Borah Peak, Idaho; August 2010

I'm composing this post over a year after the trip - busy at work, couldn't get motivated, etc, etc.

So, I asked my business associate and EO (www.eonetwork.org) forum mate, Robert (Danger) Byrd if he would join me in a summit attempt.  To my surprise, he said "Sure, lets do it".  I was quite surprised.  I've always considered Robert a pretty cool guy, so I guess I figured he would be too busy.   Borah Peak is a pretty tough climb for a first highpoint - but, after all his middle name is "Danger", so I shouldn't have been surprised.

A couple of "Billy Badasses" the day before.  We drove up from Salt Lake City, a great starting point for many adventures!

We camped the first nite,  an amazing clear star filled sky greeted us. Robert in the a tent, me in my hammock.  A nice fire, and some campfire chat, as we prepared for the next day.

Here is a shot of the approach to the trailhead and camp >

Warning: there is basically no water on this hike. Fill up before you head out.  Carry as much as you can, then double it.  Seriously, take six liters.  You may not drink it all, but stash a couple of liters, and stash a couple of liters near the tree line.  If you cache any food, make sure it's in an animal proof container.  Most of our stashed food was ripped open and eaten.  We encountered some unprepared families with children on the trail, and they were dangerously short on water as we headed down.

Don't wear cotton socks, or, for that matter any cotton.  Even if it doesn't rain, it will get soaked with sweat and be miserable. Don't subject your children to that.  Get them some good shoes and hiking socks.   What I saw bordered child abuse.

Here we are approaching "Chicken Out Ridge".  You have to traverse the knife edge along the entire distance you see here. It can be somewhat scary, but there are always plenty of good hand and foot holds.  It's quite thrilling!   The photo above is from maybe a mile away.

Here is Robert as we begin our ascent up COR.  We were still pretty fresh here, although, a lot of elevation is gained before you get here!

Continuing up COR.

Climbing on.... still having a blast!

Your's truly climbing down the top side of COR, to the gap, and the only snow crossing of the day.  Robert was talking me down from below, as it was difficult to see where your feet were going.  In my opinion, it would be worthwhile to go back to Borah, not to summit, but just to climb around on COR for a couple of hours.

That's the peak ahead.  At this point I am tired, out of steam.  It was still 1.5 - 2  hours to summit.  There are sections of scree and talus that soak the energy and life out of your body here.  I dropped my pack about 100 yards up from here.  There is no clearly marked path.  Just go up.

More loose rock.

The pace is reduced to a crawl.  Turning back is not an option.  We will climb this pile of rocks.














Below, nice "money shot" !

And, a nice summit shot!   Cubans?  Of course!  

But, we are only half way down.  This down climb kicked my butt good.  One of my 7 toughest climbs ever.  The trailhead sign warns of a 10-12 hour hike.  It took us 15 hours!  We started at 5AM, and the sun was starting to set when we returned.
We did have more fun on COR, but after that, it was a long hall back to camp.

A good place to chill.   We were so dog-a**ed tired, I never thought Robert would go again.  Wrong !  He wants to do many more climbs!  So, he is even cooler than I thought.


Here's a link to many more photos:
Click to connect to my Borah Peak online album

This was a great trip!  I highly recommend it.  In fact, if you only plan to do 10 US highpoints, this should be on your list!