Idaho County Highpoint Trip Report
spot elevation 9,439 feet
Date: June 30, 2014
Author: Edward Earl
We can all add my name to the growing list of those who unanimously believe
that this point is a thankless excuse for a peak. That said, I climbed this
“peak” with the goal of finding the optimal route. I used mostly the reports
by Dennis Poulin and Adam Helman, hoping to tweak the details of their routes.
My game plan was to follow the trail and ridge crest until the 8400’ level
to the center of section 20 SE of point 8611, then contour around the SW
side of 8611 to the saddle near 8410. Then I would surmount the N-S trending
ridge to the W, climb its crest to roughly the 8800’ level, then follow the
8800’ contour on the SW face of point 9140.
Observe that about 1600’ due W of point 9140 is a small but sharp blip in
the 8600’ contour. I surmised that this is a rock fin that must be bypassed
below (until the contours below it become more widely spaced at 8400’),
and that an attempt to bypass it above would be stymied by the jumble of cliffs
and closely spaced contours. After dropping to 8400’ to bypass the fin,
I would follow a gradually ascending traverse to Bare Pk, then scale the
remaining ridge to the ID border and county HP. Recognizing the bottom of
the fin at 8400’ as a key navigation point, I had programmed it into my GPS
as a waypoint, so that I could still find it in case vegetation hindered
visibility.
The plan worked well until I began the traverse on the SE face of 9140.
As soon as I reached 8800’ somewhere S of 9140, I became a bit too eager to
track directly to my 8400’ waypoint at the bottom of the fin. In homing in
on that point with my GPS, I turned downhill too soon and intercepted the
gully immediately SW of the “8800” contour label. The far side of the gully
became a jumble of rocky ribs (note the gnarly contours on the NW side).
Unfortunately I incorrectly believed that the nearest rib was the one I had
targeted all along. I had no choice but to descend the gully (I could see
its lower end several hundred feet below). Upon reaching the mouth of the
gully, I turned the corner and began the interminable traverse to the NW.
But one thing was rather odd – I had descended almost to 8000’, nearly 400’
lower than I expected! Checking my GPS, I was still 0.28 mile from the
waypoint I had specified. Not yet realizing my navigation error, I figured I
must have made a mistake entering the waypoint (a mistake I have made
before, getting one digit wrong) and that the rock fin extended lower than
the map suggested.
The next obstacle was the basin on the E side of section 13. It contained 2
or 3 streams, each occupying a small but steep gully full of brush,
krumholtz, and swamp. It is difficult to cross higher than 8200’ owing to
cliffs above it. After finally clearing it, I resumed the monotonous
northwesterly course on snow and talus toward Bare Pk. Scaling the pinnacled
ridge to the HP took time but I did it no differently than others did and I
have nothing to add.
It was only on my return leg that I recognized the true nature of my
navigation error on the ascent. Soon after crossing the 8200’ basin, I saw a
large rock buttress a few hundred feet above. I surmised that it was the key
fin I had planned to downclimb around. I climbed toward it, also tracking my
GPS to the waypoint I had entered, and sure enough, that was it! I had
entered the correct point all along, and was intercepted into the wrong
gully before. I climbed the talus chute to the right of the buttress (this
was much easier than the gully I had descended on my ascent) and soon
emerged onto the broad, open talus field on the SW face of 9140. Traversing
it at 8800’, I found no obstacles at all. It went well, and I soon rejoined
my ascent route.
Recommendations
I am confident that my original game-plan route is indeed the optimal route,
and I recommend it to future visitors to the Idaho cohp. In order to follow
the route correctly, however, one must take care to stay high for a long
time on the SW face of 9140. If you drop down too soon you will blunder into
the same wrong gully I did. I recommend that you stay at 8800’ until near WGS84
[45.837° N, 114.385° W] (these coordinates are measured from a topo map, not GPS).
Then, head down the talus and track toward WGS84 [45.8376° N, 114.3885° W] into
a chute between two buttresses. You can theoretically turn the corner and
resume traversing at 8400', but in the real world, the basin soon after that
will probably force you down to 8200'.
A GPS track
is provided for my recommended route (not my actual route) in my
peakbagger.com description
of the ascent. This track was hand-drawn from a topo map and does not represent
a field measurement using an actual GPS unit.