“Rugged country. Awful rugged country. Miles and miles of sharp jagged pinnacles of firm granite.” A painter-friend of Bob Underhill told him that about Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains in the early 1930s, when Bob was in the Tetons for a few weeks pioneering big new routes on the Grand Teton and other nearby peaks. Although the painter isn’t named, it almost … Continue reading
When I started climbing in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains in 1970, there was no guidebook for the range, or any other range in Idaho. There were no modern USGS maps of the Sawtooths until 1972, but we did have Forest Service maps which showed trails and the approximate locations of some of the highest peaks. There was some printed information on … Continue reading
The Summer of 1949: Fred Beckey, Pete Schoening and Jack Schwabland went into Idaho’s Sawtooth Range to finish “some business” with two peaks that had repulsed their climbing attempts the previous Summer. They also had a shopping list of other unclimbed peaks in the Sawtooths. Their “Idaho adventure” may well be the most exciting epic in Idaho’s climbing history. Fred … Continue reading
I guess we were the Decker Flat Climbing & Frisbee Club (DFC&FC) before anyone, including us, knew. The little guy in the back of my mind liked the way the words fit together. Until the name popped into my head we were simply a group of like-minded climbers who lacked an identifying name. However, on a fateful morning in the mountains of … Continue reading
Editor’s Note: see additional photos assembled by Jacques Bordeleau at the following link: Gordon K. Williams Photos My friend, high school classmate, climbing and adventure buddy Gordon Williams (aka Stein Sitzmark and, on occasion, “Imstein”) passed away on Tuesday July 23rd at age 69 and 3/4. He leaves a lot of good friends and his loving family behind. Gordon was trained … Continue reading
Ray Brooks Bio It was love at first sight with me and Idaho’s Sawtooth Range. Rotten rock, mosquito bogs and the annual July plague of biting flies: all failed to dampen my ardor. In 1971, I discovered Elephants Perch. It is a massive dome of beautiful pink granite (Leucocratic quartz monzonite). Its very clean and solid 1,200-foot high West Face … Continue reading