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.