Borah Peak

I grew up in Colorado and spent a good portion of my life in the mountains, just a stone's throw from the slopes of Vail. Being surrounded by the majestic 14ers was nothing out of the ordinary for me. In fact climbing a 14er was something we'd do on a long weekend. So when I was invited to climb Borah Peak,the tallest mountain in Idaho, I was in! I was sure this was going to be a routine climb up to 12,662ft. Boy was I wrong!

First off, the base of the mountain is at 7,000ft. That means my group was planning on gaining 5,000+ feet in elevation in only 3.5 short miles. That's an average of 1,500 feet each mile! Okay let's find a reference point. Boise is at appx 2,000ft and Bogus Basin is at appx 6,000ft. That's a 4,000 foot climb. Not too daunting, right? Don't forget the road to Bogus is 16 miles long! Try climbing those 4,000 feet in only 2.5 miles and that's what climbing Borah Peak is like...only it's not paved!

The climb began at 5am. Equipped with our headlamps, backpacks, ample water & gatorade we set off on our journey. The climb up was actually quite fun! We made decent time, played many games normally reserved for road trips and enjoyed the quiet morning. Once we broke through tree line we saw what the rest of the climb had in store for us. More steep slopes and loose shale and scree, followed by the infamous "Chicken Out Ridge" and snow bridge before the approach to the summit. Fun!

We saw a group of guys coming back down after deciding to not to attempt Chicken Out Ridge (COR) so we knew we were close. We start scrambling up a steep slope and find ourselves between two groups. Being unaware what terrain was just passed the slope we were currently on, we blindly followed the group in front of us until we realized we were actually on COR! Oh #$%&*!!! No turning back as there was already another group behind us, so the only way to go was up! Or across---literally holding on for dear life, we carefully scaled across the ridge and emerged on the other side alive! Wait there's more? The snow bridge! Okay- so that part wasn't nearly as scary, but just was technical to cross as we decided to take the pass below through the snow. After a successful crossing of the bridge, we were about an hour from the summit!

Come rain, snow, sleet, hail, wind we were going to summit this bad boy! Come thunder? Not a chance. With threatening weather looming overhead, we decided to forgo the summit and make our way back down. For all intents and purposes, we made it to the top of Borah, just 300ft from the summit. We crossed 12,000ft and that was good enough for me (congrats to Krista who made it to the summit)!

The cross back across the snow bridge and COR were much more daunting this time with rain falling making the rocks extremely slick. Thank goodness for the help of some Boy Scout Troop leaders who were there to help us along COR. So much more scary the second time across. If you climb Borah--one bit of advice--don't look down!

We make it across and start back down. The hateful climb down! Going up is optional, coming back down is not. Every step is a challenge with pain shooting through the knees and up the quad muscles. While not as physically tiring as the trek up, the loose shale and dirt made for difficult footing and we all slipped multiple times. It made for some good laughs on the way down. It's a bit of a tease as you can see the trailhead from pretty high up, yet you still have 3 hours before you're down.

We make it down 13 hours after our first steps up the mountain. 13 hours! The average person takes 12 hours to climb Borah...why did that not register with us? 13 hours?! Really?

The drive back to Boise gave us time to reflect on what the h-e-double hockey sticks we just did. There were some truly shining moments--mostly made up of the people we met on the mountain. From Richard from Salt Lake who has climbed Borah a number of times, to the couple celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary on the mountain, to the young love blossoming as a 15 year old boy scout helped a 15 year old girl he just met down the mountain holding her hand over the tricky spots, to the two other amazing bad ass women who climbed up that hill with me!

To you Michelle & Krista...thanks for an amazing day, and may we never do that again....until next year!