Sawtooth Range. Jerry Fuller and I chose the unclimbed south face of the Lower Aiguille as a pre-season conditioning climb. We well deserved the unexpected difficulties encountered in three rather exhausting chimneys and the final traverse à cheval to the highest point of the knife-sharp summit ridge. This new route (class V) was the second ascent of the lower “Chamonix-type” tower first described by R. L. M. Underhill in Appalachia of 1937. The descent rappels followed the first ascent route on the north face. A few weeks later, Fuller and I successfully lassoed the tip of the “Split Tower” (called the “Groin” by the Iowa party). The brand new Iowa Mountaineer register of their first ascent, which we found there, was cause for genuine consternation. Remote Warbonnet Peak was visited four times during the past climbing season. After a lightning storm abruptly interrupted our progress on the east face of this splendid mountain, Fuller and I completed this fourth new route on our second try. The variety of pitches in this ascent (easy class V) entertained us with the best this versatile peak can offer. The Iowa Mountaineers climbed Warbonnet a few days later by the now traditional south face route, and Fuller and I again criss-crossed the same face one sunny October day ; we departed from Sun Valley at three a.m. and returned there for a late dinner. The unclimbed north face will, without a doubt, some day become the most exacting climb in the Sawtooths.

Louis Stur