Mount Idaho
Idaho, United States, North America

Mount Idaho

Page Type Page Type: Trip Report
Location Lat/Lon: 1.14036°S / 105.48143°W
Additional Information GPX File: Download GPX » View Route on Map
Date Date Climbed/Hiked: Aug 13, 2016
Activities Activities: Hiking
Seasons Season: Summer

Climbing Mount Idaho

Preparing to climb Mt. Idaho, JT and I read everything we could about the route. He decided to scout out the route (and go for the summit) a few weeks earlier. Following the directions of a few reports and one popular book he climbed up to the top of the first pillar and got stuck, saw no safe way to solo at this point and turned around. So we enlisted the help of a Lost River range guru who had summited Idaho 3 times already. Turns out the pillar information is a little off. It's left on the first one, right on the second, over the top through a shoot on the third.

Looking back at first pillar
Looking back at first pillar

From the beginning the trail is pretty obvious. There a couple creek crossing, but very easy. Once you're out of the drainage you have 2 options, a giant scree field around to the right or a steep Boulder field in front of you. The first time JT took the scree field. 3 steps up 2 down. This time we took the Boulder field. It is steep but solid and will save time. 

Boulder Field coming up
Boulder Field coming up
From here you come out of the clearing and you get your first real view of Mt. Idaho. It's the same view on all the reports, so I'll leave that picture out. There's an obvious trail to the pillars. I have to admit, after hearing JT's tale, I was a little nervous, but this part of the climb turned out to be my favorite. The rock felt stable and not too exposed. Left at the first one, down around right on the second and then over the third.

Approaching the 3rd pillar
Approaching the 3rd pillar
Then came the fun part. The summit block. I chose to climb along the edge of slippery scree and solid rock to basically pull myself up. I had a recent sprained ankle and nearly made this the ending point. As I looked at what I thought was another 300-400 vert, I was 5 seconds from quitting, when Jason popped up to my left on the summit.
Suddenly the summit was right there
Suddenly the summit was right there
On top I was greeted with the most spectacular view of Borah! Tiny dots stood on the summit over there. Aside from Mt. McCaleb, this was my favorite LRR view!
Stunning view of Mt. Borah
Stunning view of Mt. Borah
Celebrating, selfies and summit scotch all while soaking in the views and fresh, light winds. 
Dans 4th Idaho summit, Jason's 7/9 and my 5/9 12er
Dans 4th Idaho summit, Jason's 7/9 and my 5/9 12er
Much joking and light hearted humor made this trip so much fun, but the really fun part.. Scree skiing 1200 vert in 5 minutes. 
End of the scree ski
End of the scree ski
Scree skiing down
Scree skiing down
This was a challenging climb for me due to recent ankle injury, but still a fun one. The slog back through the trees seemed to take forever. We were blessed with perfect weather and no smoke. Two thumbs up. I'll be back with my kid who has done 4/9 12ers but is recovering from ACL surgery. 


Images

View Mount Idaho Image Gallery - 10 Images

Comments

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Viewing: 1-3 of 3
DrJonnie

DrJonnie - Aug 16, 2016 4:17 am - Hasn't voted

picture puzzles?

Hey there,
I've had the same issues with orientation, the image type I mean.
An easy way to fix the position is to use a picture editor such as available in "Windows". Open the picture file, select edit and make a small change. If the orientation is wrong, rotate the image first. Then make your small change (I've used vignette), save the file and upload to Summitpost. It should stay in the correct orientation.
cheers Johnnie

http://www.summitpost.org/users/drjonnie/29026

live4hills

live4hills - Aug 16, 2016 12:16 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: picture puzzles?

I'm a little confused. Are my pictures not in proper format? I'm seeing them all lined up and facing the correct way.

DrJonnie

DrJonnie - Aug 16, 2016 4:25 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: picture puzzles?

nope, some appear incorrectly in landscape when they should be in portrait mode.

e.g. Boulder Field coming up.

cheers Johnnie

ps: ask somebody else to check them on another PC

Viewing: 1-3 of 3


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