Climbing Thompson Peak

This past weekend we climbed Thompson Peak with our friends from church Nathan and Michelle Bailey, Joe Raybell, and his cousin Jonah. At an elevation of 10,751 feet, Thompson is the tallest mountain in the Sawtooth Range. This is the first mountain that Stephanie has ever climbed and the first that we have summited together! As mountaineering always is, it's a colossal undertaking but it's so rewarding.













On Friday we drove to Redfish Lake then backpacked to a nameless glacial lake 5 miles west of Redfish. This took three hours and we climbed about 3,000 feet during this leg of the trip. After camping for the night, we summited on Saturday. It took us three hours to summit from camp. It took us 2:40 to descend back to camp. It took us 2:30 to descend from Camp to the parking lot.















Backpacking in with the Sawtooths on the horizon















Here's the moon passing behind Thompson's southern ridge. It cast a brilliant glow on the east ridge of Williams Peak that night.



















Here's our camp in the shadow of Thompson. The peak looks much closer here than it actually is. ;)















Here's the the saddle between Thompson and Williams Peaks. You can see Joe and Jonah just below the small snowfield to the left.



















Stephanie ascending the face to the saddle between Thompson and Williams Peaks















Nathan and Michelle ascending the face to the saddle between Thompson and Williams Peaks















On the summit!















Here you can see the lake we camped by and the route we took to get there.















Looking South from the summit















Little Redfish (left) and Redfish Lakes from the summit















The town of Stanley behind the ridge of Williams Peak



















Stephanie flexing on the descent now that she's conquered the tallest the Sawtooths have to offer. The summit is the peak to the left above her.