Location: 44.17784°N, 113.80015°W

Margo's Pano of the view of Mountaineer and Borah peaks from Al West. The Peak is on the far left of the photo. (Click on image for larger picture)

Stats
Date: 07/09/2009
Distance: 9 miles
Elevation gain: 4200'
Class (difficulty): 3
Time: 9 hours
Range: Lost River
Prominence: 410'
Partner(s): Aaron, Dave, Pat, Margo, John, Michael, Steve, Eric

Report:
It had been since 2006 since I had organized an outing with the folks that post on the Idaho Outdoors Forum. Prior to 2007, we had done a spring and fall outing each year since 2004. The outings have seen some great times and crazy weather. Here is a brief history of the Idahosummits Outings:

Idahosummit's Outing History
Spring 2004	Report	7 in attendance
Fall 2004	Report	8 in attendance
Spring 2005	Report	11 in attendance
Fall 2005	Report	11 in attendance
Spring 2006	Report	3 in attendance
Fall 2006	Report	9 in attendance

The weekend before the planned outing, a major early season storm blasted Idaho’s mountains. Some areas picked up over 2 feet of snow. So we made some modifications to our plans and chose to head to the Lost Rivers and a Al West Peak (with its close to the highway and melted out approach) vs Copper Basin. This seemed to be a popular peak selection and would allow me to settle a personal score with Al West Peak (https://www.idahosummits.com/al_west/al_west.htm).

We arrived later than expected at the trailhead. We probably looked like a circus act as 5 big guys and 8000 lbs of equipment poured out of Dave’s Durango. Eric and Margo were there and already setup. Steve got to work on a fine Italian dinner. John, Pat, Dave, and myself setup tents, fetched wood, and got a fire going. It was a bit cold, but we had a great time around the fire that evening.

In the morning we were joined by Aaron and eventually Michael. Other than Margo and Steve, all 7 others had been on previous outings. The morning was very chilly, but the sun was out and everyone was excited to get moving. So as soon the clock hit 8am, we were off.

The group made it’s way up Rock Creek. It took a while, but we eventually found the trail and did our best to stay on it. As we proceeded up the creek, the snow depth increased. Just a inch or 2 of it during the first mile. Temparatures were very cold in the still dark canyon. As we hiked through the canyon and started turning south and could see terrain above us, several of the group decided they wanted to go directly up the face above us. So the group split in 2 with 4 heading up this unknown, south face route and 5 continuing up Rock Creek, heading up the southeast ridge route.

Immediately after the other group departed, us 5 on the standard route were introduced to snow that got deeper and deeper as we proceeded on. This drained me and was frustrating and brought back memories of my last trip in this canyon. Eventually we reached 8400’ and could see a gully leading up to the ridge. We decided to head up here and successfully booted up the snow filled gully. What had been a cold day really turned windy and colder in the saddle at the end of the gully. I took a short break, but was unable to get any signifigant food or drink down. As soon as I started walking, I was not doing well. John eventually caught me around 10000’ and told me Steve had turned back due to a frozen camelbak. I told John I was ready to call it quits as I felt naseus and had no energy. John went ahead and helped Margo through the crux moves over the next 200 to 300 feet. I plugged on, just wanting to get through the crux moves and see the upper mountain. The climbing was great… just a bit of exposure and some fun moves on mixed rock and snow. I eventually popped over the ridge and could see the remaining route. The rest of the ridge was flat and joined the easy terrain on the west face. This is where my mind told my body to eat crap and that we were heading on. This mind over matter thing worked ok for a while. About 300 feet below the top, I ran into Michael coming down. He said I was about 20 minutes away. Then I climbed another 10 or so minutes and John told me I was 20 minutes away. I was totally toast at that point and John’s news about made me throw in the towel. However, John sensed my desperation and suggested I dump my pack and head for the top. That was the motivation I needed and got me moving up again. I then ran into Margo on her way down. She said 3 or 4 minutes and I was there.

For the first time in my climbing career, I did not stop on the top of a peak. The wind was raging, it was cold, and my friends were waiting. I simply touched my foot on top of the small cairn on the summit, peered over the north side to see Horseshoe and Doublespring peaks and got the heck out of there. Shortly after, I was back with John and my pack and racing down to get into the canyon and out of the wind. Here John and I shared a giant can of Starbuck’s double-shot expresso drink. My body recovered well on the hike out, as I did a great job hydrating once I got to about 11000’ and on the way out. After a fun ride home with the guys, I even managed to stay up and celebrate my annivesary until 1am!

This was another great outing. My goal is to keep them consistent each fall and spring. See you all next spring!

Getting There:
From Mackay, drive north on US 93 for 22 miles and turn east (right) onto the Doublespring Pass Road. Follow Doublespring Pass Road for about 2.8 miles (right before the earthquake information area), turning right on a dirt road heading toward the mouth of Rock Creek Canyon. The road parallels the mountains until it reaches Rock Creek, then drops down into the canyon and ends at a old damn. The site is perfect for camping with a spot for tents, water, and shade!

On the way out, we followed a road due west and it came out right on the highway. This other road was in much better condition and suitable for cars.