Last Lems

There are about 106 ten thousand foot peaks in Idaho's Lemhi Range. After 28 years I was down to my last two, or so I thought. As often happens, once in the mountains, peaks that didn't seem apparent on a map jump out at you in the field. So, instead of being my Lemhi swan song, this outing proved that it's not over till it's over. From camp at the north base of Lem Peak I scrambled up the southeast face of North Lem Peak el 10456'. The next day, in order to get to my objective, I climbed the NW ridge to Lem Peak el 10985', descended Lem's west ridge to reach West Lem Peak el 10375', then back up and over the way I came.

Shown here is the uncairned summit of North Lem. Was not able to find any sign of prior visitation. The view is south along the range crest to Lem Peak on 8/22/08.

Dawn patrol. View W across Allison Cirque to West Lem el 10375' (prominence 395') from NW ridge of Lem Peak, 8/23/08. Note the morning shadow cast by Lem Peak across the canyon of Salmon River. A dense haze of forest fire smoke had engulfed Salmon River country overnight.

My first visit to Lem Peak was 7/1/94 in conjunction with the Triangulation Station Recovery Project. Today I was heartsick for, as you can see here, the large stone monument placed by TM Bannon in 1913 had disappeared completely. K Donaldson's Summitpost submission showed the monument was still in place July 2004.

View W from the summit of West Lem on 8/23/08. A sardine can was found near the 9980' saddle but the summit showed no prior sign of occupation.

Article and photos by Rick Baugher Aug 24,2008