Silicon Tower, Verita Ridge. On a long one-day trek in September, 1961 into Goat Lakes, Louis Stur, Jim Ball and I climbed the west face of Silicon Tower, the very prominent tower in the lowest point of Verita Ridge, north of Warbonnet Peak. Later we learned that this peak had been climbed once before and named Silicon Tower, but we did an entirely new route to our consolation. The route was up a chimney and crack system just right of the northern corner of the face. From a gully headwall, the first pitch went from a wide stem into minimum direct aid. The second lead was the most trying, a stemming problem in a smooth-walled chimney. The fourth pitch culminated on the summit ridge, which was plastered with ice; finding pitons of the previous ascent here, we called it a day because of oncoming darkness.

Fred Beckey