Climbing
On Friday, August 7th at 8:13 pm a large earthquake dislodged Baron Spire (AKA Old Smoothie), causing a massive landslide in the Sawtooth Mountains, ID. This video was taken at Baron Lake.
Another video, below, is from another angle:
Just got back into Stanley from backpacking to Baron Lakes yesterday, where we witnessed a major rock slide from a 4.2 earthquake last night. Pretty intense experience. There were people camped below the peak that, thankfully, were unhurt. I’m not sure of the name of the peak but the entire spire came down along with half the wall face. Happened at about 8:10 pm so it was very difficult to go to sleep afterward, to say the least! I have a before and after shot below.
Photos taken by Katy Murphree, before and after, clearly show the spire missing.
Baron Spire, formerly known as “Old Smoothie”, is located in the north-central section of the Sawtooths along the Monte Verita Ridge.
Baron Lake is an alpine lake in Boise County, Idaho, United States, located in the Sawtooth Mountains in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Sawtooth National Forest trail 101 goes to the lake. Baron Lake is in the Sawtooth Wilderness, and a wilderness permit can be obtained at a registration box at trailheads or wilderness boundaries. Upper Baron Lake is upstream of Baron Lake while Little Baron Lake is downhill, but not in the same sub-basin. Warbonnet Peak at 10,210 ft (3,110 m) is west of the lake.
