Cleaver Peak – Sawtooths 11,760′

These pics are from April 5, 2011. I skied two great classic names in the Sawtooths from the Twin Lakes Campground trailhead outside of Bridgeport, CA. First I went up to Col de Do Dad, because you just have to. If you’ve skied Matterhorn, Crater Crest, maybe a few other beautiful peaks in this tight little Sawtooth Mountain range…You’ll eventually just have to get to the Do Dad for two reasons. The name of course, and then the fact that you can see this high little snow covered Sawtooth Crest pass from your car. The 500′ of Northeast facing chute is a fun couple of turns above a tiny glacier, and then it’s just a huge wide low angle dreamland of turns to play in on your way back into Horse Creek Canyon.

 

If you go up to the Do Dad, that won’t be enough because your going to be psyched up there! The granite walls and spires… the blue sky above the glacier. The lack of any people in sight. So I traversed over to check out the Cleaver, which is kind of the same ski tour with a little more skinning up to the top of the snowline at the other end of this high snow bowl. I really wanted to climb to the summit, but it was just a bit snowy for my tastes to try in my huge dumb T1 boots. This slope had lines and lines of fist wide cracks that looked easy, with a few big ledges. Secor’s guide calls this NE face of Cleaver Peak only Class 3. I’ll have to go up there in the summer and look over from the summit into Glacier Lake to the north.

 

 

 

 

Check out my Glacier Col ski tour in this guide if interested in Cleaver Peak. This is the terrain on the north side of the peak.