Canyon Creek Point

Canyon Creek Point provides the easiest access to a summit in the Salmon River Mountains from a paved road. Situated just north of ID-21, the SW Ridge route gains a hearty 3276 in just under 2 miles. An ascent of this peak provides excellent views of the Sawtooth Range to the south and the rest of the Salmon River Mountains to the northwest, north, and northeast. In addition, utilizing the SW Ridge allows the scrambler to stay just above the treacherous south slopes that avalanche every winter, yet have an excellent view down many of these chutes. The summit ridge contains two prominent points with the westernmost point being the tallest, yet the easternmost point provides a slightly more challenging finish. At the west summit is a weather station and communications tower. Near the start of the scramble is an avalanche recovery cache box, and across many of the nearby slopes are trip wires that alert the Transportation Department of the slopes that have had avalanches.

The accepted division between the Sawtooth Range to the south, and the Salmon River Mountains to the north is Canyon Creek and the ID-21 corridor that snakes through this narrow valley. Canyon Creek Point sits just north of this division, and unlike many other peaks in the area, it can be climbed nearly year round (given the road is open). The steep SW Ridge ascends through a forested ridge with a few down logs lower down, but near the top the ridge becomes rocky, and remaining faithful to the ridge will require Class 3+ scrambling. All challenging areas can be avoided by dropping mostly west from the ridge for short sections. Due to it's more north proximity, this areas usually sees some early skiffs of snow before some areas just south of here in the Sawtooth Range.

From the Boise Area, Follow Idaho-21 from Lowman toward Stanley. 3.9 miles past the Grandjean Road turnoff is a turnout on the left. Park here. The Canyon Creek Slabs are 6.0 miles from the Grandjean Road. If approaching from the Sun Valley / Stanley Area, the turnout to park is 7.9 miles southwest of Banner summit. The Canyon Creeks Slabs is 5.8 miles from Banner Summit. Road Closures and restrictions exist during the winter. 

This nine-mile section of the highway between Banner Summit and Grandjean, called Canyon Creek, has 54 avalanche chutes and experiences about 90 percent of the avalanches in the state of Idaho. It is closed an average of 60 days per year. Conditions change rapidly and during periods of warmer, wet snow and rain this section can close for preventative safety reasons. Often, giant avalanches sweep down off the south slopes of Canyon Creek Point and cover the highway with thirty foot tall blockages of cement like snow. During periods of prolonged closures, when many sections are covered, the Idaho Department of Transportation must use a giant auger to drill it's way from each end of the highway. This slow process can take weeks for the two sections at each end to meet, as the giant chunks of cement like snow must be lifted out after the drilling.

Latest Avalanche Report (Sawtooth Area)

Avalanche Report

National Weather Service Current Forecast for Stanley:

NWS Service

Sawtooth Web Cam can give you a good idea of the conditions in the area

Sawtooth National Recreation Area

SNRA

SNOTEL site gives latest snow depth readings