Fremont and Sacajawea, Southwest Faces, Wind River Range. In mid-August, Chris Landry and I climbed routes on the southwest faces of Fremont and Sacajawea, which rise from the upper Titcomb Lake. We had sun, but cold winds and intermittent snow and hail made our idyllic outing more of an alpine ordeal than we had hoped for. Our first climb was the prominent spire just left of the summit of Fremont. After third-classing 500 feet of slabs, ledges and headwalls, we roped up. The climbing immediately got harder, and several moderate to difficult pitches deposited us in an alcove 100 feet from the diagonal ramp that forms the middle part of the route. A spectacular, exposed and difficult pitch led out of the alcove onto a steep, fingery prow, up the prow and left onto the ramp via a friction ledge. Several more moderate pitches and another hard one brought us to the top of the spire. A short rappel to the notch between the spire and the main mass of Fremont was followed by another pitch to a large, rubble-covered ledge. It was hailing and cold as we started up this last pitch, the hardest of the climb, at six in the evening. I came only too close to falling when a desperate jam would not stick. After reaching the crest of the ridge, we down-climbed onto the glacier. We arrived on the summit just as the sun was setting. (NCCS IV, F10, 11 roped pitches.) After a day of rest we climbed a shorter and easier route on Sacajawea, which possibly had been climbed before, as we found a piton on the first pitch. We again third-classed an amazing assortment of ledges and headwalls at the start. Three pitches up a left-facing dihedral, then a ledge right around a corner and several more enjoyable pitches brought us directly to the summit. NCCS III, F9, 8 roped pitches.

Michael Kennedy, Elk Mountain Climbing Club