A few years ago when I was attempting a ludicrous food based challenge, a friend asked me the following question.

“Hey Arthur, how do you eat an elephant?”

to which I promptly replied with a smile:

“One bite at a time.”



It was his way of telling me that anything is possible if you think about your goals in smaller and manageable goals. That advice has stuck with me and proved very valuable this summer while I made my way through most of the moderates on the Elephant’s Perch in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. This is the report of that summer and all the fun we had up there.


Here are what the totals looks like for the 4 weekends up at the Perch.


2,880 miles driven
48 hours in the car
$64 in ferry shuttle rides
24 miles hiked
4 weekends
8 days and nights
4 bloody Marys
8 IPAs
Mountaineer’s Route (x2), The Fine Line, Myopia, Direct Beckey, and Astro-Elephant


In late June the Taco’s own Grippa suggested we make a quick mission to the Elephant’s Perch to put a burn in on the Direct Beckey (5.11b, 12 pitches) to which I said yes as fast as humanely possible. It turned out that I could leave work at noon on Friday, rally the 6 hours to Redfish Lake Lodge and catch the 7:00 PM shuttle to the far end of the lake, rip the 3 miles and 1,500ft of vertical and be camped by 8:30 PM. A 5:30 AM wake up has us fed, stoked, and tied in on route at 7:00 AM. The DB was an amazing route with pitch after pitch of quality climbing. The breakfast pitch contained the hardest climbing of the day and I managed to onsite the pitch and get us off on the right foot for the day. We made quick work of the route and arrived at the Beckey Tree before the sun hit the face, which really became my goal for all of my return trips this summer. Don’t climb in the sun! Before we knew it we were at the top and I managed to free all of the pitches my first time up the route. Grippa had a few small mistakes so he will have to return for the reappoint and like I say to all my partners, I’m more than willing to come back again. On our way down the descent gulley we decided we would try to run up the Mountaineer’s Route the next morning before we caught the boat back across the lake at noon. Smartly we decided to cache our gear up at the base because we are both smart and lazy. We made it back to camp for some whiskey and wall staring early that afternoon with plenty of daylight in the bank.
The next morning we were able to simul-climb the Mountaineer’s Route (5.9, 7 pitches) in a relatively fast 4.5 hours camp to camp which allowed us to make it back to the lake for the ferry at noon. We decided on a celebratory jump into the lake, which was awesome, Greg’s phone was in his pocket, which was not (it later came back to life). Back at the lodge we immeadeatly hit the bar for what would become my post Perch Sunday special, IPA then Bloody Mary then IPA. “Dready Jen” ,the bartender, was more than willing to serve them up and commended us on the combination. Those drinks and the woman who served them would be a fixture for the rest of the summer. And with that we made our way back to SLC and back to work Monday morning, with stoke high for the return.

That return would come a few days later when Bryan’s friend canceled 4th of July plans and all of a sudden he was free and psyched for a trip to the Perch! Bryan has been a rock solid partner this summer on many missions here in Salt Lake City like afternoons in Little Cottonwood and of course our highpoint of the summer when we nailed the Cirque Traverse in the Winds in 23 hours last weekend. But back to the Perch. Same plan in which we blast from SLC on Friday afternoon and climb Saturday. This time we had our eyes on Myopia (5.11a, 9 pitches). We’re up at 5:30 AM and heading to the route with stoke just like last weekend. With a ton of gusto we blast up the route psyching up for the 3rd pitch crux when all of a sudden things don’t seem quite right, the climbing seems too hard and sketchy for the descriptions I’d read. Well it turned out we were 1 corner system off and actually ended up on Divine Guidance. Luckily we noticed at the top of pitch two and ended up rapping off of some sketchy tat back to the correct corner system and got back on route. Once again I managed to free the route on my first try despite some definite difficulties. Bryan came really close with only a few small falls and so he was primed to come back for another go. Overall I’d say the climbing on this route is more sustained than that on the DB and there are really no great belay ledges. We ended up linking some pitches and splitting others up since the topo was not super clear on pitch lengths. Despite our false start we still managed to get back to camp early in the afternoon. Back on the ground we hatched a plan to try and do The Fine Line the next morning. But alas it was not to be. We woke up and were tied in at the usually 7:00 AM, however we severely underestimated how worked we were after Myopia and I promptly got my ass handed to me on the opening crux pitch. Out came the slings as I tried to get to the top of the pitch quickly. Bryan did not fare much better. We managed to make it to the top of the second pitch and were thoroughly knackered. With clouds in the sky and a wave of fatigue pouring over us, we decided to bail and come back for a better effort fresh some other weekend. Back to the base, pack it up, hike it out, grab the boat, hit the bar. IPA, Bloody, IPA, chill, drive home, scheme.


For my third trip in this summer I recruited my coworker at Petzl, Scott P. Scott is both capable and stoked which is really all one needs most days right? Same program to get us in climbing on Saturday morning. For this trip I set my sights on a better effort on The Fine Line (5.11c, 10 pitches). Promptly at 7:00 AM I tied in and gave it a go. This time without the fatigue of Myopia on my back I was able to make my way up the opening pitch with the advice of my friend Brad in my head. He said to just think of the crux move as a slab problem not a stemming or crack problem. I got to the crux, found the crucial foot, committed to it and was quickly past the crux, I only needed to keep it together to get to the belay and was there before I knew it. Scott had some trouble on the pitch and arrived at the belay a little spent. The next lead was his and off he went. He took a fall just before a perfect bone lock but managed to get back on promptly and finish. As I launched into the finger locks of that pitch I felt pretty confident the route would go free for me and a few hours later we managed to top it out, I freed the whole thing and Scott came really close, but alas he has a reason to return. The next morning we were pretty fried so we just ripped it back to the boat and the bar, where of course, Dready Jen was waiting. NOTE: Dready Jen is not her name. She is called Jen, she has dreads, and she does not know I reference her as Dready Jen, or DJ, when brevity is of the essence.


By any stretch of the imagination that would have been a great summer at the Perch but in my mind you can always do more and so me and Bryan found ourselves heading north again to climb again. This time we decided to try Astro Elephant (5.10-, 10 pitches). Grippa had told me to beware of the wide and that the route was stout. I heeded his advice and packed an extra #4 for the onslaught. Saturday morning me and Bryan and tied in at 7:00 AM and launch onto the route when all of a sudden it again starts to feel weird and we think we may be off route. Some expert down aiding under a roof brings Bryan back to the belay and we decide to bail. Back on the ground at 10:30 AM we realize we blew it and were actually on the Elephant’s Eye (5.10+ A3). The sun was fully creeping onto the wall now so we decided to bag it for the day. Back at camp we decided to siesta for a few hour and then run a simul-lap up the Mountaineer’s Route around 2:30 PM since Bryan had never been on it. We ended up getting stuck behind a party for a few pitches and loaned them a #4 (I forgot I needed it for AE the next morning). The team seemed to be moving quickly when we passed them and I thought nothing of it when they said they’d see us at camp shortly. We were back at camp at 6:30 PM and they were no where to be seen. At the same time there were parties on Astro Elephant, the Original Beckey, and the Direct Beckey that were all moving at a rate that would surely have them ending in the dark. And that is certainly what happened. The boys from the Mountaineers made it back to camp around 10:30 PM so I was able to get the #4 we needed and then watched the headlamps on the wall as the remaining parties crawled their way to the summit. Late night for many to say the least.

At camp many people told us that AE was not very good and not very memorable. This started to dampen our mood a bit but we figured we’d take a look for ourselves. I will say that most people told us they bailed after the 4th pitch so I decided that wasn’t complete advice and we now needed to investigate. Tied in at 7:00 AM and on the right route we made pretty quick progress up the first two pitches which are the crux. I’d say they are both pretty stiff for 10- and I had to work a bit for the flash as did Bryan. Grippa will be happy to know that on the 2nd pitch I did manage to find a prefect no hands knee bar rest which allowed me to fully recover and clean the pitch in style. They are everywhere Greg!!!! Some linking and fast movement put us at the base of the 7th pitch pretty quickly and that was again my lead. This is the pitch with the step around move and what I thought was one of the more exposed positions on the route. It was absolutely phenomenal and completely worth doing the the route for that alone. Near the top, Bryan took a wrong turn and we ended up under what we thought was the next to last pitch. This should have been 5.7 but as I continued onward it felt really hard and really insecure (solid 5.10 for sure), eventually I ended up at a dead end below a roof and realized I was of route. I thought I might be able to work my way around the corner and back on the route but with no available gear and a down climb needed I knew I was safer bailing. I ended up leaving a sling and a nut to provide a directional for the rappel and the pitch traversed heavily along its 100 ft. We later realized we had been on the upper pitch of Eye of the Elephant, man we cannot shake that thing! Back at the belay I figured out a way to get back on the route and with a lot of directions and slings I managed to lead a rope stretcher to the summit and we were again on top and done. Even with our detour on that day we were back at camp around 4 and packing up to hit the bar and the road. We managed to catch the last boat at 7 and get our drinks before Dready Jen’s shift ended and with that our Perch summer came to a close and we headed to Hailey to stay with a friend for the night.
All in all I can say I am obsessed with the place and cannot wait for next year. With red points waiting for the boys I can put myself on the support crew as I stoke up for the projects still to come. As for what my favorite route there was this summer I will unequivocally say it was the Direct Beckey. It has consistently amazing climbing, great belay ledges, obvious route finding, it is sustained, and it was my first route there. We always remember our first.


Send it,

Arthur