day. 

I was expecting the day to be tight, requiring us to make it shuttle to shuttle in under 12 hrs. With 3+ miles of hiking each way and 6 pitches of climbing, I knew it would push us, and it did. We ended up climbing the route in about 7hrs, reaching the top at 5pm, leaving only 2 hours to traverse the mountain, descend, and hike out. The simple gully walk-off was much more of an issue than expected. The route finishes relatively low on the shoulder. While the taller routes top out and allow a ridge traverse down to the gully, we had a long traverse on the backside to reach the ridge. Due to slabs and snow patches, we also had to descend (and hike back up) several hundred feet of ledges and talus. It took an hour to get to the gully, leaving us no hope of making it back in time for the last shuttle. Our saving grace was our family, who were able to keep track of our progress via cell phone. They took the last shuttle back and worked on arranging a later shuttle to retrieve us and save us the 6+ mile hike around the lake. We made it back to the dock at 8:30pm, about 13hrs after arriving, waterless, and dragging. Two gatorades, a nice dinner, and a hot soak later, I slept like the dead.

I hate to say it, but the long day and tough descent took away from the positive climbing experience for me. I kind of felt like I could not take the time to really celebrate and take in the ascent. In fact, it's taken me over a month to write about it simply because I have not been that excited. I am trying to realize, though, that if I want to reach my goals, I have to accept the good and bad - the long approaches, offwidths, exhausting days, parched throats, and poor conditions. Sometimes you have to climb the junky pitches to get to the good ones! I desire the full mountain experience after all. Otherwise, I'd just stay at the crag. So little by little I get smarter, faster, and tougher, and one step closer to my goals.

The Dirty Details

Low snow fall and a hot summer allowed for our early season attempt in mid-June. The log bridge was in place (thanks locals!) and only patches of snow covered the trail. After taking the first shuttle across Redfish Lake about 7am, we reached the wall a little before 10am. I tried to eat some sandwich but my stomach was still in knots. Action is often the best treatment for anxiety, so we set off.

The first pitch gully climbing was relatively mellow and quick. I opted to climb as far as possible for efficiency and linked P1 and P2. Given the broken and easier climbing, I sparsely placed gear, and the rope drag was not much issue. The top of the second pitch offered some heads up climbing moves - climbing out of the chimney/gully over an overhanging block and then traversing to the mantle. Unfortunately I set a semi-hanging belay in a shallow crack system just above the mantle. That left us just below the large ledge belay below P3. It made for a less than ideal first multipitch belay for my partner!

Our second pitch then brought us to the bolted belay below the triple roofs. The climbing was very nice mellow cracks and edges. But the real money was coming next pulling around the roofs. The Perch is already pretty high as it sits in an alpine cirque at the edge of a bigger valley, so the exposure is amplified. The juggy side pulls and underclings of the roof lead right to the arete and lots of air! That was the most I've smiled on a route in a long time! The rest of the pitch is scrappy gully climbing below the diamond.

Coming up to the belay below the triple roofs.

Our 4th pitch was the face below the diamond. Finding a protectable start was the biggest challenge. I found it best to start almost at the top of the gully and then to traverse back out left some, following discontinuous flakes up the face. The top offered either crack climbing up a detached flake/block on the right or airy climbing up the arete. I opted for the flake which felt secure enough and setup our semi-hanging belay right at the arete with beautiful exposure. It was at that belay that our family made it up into the cirque and got some great shots.

 

 

 

  

Climbing next to the diamond is pretty special. It is massive and entirely blank! Plus the next two pitches offer the best and most continuous climbing on the route. As I climbed the fingercrack dihedral of the next pitch, I just wanted to keep climbing. It is probably even possible to run the 5.9 finger cracks of pitch 5 all the way through the crux of pitch 6 for one rope stretching pitch of stellar crack climbing! As I led it, however, I set the belay right where a prominent horizontal crack connects the finger crack on the left with the blockier original route on the right. In truth, I did not notice the horizontal until after I had set the hanging belay in the finger crack. My partner was not appreciating me missing all the nice belays. The crux fist crack bulge came next. I found the climbing to be very secure although the most strenuous of the route. After the crux I opted to run it all the way thru the offwidth type section to the top of the technical climbing.

Really fine climbing towards the top of the route.

  

Elephants Perch Conditions - Summer 2014

I have been going to the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, ID, since summer 2009. My wife and in-laws have vacationed there for close to a dozen years now, and we typically spend a week in the area annually. During my first visit, my wife (who was working in the area at the time) took me up to"Shangri-La," better known as Saddleback Lakes below Elephant's Perch. We made an ill-fated attempt at climbing the Central Gully of Super Slab on the approach to Saddleback [that trip is covered here].

It's steeper than it looks. Free-soloing to the first tree was ill-advised.

As a young climber, I was amazed by the towering golden face of Elephant's Perch above me. I hoped that one day I would be able to measure up. Five years later, my brother-in-law and I established plans to highjack one of the vacation days to attempt Mountaineer's Route. I watched mountain project like a hawk and contacted The Elephant's Perch shop in Ketchum for recent updates. Due to the nature of our trip (a family vacation), we were opting for a single day attempt. We would catch the earliest 7am boat shuttle across Redfish Lake, hike the 2-3 miles in, climb the route, and hopefully catch one of the last shuttles back. We figured that would give us adequate time for the nine pitches of the route. If not, we could suffer the slog back to the parking lot around the lake.

Obligatory shot. One cannot resist capturing the beauty of this place. MR is around to the left.

We would be there during the last week of June. Knowing that was pretty early in the alpine season, we expected some snow on the approach and summit, along with potential for higher water levels and potentially cold temps (40s + shade). In preparation, we borrowed two ice axes just in case.

What Conditions Did We Find?
The boat ride is wonderful and the hike is mellow until the traditional creek crossing. In the past, I had crossed on a natural log jam (shown below). This time, however, the heavy runoff had washed out the logs leaving no way to cross. I had read about a potential crossing farther down, so we walked a few more minutes around some bends until the woods opened up some and approached the creek for a look. At this point, the creek was deeper and slower moving. Someone had strung a hand line between trees above a partially submerged log (shown below).

So much for the crossing.

The new, slightly damper, and more adventurous crossing.

We ultimately decided to not risk falling in with packs. The low lying position of the log plus the wobbly hand line wigged us out, and we were thrown quite off guard by the situation. Later in the morning, I successfully and quite easily crossed the log without a pack, confirming my suspicion that we simply wimped out. In fact, we saw several backpackers coming out from the lakes via that crossing.

Scouting Mission
Our plans were foiled and we enjoyed a nice hike into the valley instead. The hike is probably my favorite of all the Sawtooth hikes I have done and reminded me of the Tetons. The trip was not a completely waste as we had fun and were able to take some photos of the route from a rarely captured angle. From the lakes, most of the route is not visible.

This Year
We are headed back this year and hope to make another attempt. Unfortunately, we will be there even earlier, but it seems like snowfall has been a little lower. Perhaps we'll luck out. At least I will feel confident using the hand line this time!

Route Photos Below:

Topo of the route from http://web.stanford.edu/~clint/eperch/mtneer.gif

The whole face, with the MR going up the left side of the diamond.

The top of the route. Click and zoom for more detail. There seem to multiple options next to the diamond: easier but looser in the gully (in the shadow) or harder, more direct cracks on the face.

Lower/Middle route below the diamond. The triple roofs appear to be in the big triangular shadow down low followed by going around the corner and then up to the base of the diamond. The first 3 pitches are not really visible due to their right-facing nature. 

Creek crossing with hand line and partially submerged log. The creek may be fordable just upstream but don't be fooled by the clear water. It is actually probably 5-6ft deep.

Informative trip reports:

https://www.kuhl.com/borninthemountains/portfolio/trip-report-elephants-perch-mountaineers-route/

http://chossclimbers.com/testing/us/idaho/sawtooths/mountaineers-route-on-the-perch/

I Qualified!

That's right! Last weekend, both my wife and I qualified for the Boston Marathon 2016. I ran 3:04 and she ran 3:26. Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with college friends, and it was so fulfilling to complete this yearlong goal!

The Weather
We knew going into the race that it would likely be rainy. However, the temps were pretty good - 50s. While water can add some weight, I thought I still had a chance of running a fast time with good temps. After all, I nice day of running has been rare this winter. I opted for light and fast clothes - singlet and shorts and ball cap. It worked out well, and I never was very cold minus some tingly hands and forearms which I am used to.

Race Breakdown
It was amazing how fast the race went by. With so many people and changing scenery, the miles ticked by. I started in corral 2 and was at the 5k mark before I knew it. Through the initial miles, my pace was too fast (6:30-6:45) but I was feeling good minus a slightly heavy belly from one too many Grab the Gold bars in the morning. In those initial miles, all the half and full runners are mixed together, people are jockeying for position, and it is easy to get caught up in it.

For the middle miles, I fell in with a consistent group of runners. I kept edging up next to a tall, college-age kid running my pace, so I finally asked him what time he was going for. He, too, was attempting to BQ, and on his first marathon attempt too (he did)! We cruised together for ~8miles, through the halfway point, 16, 18, etc. I think it really helped to have a partner through those miles to keep me consistent. We knocked out 7:00 miles one after another. I kept thinking about Scott Jurek, the famed ultrarunner. In one of his early attempts at the Badwater Ultramaraton through Death Valley, he collapsed halfway through, completely spent. He convinced himself that the only way he could finish is if he approached the rest of the race as brand new, like he had started over. He went on to win and set a new course record. I told Geoff, my new partner, at 13.1, "brand new race," and we started the countdown from there.

Eventually I left Geoff and headed out solo. I was still holding steady paces, but starting to feel the fatigue coming in during miles 18-20. Having only single digit miles left kept me moving. Due to the heavy belly, I delayed my first gel until about mile 10. About mile 19 I choked down another 1/2 gel or so. I was feeling OK in energy but wanted to delay the "wall" as I progressed beyond my longest training run of just 16miles. These miles were tough because the half- runners were gone, the bands were rare, and the crowds were absent. I think it's in these middle miles where mental focus and toughness are important to bridge the gap between the adrenaline of starting and the relief of nearly finishing.

The last 10k were both hard and exhilarating. It's only 10k to go. At that point in a marathon, I have run so far and so long, I think what's another 40 mins?! The course winds through a park across the river from main DC and the finish for the last few miles. I was pretty isolated with just a couple runners in sight. My legs were feeling tired, and I dreaded a debilitating cramp. Plus, the second of 2 significant hills occurred from miles 22-23. Man! There was a lot of self-talk going on. "You can do this. You are doing this!" "Keep the pace, Gary, keep the pace!" "Come on - just keep going."

Throughout the last 5-10k, my pace was still good even as the effort increased. I even dropped a 6:40 mile at mile 19. The hill at 22 got me though, and dropped my pace back to 7:19. Some downhills gave some relief and took me back under 7:00, fortunately. In the last 2 miles, I was just hanging on, struggling to put one foot in front of the other. The last 1.2miles were at 7:28 pace. I knew I had done it, though, which kept me going. Coming through the finishing chute, I was very calm, content, and fulfilled. I think I gave a little fist pump even.

Post Race
It was truly amazing how it hit me so abruptly as my legs stopped moving. Running 3hrs and then...STOP. My legs nearly buckled. I ducked for my medal and just took a moment in that position to collect myself. I considered going to the medical tent. In fact, if it weren't raining, I probably would have laid down.

I felt like an alien in the finisher's area. Half finishers were swarming everywhere, fresh off running half the distance in the same time as me. I shuffled by tables, grabbing chocolate milk, water, pretzels, bananas, and gatorade. I gratefully welcomed a wrap of space blanket and asked the volunteer to open my water bottle for me. My cold hands had become claws. Picking up my "finisher's jacket," a real nice piece of swag, I again required assistance to get it zipped.

Our friend Caroline came in at 3:17 and my wife at 3:26. While waiting, I consumed liquids and shivered uncontrollably among the crowds with umbrellas and ponchos. A concerned volunteer asked me if I was OK, and spectators opened my gatorade for me. I watched the girls finish, and we all rendezvoused with our friends Mike and Devon. Mike swiftly took action, stripping our wet clothes and providing dry replacements. I kept imagining myself holed up in a snow cave in the mountains, spooning with a partner, trying to survive through an unplanned bivy.

Wrapped in aluminum-plastic skirts and shawls, we shuffled our way to the Metro Station and back home to rest. Our hosts provided a delicious post-race meal of homemade blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. We all showered, lounged, and recounted our tales of glory from the morning race.

What now?
It was such a life-giving weekend! We enjoyed the company of friends, sharing in suffering and celebration. Having all four of us meet or exceed our goals was really special and allowed us to be smiley and cheery all day! We immediately started making plans for Boston.

Monday, our friend emailed us about how hard it was to return to work, back to normal life. Setting and working toward a big goal requires such singular focus. Last spring, I was inspired by this same friend and a professor to try to BQ. My wife and I both had to drop over 30mins off our PRs, and we hadn't run a marathon in 3.5 years. We worked really hard and made a lot of sacrifices. Sometimes it was very rewarding. Sometimes it was a chore. We kept at it and it kept us going through a dreary winter. We're in the best shape of our lives thanks to this goal.

I think we are all kind of at a loss as to what to do now that it's over. All the hard work over a year cashed in for a 3-3.5 hr experience. It's really pretty strange and somewhat anticlimactic. We want the high to go on forever, right? Post-race I'm stuck between "never running another marathon because it hurts so much" and "I bet I can go faster in Nashville in 6weeks." Visions of grandeur rise up like carbonation to replace the completed goal as it drifts into memory. I'm grateful for the ability and privilege to run and to climb and to be fit. It's incredibly rewarding and satisfying to push myself and see what I'm capable of. That is why I started this journey trying to BQ in the first place. It was all to answer the question: "What am I capable of?" For better or worse, that question is never fully answered, and the journey is never-ending.

This week is my spring break, which has afforded me time to recuperate physically and mentally. I'm climbing 5 days here at the Red River Gorge, and it feels great to get vertical again. I have climbing goals too, and look forward to really investing in those, but I cannot escape wondering what else I can do on my feet. I will likely give another hard effort at the Country Music Marathon in just 6 weeks. I'd like to lower my BQ time to increase my chance of being admitted to Boston. Who knows? Maybe I can go even faster ;) This time I plan on running more consistent paces and holding back for the first half. Hopefully, I will have some plans for next April in the northeast!