Idaho - Borah & Bedstead

With smoke choking the skies of western montana, I set out to Idaho to escape the smoke and enjoy my last few days of summer break with Bria.  We met at the Borah trailhead and the following morning, hiked the standard “chicken out ridge” route.  

scrambling on chicken out ridge

final stretch to the top

a proud idahoan on the summit of mt borah

We felt lucky to only see one other person all day yet several bighorn sheep.  A look in the extensive summit log makes it appear that is not the norm.  We enjoyed a casual pace, summitting in about 4:20, lounged on the summit for nearly half an hour and returned to the TH at about the 8 hour mark.

We then drove out trail creek to the kane lake trailhead where we spent the night.  The following afternoon we hiked in the easy 3 miles to kane lake, excited for one final backpacking trip of the summer. 

kane lake and a series of waterfalls

for some reason we thought it would be fun to share a one-person tent

The next morning we awoke to cloudy and windy weather yet set off for the Irish Arete (II/III 5.7 6p) on the devil’s bedstead west, an easy 45 minutes from camp.  Armed with some minimal beta from Pat McGrane’s PDF of Wildhorse Classics (available for free online), we started up the route, ready for adventure.  

irish arete from camp (before hiking out)

lackluster pitch 1

Our first pitch was a combination of seeping/dirty/overgrown cracks, loose rock and slab.  We considered bailing once Bria joined me at the anchor but we were more than 30m off the deck already and things looked better ahead so we decided to continue upwards.  Fortunately the climbing improved, with occasional short sections of enjoyable 5.7/8 crack climbing intermixed with long, loose easy sections. 

pitch 3

easy final pitch

This was the most vaguely described, loose route that I have ever climbed but I attributed it to good training, and enjoyed the freedom that our minimal beta afforded, despite the abundance of loose rock and challenges of finding solid anchors.  Six long pitches put us on the route’s summit, well south of the true summit of bedstead west.  The walkoff back to camp went smoothly, with the highlight being the huge arch/tunnel we passed through. 

windy walkoff

bizarre tunnel found mid-descent back to kane lake

The storm clouds that had been threatening all day opened up that night, battering our little one-man shelter with heavy rain and strong wind for most of the night.  We awoke to beautiful blue skies for the hike out, where I reflected upon all the great climbing & running & scrambling adventures I’ve enjoyed during my 6 weeks of summer freedom (since my internship ended). 

It’s now back to school for me, intermixed with some fall running and climbing as I semi-anxiously await the arrival of old man winter.

Rose: successfully onsighting a 1000ft route with minimal beta

Thorn: slimy wet crack at the crux, tons of loose rock

Bud: a traverse from bedstead east to west (or vice versa) looks like a long, engaging outing