[Gimpilator]

The weather on Saturday looked crappy in WA but I noticed that the Idaho forecast was very good. I asked Heather if she would join me for a 3 day trip. She had Monday off work. Borah Peak Video We used the rainy day to drive to the Borah Peak trailhead, 12 hours in the car. Unfortunately the head gaskets in my engine blew out, 9 miles east of Missoula. After catching a tow with AAA, I rented another Subaru and we were back on the road.

Dickey Peak

Chickenout Ridge above

Mount Idaho

We camped at the Borah Peak campground and fell asleep listening to the coyotes call. The next morning we got up at 5:50am. We caught up to an older gentleman on the trail who was obviously exhausted. He told us that he was scheduled for a knee replacement and that this was his last hurrrah. Judging from his clothing and gear, he was not an experienced hiker. We passed him and I kept looking over my shoulder hoping to see him make progress, but he must have turned around.

Borah

Scrambling

After crossing some small snow patches we came to Chickenout Ridge. I was expecting a very exposed scramble after reading several route descriptions, but we found the scrambling to be pleasant and not very challenging. Near the end of the scramble we came to a snowy knife-edge. A fall there could have been serious. We walked across the top, keeping careful balance.

Borah

the knife-edge

Heather crossing the knife-edge

I started noticing difficulty in my breathing around 11,000 feet. Nothing out of the ordinary, just thin air. We traversed some steep hard snow using our axes, but we did not use our crampons since there were good bucket steps established. We passed through a saddle and then scrambled some slabs and loose rock up to the summit where we found the register in an old ammo can.

the summit above

frozen lake

Heather on the summit

Diamond Peak visible

register

panorama

summit

It was cold an windy but we found a sheltered area to sit for awhile. Diamond Peak was visible to the east, our goal for the following day. We descended without incident and then drove to the east side of Diamond Peak. We had some trouble finding the correct road to access the east ridge, but eventually we figured it out.

camp

Diamond alpenglow

The access roads were very rough and Heather was nervous about my navigating/driving. After an hour we came to spot at 7950 feet, below the east ridge, and I decided that I could safely drive no further. We camped there. It was very windy all night.

1 label

Big Horn Sheep

Bell Peak to the north

The following morning we woke up at 5:30 and were moving by 6:15. We hiked up through grassy sloped and pine trees to access the east ridge. Heather spotted several big horn sheep. The ridge got more interesting as we climbed higher. Around 11,000 feet we put on our scramble gloves.

some loose rock

exposure

The ridge was mainly class 2 with numerous class 3 steps. All fourth class was avoidable by traversing ledges and scree paths on the north side of the ridge. The rock was not as solid as Borah but there was a lot more scrambling to be had and we enjoyed it.

near the summit

summit

Bell Peak

panorama

Grand Teton

Borah Peak visible to the west

summit

We only spent 5 minutes on the summit since Heather needed to get back for work the following day. It was a pleasant surprise that we could see Grand Teton in the distance in Wyoming. We hurried on the way back down to the car and got there at 12:15 for a total time of 6 hours. Then I drove back to Missoula where I rented a truck (the only one-way vehicle available) and drove back to the west side, arriving at 1:30am.

[Bryan K]

It's hard seeing the summit of Borah since that's been on my revenge list for 25 years. I wish I could have gone with you. Great job nonetheless overcoming a lemon of a car you had!

[Justus S.]

Nice weather indeed! I wouldn't mind going back to that area. Those 12 hours each way though is a bit rough.

[Redwic]

Good work. Nice peaks.

[Ski]

excellent. thank you.

[DIYSteve]