There are three primary sources in the literature covering Verita Ridge, the American Alpine Journal, Off-Belay and The Iowa Mountaineers Journals, The AAJ articles are brief and mapless. The Off-Belay article is glossy with pics and maps but has very little substance to exact tower locations, as the article just repeats what is in the AAJ articles. In addition, the Off-Belay article dates are in error, not sure why this is since the AAJ articles are usually very specific on dates climbed. Anyways, the one AAJ article that stands out is the 1963 input by Dan Davis titled “Seven Pinnacles on Verita Ridge” and served as the basis for the descriptions in Idaho A Climbing Guide. Finally, the article Fifty Years of Sawtooth Climbing 1934-1984 by Dave Bingham provided additional clarity.
The Verita Ridge viewed from the Cony Reward Divide. Warbonnet Peak (left) to Monte Verita. Bob Boyles Photo
In that article, two items stand out with respect to what I see in LiDAR: 1) the location of Damocles and 2) the location of Dinner or Dinnertime Tower. According to the article, Damocles is located on the ridge crest just northwest of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which likely makes it peak 10127 (LiDAR). Furthering this proposal is that with 242 feet of prominence (beating Silicon Tower by 23 feet), Beckey had to have stood underneath and said, MINE! For Dinner thru Breakfast Towers, the article states the order different then Tom’s, in other words Lunch is fine but Dinner and Breakfast are swapped. The article states that Breakfast is on the crest near the southeast end and flat topped while Dinner is the second pinnacle from the southeast end of the ridge. Looking at a topo, the crest is approximately at 10000 feet. The table below shows data submitted to LoJ with the old Dinner (new Breakfast?) at 10128 and Lunch at 9983, one above the crest and one below. And one other tidbit from the article; the inclusion of Dessert Tower as the last pinnacle on the ridge which logically comes after Dinner right? Btw, I have not analyzed Dessert Tower yet. In addition, there is another unnamed pinnacle mentioned in the article southwest of Damocles and below the crest, I am not sure what peak this is since Tilted Slab Pinnacle is due west of 10127 (Damocles).
[Click on the table to enlarge.]
