#8th 12er- I think I may be in love with this mountain. It is such a well-rounded gem of happiness. It makes you work for the summit and has been my favorite of the 12ers so far. There are multiple scrambling opportunities, a gorgeous flowing creek, scree skiing, and awesome views. I climbed this one in combination with Breitenbach and started out on the trail late in the day. I knew I wouldn't make the summit, but my hope was to make it above the tree line before sunset. A clear sky, a new moon, and zero winds were predicted so there was no way I was going to miss an opportunity to bivvy under the stars! I found the perfect spot at 10,577 just before you traverse over to the saddle. The sky did not disappoint, and I watched shooting stars all night long!
Climbed this one with my son Connor Swinney. I thought gaining the saddle was the toughest part. The way around the pinnacles was fun and navigation was always choice-filled. Pretty good climber routes up there but sometimes they lead to the right, left, and over the same pinnacle. We only made one choice we regretted downclimbing to the right below a snow field where it got to be pretty loose talus with a wierd slow motion rock slide due to the melting mud underneth. We didn't go the traditional face route but stuck more to the ridge where I found more stable and the exposure was never an issue. Overall a great day BUT... we didn't find the sun ski scree on the way back down and maybe went too far west and had to go through the forest. Parts of that weren't too much fun. 11 hours, 45 minutes overall but we spent some time up top admiring the view without wind. 3 of 9.
rennerkj - Sep 20, 2020 9:40 am Date Climbed: Sep 18, 2020
6th 12er
It was a smoky climb! This has some challenging route finding, some good scrambling, and some good scree skiing. The smoke made this one hard for me but a fun climb and decent, although I broke both my trekking poles on the decent.
Seems like there were several trails in the beginning. Towers were awesome! Loved the scree skiing, too. The final push to the summit was much harder than I expected (very steep and slippery). Beautiful up there and along the ridge. I will remember this fondly as my final 12er! :)
Cairns have been placed along the climbers' trail. I might be crazy, but it seemed like I used 2 different trails that day. On the way up I remember closely following Elkhorn Creek; on the way down I was up out of the trees following an exposed trail south of the creek.
I got to the summit in just over 3 hours. After lunch there I went to check out Mt. Morrison, which wasn't quite the quick side trip I was expecting.
CameronGround - Sep 1, 2017 3:58 am Date Climbed: Aug 21, 2017
N Ridge Total Solar Eclipse Special
Gorgeous scenery on the Pahsimeroi and Merriam Lake approach, bunch of bighorn sheep running around the high meadows, a friggin total solar eclipse from Point 11196 with the N Ridge and Sacajawea towering above, and some fun scrambling after getting accustomed to the rock quality.
live4hills - Aug 14, 2016 5:16 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2016
Elkhorn Creek
Perfect day. Fresh winds. Climbed up the boulder field, and cruised down the scree field. I loved the variety of this climb. The pillars were my favorite. The summit block sucks with a sprained ankle! Hands down best view of Borah! 5/9 12ers
elcy79.gp - Oct 20, 2015 3:50 pm Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2015
MtIdaho#5
Jon and I camped at the trailhead for an early start. Made it up in under 5 hours. Saw a couple goats at the saddle around 11,000'.
Made a major error coming down and got ourselves into some pretty nasty steep runouts. Took us over 2 hours just to get to treeline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8MuJKfNIaM
LazyJSkwires - Aug 3, 2015 10:07 pm Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2015
Quiet day
Standard route up Elkhorn creek. Didn't see anyone or anything the entire time. My last twelver for Idaho. Lots of driving for this so next time I'm picking something closer.
Third time is the charm. Tried twice before in the snow and unfavorable conditions turned us around both times. It decided to snow a little the previous night so we could summit "in snow." I think I liked the snow glissade previously, better than the scree ski this time though. Reached the summit at 8:15 am as weather was due to arrive at 10 but we were lucky and only had a few sprinkles near the end.
Scrambling Man - Jul 29, 2012 5:50 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2012
Thunder
Took the west ridge/SW face route. Pretty good climb. Thunderstorms made us retreat off the summit shortly after reaching the top.
It's a fun mountain but dang, the scree on the way to the summit is quite slippery! Did the standard route and if I ever go up it again, I'm wearing a helmet.
Mlasky - Aug 13, 2011 1:49 pm Date Climbed: Jul 5, 2002
Completion of 12ers
My last 12er in the quest of Idaho's tallest peaks.
Scarp172 - Jan 4, 2011 7:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2010
West Ridge/Southwest Face
What a great climb! Our final 12'er. Instead of following the route in Tom's book we headed up a drainage that provided us solid rock and a little climbing to take the ridge. Then when we got to the pillars we learned that there is a trail behind them now, so we didn't have to circumnavigate them. The face was challenging, but fun. Really a great climb.
SawtoothSean - Dec 18, 2010 1:55 pm Date Climbed: Dec 7, 2002
Warm for December
Great warm, sunny day with John O.
tonybell1 - Nov 16, 2010 12:45 am Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2009
Long day.
Lots of scree and talus.
mfox79 - Oct 2, 2010 11:04 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2010
Long Day
After a few previous attempts i finnaly summited with dave,Ken and Hiking Bella in an 11 hour trip. perfect day in the mid 80's in October! this was a fun and challenging mountain and the last of my 12,000 ft summits in Idaho. guess its time to continue to work on the top 50 in the state
merrill - May 31, 2010 10:14 pm Date Climbed: Apr 17, 2010
Southwest Ridge
Strike two. Made it to the top of the southwest ridge. It had been snowing since 4am but looked like it might break. Then the wind and snow picked up and visibility dropped so we bailed. Maybe try this one in the summer next time.
merrill - May 31, 2010 10:10 pm Date Climbed: Apr 12, 2008
Climbed this one as my birthday present to myself. So far this is my favorite 12er. It is also my 5th of the 9. We started before sunrise in the morning and got lost a few times because the trail is hard to follow in places. The descent was quite the scree slide. We went down the Southwest face, dodging cliffs as we went and stirring up quite a bit of dust. I highly recommend Mt. Idaho.
dawnclymb - Sep 16, 2023 4:24 pm Date Climbed: Sep 15, 2023
Bivvy at 10,577#8th 12er- I think I may be in love with this mountain. It is such a well-rounded gem of happiness. It makes you work for the summit and has been my favorite of the 12ers so far. There are multiple scrambling opportunities, a gorgeous flowing creek, scree skiing, and awesome views. I climbed this one in combination with Breitenbach and started out on the trail late in the day. I knew I wouldn't make the summit, but my hope was to make it above the tree line before sunset. A clear sky, a new moon, and zero winds were predicted so there was no way I was going to miss an opportunity to bivvy under the stars! I found the perfect spot at 10,577 just before you traverse over to the saddle. The sky did not disappoint, and I watched shooting stars all night long!
DesertDawg - Jul 12, 2022 2:17 pm Date Climbed: Jul 9, 2022
Great Day in the LRRClimbed this one with my son Connor Swinney. I thought gaining the saddle was the toughest part. The way around the pinnacles was fun and navigation was always choice-filled. Pretty good climber routes up there but sometimes they lead to the right, left, and over the same pinnacle. We only made one choice we regretted downclimbing to the right below a snow field where it got to be pretty loose talus with a wierd slow motion rock slide due to the melting mud underneth. We didn't go the traditional face route but stuck more to the ridge where I found more stable and the exposure was never an issue. Overall a great day BUT... we didn't find the sun ski scree on the way back down and maybe went too far west and had to go through the forest. Parts of that weren't too much fun. 11 hours, 45 minutes overall but we spent some time up top admiring the view without wind. 3 of 9.
rennerkj - Sep 20, 2020 9:40 am Date Climbed: Sep 18, 2020
6th 12erIt was a smoky climb! This has some challenging route finding, some good scrambling, and some good scree skiing. The smoke made this one hard for me but a fun climb and decent, although I broke both my trekking poles on the decent.
IdahoDaisy - Sep 4, 2019 6:46 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2019
Final 12er!Seems like there were several trails in the beginning. Towers were awesome! Loved the scree skiing, too. The final push to the summit was much harder than I expected (very steep and slippery). Beautiful up there and along the ridge. I will remember this fondly as my final 12er! :)
derekperc - Sep 7, 2017 1:05 pm Date Climbed: Sep 6, 2017
Idaho+MorrisonCairns have been placed along the climbers' trail. I might be crazy, but it seemed like I used 2 different trails that day. On the way up I remember closely following Elkhorn Creek; on the way down I was up out of the trees following an exposed trail south of the creek.
I got to the summit in just over 3 hours. After lunch there I went to check out Mt. Morrison, which wasn't quite the quick side trip I was expecting.
CameronGround - Sep 1, 2017 3:58 am Date Climbed: Aug 21, 2017
N Ridge Total Solar Eclipse SpecialGorgeous scenery on the Pahsimeroi and Merriam Lake approach, bunch of bighorn sheep running around the high meadows, a friggin total solar eclipse from Point 11196 with the N Ridge and Sacajawea towering above, and some fun scrambling after getting accustomed to the rock quality.
live4hills - Aug 14, 2016 5:16 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2016
Elkhorn CreekPerfect day. Fresh winds. Climbed up the boulder field, and cruised down the scree field. I loved the variety of this climb. The pillars were my favorite. The summit block sucks with a sprained ankle! Hands down best view of Borah! 5/9 12ers
elcy79.gp - Oct 20, 2015 3:50 pm Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2015
MtIdaho#5Jon and I camped at the trailhead for an early start. Made it up in under 5 hours. Saw a couple goats at the saddle around 11,000'.
Made a major error coming down and got ourselves into some pretty nasty steep runouts. Took us over 2 hours just to get to treeline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8MuJKfNIaM
LazyJSkwires - Aug 3, 2015 10:07 pm Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2015
Quiet dayStandard route up Elkhorn creek. Didn't see anyone or anything the entire time. My last twelver for Idaho. Lots of driving for this so next time I'm picking something closer.
merrill - Jul 13, 2015 4:30 pm Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2015
West Ridge / Southwest faceThird time is the charm. Tried twice before in the snow and unfavorable conditions turned us around both times. It decided to snow a little the previous night so we could summit "in snow." I think I liked the snow glissade previously, better than the scree ski this time though. Reached the summit at 8:15 am as weather was due to arrive at 10 but we were lucky and only had a few sprinkles near the end.
Scrambling Man - Jul 29, 2012 5:50 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2012
ThunderTook the west ridge/SW face route. Pretty good climb. Thunderstorms made us retreat off the summit shortly after reaching the top.
DrGranola - Jul 19, 2012 4:35 pm Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2012
Scree - o - RamaIt's a fun mountain but dang, the scree on the way to the summit is quite slippery! Did the standard route and if I ever go up it again, I'm wearing a helmet.
Mlasky - Aug 13, 2011 1:49 pm Date Climbed: Jul 5, 2002
Completion of 12ersMy last 12er in the quest of Idaho's tallest peaks.
Scarp172 - Jan 4, 2011 7:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2010
West Ridge/Southwest FaceWhat a great climb! Our final 12'er. Instead of following the route in Tom's book we headed up a drainage that provided us solid rock and a little climbing to take the ridge. Then when we got to the pillars we learned that there is a trail behind them now, so we didn't have to circumnavigate them. The face was challenging, but fun. Really a great climb.
SawtoothSean - Dec 18, 2010 1:55 pm Date Climbed: Dec 7, 2002
Warm for DecemberGreat warm, sunny day with John O.
tonybell1 - Nov 16, 2010 12:45 am Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2009
Long day.Lots of scree and talus.
mfox79 - Oct 2, 2010 11:04 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2010
Long DayAfter a few previous attempts i finnaly summited with dave,Ken and Hiking Bella in an 11 hour trip. perfect day in the mid 80's in October! this was a fun and challenging mountain and the last of my 12,000 ft summits in Idaho. guess its time to continue to work on the top 50 in the state
merrill - May 31, 2010 10:14 pm Date Climbed: Apr 17, 2010
Southwest RidgeStrike two. Made it to the top of the southwest ridge. It had been snowing since 4am but looked like it might break. Then the wind and snow picked up and visibility dropped so we bailed. Maybe try this one in the summer next time.
merrill - May 31, 2010 10:10 pm Date Climbed: Apr 12, 2008
Southwest RidgeMaybe next time. Too much avalanche activity.
mtybumpo - Sep 20, 2009 5:49 pm Date Climbed: Sep 19, 2009
Happy Birthday!Climbed this one as my birthday present to myself. So far this is my favorite 12er. It is also my 5th of the 9. We started before sunrise in the morning and got lost a few times because the trail is hard to follow in places. The descent was quite the scree slide. We went down the Southwest face, dodging cliffs as we went and stirring up quite a bit of dust. I highly recommend Mt. Idaho.