Late in the day on August 29, Chris Hirsch and I began the grueling 13-mile hike from Bighorn Reservoir into the Sawtooth Lakes valley. We arrived in the valley around 1 p.m. on August 30 and began to scope objectives. Minding the limitations dictated by our equipment, we quickly keyed in on an obvious line on the broad east face of Hallelujah (Peak 12’594’).

Just after sunrise the following morning, we arrived at the base of the wall. Our line started in an obvious right-facing corner and later followed a system of cracks, with a cryptic face section in the middle. [This line is to the right of the only other known route up the east face: Grand Delusion (Harlin-Jenkins-MacDonald, 2015).] I took us up the first two pitches—engaging, thoughtful, and enjoyable—and Chris took the reins for pitch three, which brought us out of the corners onto the mysterious face.

The fourth pitch was heads-up and footwork-intensive, culminating in a dynamic move into a strenuous layback. Chris used a bit of aid to place some protection.

I took back the sharp end at pitch five. Despite looking like it would be a dangerously run-out affair, with patience and persistence I was able to free it with reasonable protection. A long, moderate pitch into a low-angle bowl, roughly 200’ of simuling, and a last technical squeeze chimney, and we were on the summit.

To descend, we downclimbed the squeeze chimney and made two rappels (30m and 60m) to a major ledge system. Walking and easy downclimbing brought us to the southeast side of Hallelujah, where we slogged down talus to camp.

After a night of food and rest, we returned the next morning and quickly freed the line (Yes Lawd, 1,100’, 5.11 R), cleaning and trundling along the way.

On September 2 we spent a long day on a climb of the west face of Innominate, which we reached by crossing the notch between Mt. Woolsey and Black Tooth, at the head of the Sawtooth Lakes basin, and descending into Wilderness Basin. On our return, we traversed back to the same notch and tagged the summit of Black Tooth (13,009’) before trudging back down to the Sawtooth Lakes. The next day, we hiked back to the car and returned to life in the Black Hills.

       —Matt Scherer