The north face of Sayres Benchmark beckons us to climb it.
The line we took is the couloir in the center of the face dubbed X Rated due to the visible X in the face. We took directly to within about 20 feet of the summit on the right.
The moon is dwarfed by the north face of Sayres.
Enjoying firm snow early on in the climb.
Looking down from about halfway up.
Dominic and Sarah nearing a thin strip of snow over a rock band.
Negotiating the rock band.
Looking down the face near the top.
Dominic takes a turn breaking trail.
Sarah about to top out.
Nearing the summit. I forgot my inclinometer, but we estimated the slope angle to be in the upper 40's.
Looking east near the top of the couloir.
The mellow ridge run over to UN 13460, which is the bump to the right.
Looking nw from near the summit of Sayres.
Looking back at the dramatic n.w. face of Sayres with some lingering a lingering cornice on the ridge.
I couldn't get enough of this view.
Mellow ridge run over to UN 13460.
14er La Plata. We could see a few folks on the ridge.
Another shot of the north face of Sayres.
Our last peak for the day was ho hum UN 12601, which Dominic & Sarah kindly repeated with me.
Ellingwood Ridge
