Ben & I wanted to bag some 13ers with a good scramble this ended up being a great choice of peaks to climb. We drove up to Iowa Gulch and found the lower "trailhead" or just the basin you climb to reach the West Dyer Mt Dyer Mt saddle.
Treated with a moonless night the stars at ~11800ft were astounding.
Using 60 sec shutter speed I found a shooting star!
I didn't know my point and shoot could take night pics so well
We got up at 4:25 and started hiking at 5:05 in the warm calm morning air.
We made quick work and soon ascended into the Dyer Amphitheater
Great colors over the Sawach range
Sunrise reflected near treeline looks like purple mts to me
Just above the West Dyer Mt Dyer Mt saddle
Ben just above the saddle with sun power
Summit of West Dyer Mt 13047
This is a clear view of the fun to come, picture of Dyer Mt's west ridge at sunset. Although they look menacing these towers can all be bypassed on this side, the south side.
1000' feet of scrambles
Dyer Mt's class 3 1000' ridge
Starting the solid fun scramble to Dyer Mt
This chimmney was class 4+ we had to climb it although eaiser climbing was just to the South
Towers to conquer, staying near the ridge crest kept the scrambling exciting
Ben in shadows about halfway up the ridge
Me getting some morning exposure
The high clouds providing stark contrast
A view down the North face near 13700ft
Ben downclimbing a pesky rock rib
The last bit of difficulty relented qucikly
The scramble ended abruptly at a sinister looking rib that ended up being a walk off on easy terrain to broad slopes north of the ridge. After a couple of quick false summits we got Dyer, the wind started to blow just as we summited, luckily we had just class 2 ridges to fight it.
Summit of Dyer Mt 13855ft
Next goals in sight! Gemini Peak and Mt Sherman
Descending from Dyer we had a use for the Ice Axes
Buzzing powerlines at the Dyer Mtn Gemini Peak saddle
Climbers on Mt Sherman from the summit of Gemini Peak
From the Summit of Gemini the wind became 20 mph sustained and 40-50mph gusts..
Summit of Gemini 13951ft!
Gemini Peak from it's SW false summit
Ben on SW Gemini from another ridge bump
The traverse from Gemini to Sherman was simple but the wind kept blowing harder and stronger.
Summit of Mt Sherman 14036
We didn’t even sit on the snowy summit of Mt Sherman, because the wind was ever increasing in it’s intensity we left just after arriving.
View back to Sherman from the south edge of the summit ridge
We had planned on tagging Sheridan as well but the wind changed our minds. Descending all the way into the basin finally near the edge of the talus we stopped. Here the wind was still bad but at least it wasn’t brutal.
Finnaly down into the basin looking back at a good days hiking
After taking our time through the basin we arrived at the car at 1:30pm. This climb was very rewarding, if you’re looking for a good 1000’ scramble try the Dyer Mt West ridge!
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