Mt. Borah: Daunting Outdoor Adventure

I recently got together with some old friends while traveling to Idaho for vacation.  We have hiked some pretty significant peaks in the past and wanted to add another mountain to our list of accomplishments.  This year's goal: Summit Mt. Borah, Idaho's tallest peak.

Our journey began in Idaho Falls headed west on Broadway. We departed at 6:30am.

The territory east of Idaho Falls, at the center of the Snake River Valley, is beautifully desolate.  A huge swath of land is covered in lava formations.  Short grasses grow in shallow soil atop basalt rock that flowed as lava as recently as 2,000 years ago.  The mountain in the photo above is Big South Butte, which is really a dual lava dome formation. 

The road leads to the town of Arco where a right turn leads north to the town of Mackay.

A few miles north of Mackay and 2 hours from Idaho Falls, the rugged Lost River Range comes into view.

 

The turn off to Mt. Borah is marked by a sign on the highway.  The road turns east and is unpaved until it reaches the trailhead. 

The trailhead is well kept and has warning signs posted at the entrance encouraging hikers to be prepared.

The trail ascends very quickly and provides some beautiful wooded scenery.

At the halfway mark we stopped to eat some lunch and sit on some logs that had fallen conveniently close to the trail.  As soon as we sat down, this chipmunk pranced out of the brush and came within several feet of us.  Clearly, he knew that if he put on a show for us he would get some of our food.  He was correct.   

The trail from that point ascends above the treeline which is marked by the presence of a campsite made of old trees.  Then, the trail resumes in a punishing set of switchbacks.

 

 Finally, the trail reaches a crest and we were rewarded with beautiful views of Mt. Borah and surrounding peaks.  Little did we know the challenge that laid before us.  Our pre-hike research suggested that there would be some challenge crossing Chicken-Out Ridge (the snow cover ridge in the top right of the picture below).  However, we found out that what we read had really understated the difficulty.   

To get to Chicken Out Ridge, we had to follow the trail as it meandered along a rocky ridge line.  The people hiking the trail in the photo above give you a sense of scale. 
 

 

The trail then becomes lost in loose rock on the prelude to Chicken Out Ridge.  

 

Finally we reach the unrelenting incline and precipitous perch of Chicken Out Ridge.  It was approximately 2pm in the afternoon at this point.  The wind was blowing around 40 MPH and gusting higher at times.  The ridge narrowed to a point where it seemed there was only about a 4 foot wide section of rock to grab on to while climbing.  On each side there were drops of 800 to 1000 feet.

The wind blew away any confidence we had on chancing the narrow ridge.  I took the picture below at the highest point we reached on the ridge.  You can get a sense of the steepness of the climb in these next couple of photos.

 
If we had finished climbing over the ridge, the next challenge would have been a treacherous snow field that another experienced hiker told us was slushy and just as steep as the incline we were climbing.  A small trail had been dug into it but one slip would likely prove fatal.  You can see the snow field on the ridge in the picture below.

Although the walk across the field would have been brief, the fall to the bottom would not have been.

We decided that discretion was the greater part of valor and began our return to the trail head.  Meanwhile, we took a moment to admire Leatherman Peak to our south. We reached the trail head again around 5:30pm.

When we attempt to summit Borah again, we will bring crampons and an ice axe.  We will also try to come later in the season to allow the snow some more time to melt.