After our big push on the Upper Doublet, we needed a day or two to rest and recuperate. With our week of alpine climbing nearing its end, we wanted to get one more climb in. Both of us agreed it shouldn’t be anything too crazy, as our minds and bodies were still feeling strained.

We decided on Legacy, a mellow 6 pitch climb up Leggat Spire in the Tobacco Root Mountains near Sheridan, MT. With only one pitch of 5.7 and the rest low 5th class, it would be a nice change of pace from the scary EZ Route. The approach and descent were supposed to be short as well, adding to the allure.

Saturday morning we got a leisurely start and made the two hour drive out to Sheridan and up the long and bumpy road to the Branham Lakes. The approach was mellow, although it is bushwhacking the whole way. Thankfully, the trees are sparse and the distance short.

[image error]Heading up.
[image error]Psyched on the easy approach.

Sarah took the first pitch, a short bit of easy crack into a long leftward horizontal traverse above a stretch of overhang on the north face.

[image error]Sarah at the first pitch belay.

The next pitch was supposed to be the 5.7, but we had a hard time understanding the guide description, so we just decided to pick the best looking path. Sarah led off, disappearing around a corner above me.

She yelled “Off belay,” brought me up, and said it was my lead. I did some scouting to try and understand where the guide wanted us to go, before finally just heading up into the gully above. Some dirty, but easy climbing followed. I tiptoed through more loose rock before gaining and traversing another ledge. I built a belay just below the ridge line and Sarah took the lead after I brought her up.

The next three pitches were stellar ridge scrambling with just a few 5th class moves thrown in to keep it interesting. I took the middle of the three, enjoying a really cool finger crack layback to get up a short notch.

On the final pitch, Sarah led up through the massive notch visible in the top picture. She stemmed between the main ridge and a huge block. I was so excited to follow the pitch. Hero moves with super easy climbing.

[image error]Final bit of technical climbing.

After that, we unroped and scrambled the rest of the ridge, which had great exposure and nothing harder than low 4th-class.

[image error]Narrow ridge section.
[image error]Summit views.

After spending a few minutes on the summit, we began picking our way down the ridge, enjoying the peaceful freedom of scrambling moderate terrain.

[image error]Decisions.
[image error]Having some fun on the way down.

In the end, we opted for the less steep, longer gully, having had enough scary talus fields earlier in the week. It proved a fun navigation challenge working our way back to the car. We got to see some neat scenery along the way.

Legacy (our version of it anyway) proved to be a fun, chill way to end our week of alpine climbing. We still have several weeks of peak fitness from our training, so we’ll see what happens next.