Thursday, August 8, 2013

My alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. After a quick cold breakfast and a check of our packs for the day, we set off from the trailhead by headlamp at 5:00 a.m. The first mile or so of the climb is up an unrelentingly steep trail that takes you from the trailhead at 7,600' to the beginning of the ridge at about 9,800'. Near 6:00 a.m., we topped out onto the ridge as the impending sunrise tinted the few scattered clouds pink behind the last of the trees along the beginning of the ridge.

We were soon joined by a couple of other groups of climbers. It was a fairly crowded day by Borah Peak standards but we were glad for the company and exchange of route-finding thoughts a bit later in the climb.

Photo courtesy Dorothy Kucar

Once you reach the ridge, the slope moderates greatly for the next half-mile or so. The trail along the ridge is easily followed and not exposed save for a few spots where it skirts the edge of the ridge. The dropoff to the left of the ridge is nearly vertical and goes down at least 1,500' to the bottom of the valley below.

The trail steepens again as you approach the aptly-named Chicken-Out Ridge, visible in the upper-left corner of this photo. The band of lighter brown rock between the two bands of dark rock marks the beginning of Chicken-Out Ridge, proper. Once you reach that point, the hike turns into a climb with some very exposed third-class scrambling up to and along Chicken-Out Ridge. Initially, we stayed to climber's right on the approach to Chicken-Out Ridge but in that band of lighter rock, crossed over to climber's left, staying near but not on the top of Chicken-Out Ridge.

Photo courtesy Dorothy Kucar

At this point, another group of three climbers caught up with us. We exchanged comments about the route and swapped leads a couple of times as one of us or the other found the preferable route along Chicken-Out Ridge. For the most part, holds are plentiful and evident but there were a couple of spots where what holds there were became sketchy and/or loose so it pays to test each hold before depending on it, especially given the 1,500' or greater exposure should you fall. Yes, I did say that Chicken-Out Ridge is aptly named!

Once you get to the end of Chicken-Out Ridge, you are faced with a final challenge. This steep downclimb often ends on a ridge of snow but by August, the snow had melted out and the ridge was gravelly and narrow but not a problem. The downclimb is shorter when there is snow, and the added six feet or so was one of the more "interesting" bits of the downclimb since holds there are sketchy and you wouldn't want to drop to the ridge and slide off to either side, as it is steep enough both ways that stopping a fall would be difficult.

We made the downclimb without incident and from there, a good use trail reappears, leading to the summit. The following two shots illustrate that part of the trail from different viewpoints.

The photo above, shot from our descent, shows most of the trail from the end of Chicken-Out Ridge up to the final pitch toward the summit of Borah Peak. The trail is well-used and clearly visible as you cross the snow or gravel ridge after the downclimb from Chicken-Out Ridge. Part of Chicken-Out Ridge is visible as the dark ridge in the upper center of the photo. The trail contours around the first hump and then follows another short ridgeline before heading up the final stretch to the summit.

The photo below shows the summit ridge and the trail after that final ridge traverse. From the last bit of ridge, the trail heads up, turning a bit to the right and sharply upward the last couple of hundred feet to the summit ridge, arriving on the summit ridge in the notch just to the left of the summit, proper.

The page linked to in the photos includes marked versions of both photos indicating where the trail is. It is a bit faint in the second photo but is quite clear when walking the trail up from the end of Chicken-Out Ridge. Only the last little bit is quite steep but it still is a decent use trail and only second-class scrambling for that final climb to the summit ridge.

Photo courtesy Dorothy Kucar

In this case, the third time proved the charm and we arrived at the summit of Borah Peak at 10:30 a.m. under a sunny blue sky. We shared summit photo duties, the other, faster, group having already started down by the time we got to the summit, proper. We signed the summit register (a new notebook would be useful as we had to find spare corners to sign, the book being out of empty pages.) I shot my usual summit panorama and, with the first hints of clouds starting to build, we headed back down the trail toward Chicken-Out Ridge.

State highpoint number 44 for me, number 40 for Dorothy.

Photo courtesy Dorothy Kucar

The return along Chicken-Out Ridge is marginally easier than the ascent but only because you know you have made it through those bits once already. As usual on descent, we were being even more careful, knowing we were tired from the climb up. We followed roughly the same route back as we had done coming up, going up the "step" from the gravel ridge to the top of Chicken-Out Ridge and then downclimbing a bit to pick up some bits of a use trail that fades in and out on the side of the ridge perhaps 15-20 feet below the ridge, proper. Dorothy's photo of me gives some appreciation of the sketchier parts of the traverse. Realizing there is another 1,500' or so of similar or steeper drops below my feet shows that due caution is advised.

When you start to see the lighter beige rocks as in this photo of Dorothy, you know you are approaching the end of Chicken-Out Ridge on descent. In this area, the climbing starts to get easier but the footing is often loose in the patches of gravel and scree. Looking ahead and down, you can also see the gravel road leading from the highway to the trailhead. As you approach the nose of the ridge, you can see the parking area looking tantalizingly close but this illusion soon fades as you realize you still have a mile or more of steep trail to contend with before you reach the car.

The clouds began building in earnest as we walked back down the ridge toward that last steep descent to the trailhead. There were a few light rain showers and an occasional distant peal of thunder, so we were glad we had opted for a very early start in order to be off the summit and back down beyond Chicken-Out Ridge before any serious weather developed.

Our pace slowed quite a bit on the steep downhill trail from the end of the ridge back to the trailhead. We returned to the trailhead at 3:40 p.m., almost nine hours after starting up. After an hour's rest, we packed up camp and headed to Evanston, Wyoming, for the night.