Trip Report
The spring weather in Idaho was up to its usual diversity. Rain one day, sun the next, windy the next, then back to winter the next.
I was watching the forecast and finally saw back-to-back days of warmth and high pressure. The only problem was that it fell on a weekday. I had been talking with JJ about it, he was in even on a weekday. Knowing that Steve worked a unique schedule, I contacted Margo and him to offer an invite. They were in. So a week out, we just needed the weather forecast to hold... and it did!
So JJ and I left Boise on a beautiful, warm spring afternoon. We cruised across Idaho, taking in views of a lot of water in places it normally isn't and green hills and white capped mountains; beautiful!
We finally reached the Lemhis right at sunset. So once we found a spot along Birch Creek to camp, we had little light to setup tents. We got it done and eventually settled down in the lawn chairs for a late night beer before heading to the tents.
We arose early to catch the sunrise on Diamond Peak and the rest of the Lemhis, then it was off to meet Steve and Margo. We jumped in Steve's FJ Cruiser and headed up Long Canyon Road to around 7100' where the road narrowed.
The hike up the road went well, minus one tricky section on the icy north slopes where the trip leader should have just stayed on the road and not worried about losing a bit of elevation. Enough about that though ;-)
Once we got to around 8200', the sun was out and we could see the remainder of our route. It was a stunning day and the views were opening up all around us... this is fun!
Around 8600' we encountered snow on our ridge. 3 of us had decided to leave our snowshoes in the vehicle. The snow was hard as a rock minus a random posthole - so far so good.
We eventually reached Point 9414 where we could see the remaining route. We just needed to cross a 1/4 of a mile snowfield and then we were on scree.
The snowfield crossing wasn't terrible and soon we were on a game trail crossing the scree to the main summit block.
The final ridge was freshly drifted, but the snow was firm under a few inches of soft snow, which provided good traction. Soon after, we were standing on top enjoying incredible views, and sun (with no wind!).
With 1500 feet of prominence and its location, Copper Mountain provided great views of mountains in 3 states (Montana and Wyoming included).
On descent, our small snowfield crossing had completely changed and was now slush. As Margo repeated many times, at least we were going down.
At Point 9414, we decided to cut straight down the ridge to the road. I hadn't really studied the route, but agreed to it. There were several times it looked like a bad idea, but I was always able to find a nice slope around a tower or narrow section, so it turned out to be just fine and saved us time and distance.
Eventually we reached the vehicles and hung out in the sun, drinking beers and telling stories. We all agreed it finally felt like summer. What a great day with great friends!
|
|
