Sanders County High Point Trip Report

Snowshoe Pk

Date: August 16, 2000
Author: Bob Packard

From Route 2 in MT (S of Libby) took FR 278, then FR 867, then FR 4786 to trailhead for Trail #132. A sign near trailhead indicates an unimproved route up Snowshoe from Leigh Lake which #132 goes to. It certainly is unimproved. No sign of it anywhere. OK, it's a route, but no cairns, no nothing. It's really just route finding. I did Bockman Peak (8174) first then Snowshoe. Real challenging, hard 3rd class and you have to use the glacier, albeit at a point so high and flat that I did it without crampons or ice ax. Summit is a double mound with cairns on both. SE one is higher and has a register. Last signers were on August 13, 2000.

Statistics: 10.25 miles, 7 hours, 5600 feet elevation gain: look at that ratio of hours to miles!

Did Snowshoe just a day before the MT forests were to be closed to the public. Snowshoe alone can be done in under 5,000 ft elevation gain.