With August here, the fire season is now upon us.  When we reached the town of Challis, ash was raining from the sky.  Reluctant to continue on, we were assured conditions were better by the Perch from a quick phone call.  As we neared the Sawtooths conditions did continue to improve.  We got to Redfish Lake and quickly packed to make our boat shuttle across the lake. 

The place was just as I remembered it.  A mellow approach led to a beautiful cirque where we camped.  As darkness fell, we set up camp next to the lake and settled in for the night.  The next morning, being so close to the buttress, we had a casual morning before setting off to climb.

The next day we decided to climb the “Becky Original” route.  It’s about 10 pitches up the center of the buttress and I would describe it as a plethora of amazing corner and crack systems.  One of the best routes I’ve done.  We cranked away making good progress all day.  Two pitches shy of the summit; we ran out of water and with the sun beating down on us, our pace slowed.  We topped out in the early evening and made it back to camp with enough time for a quick dip in the lake and some fishing.

We were now feeling a little worked from all the climbing, but felt it necessary to get one more day in.  With that, we headed back to “Mojo” to try and explore more pitches.  This time the weather was great, but we were worked.  We explored two more pitched before succumbing to the heat and exhaustion.  We were happy taking the mystery out of two more pitches and are excited to return.