[TR] Mt. Borah - N. Face 9/27/2011

[alpinebumm]

Trip: Mt. Borah - N. Face

 

Date: 9/27/2011

 

Trip Report:

I got off of work at 7:30, packed up and driving out of the Stanley Basin I was headed for the Lost Rivers by 8:00. having tried to climb the route before I should have come in with daylight. I found the road I believed to be Rock Creek I drove in about 2 miles, for the last 3/4 of a mile the sage brush in the middle of the road was taller then the hood of my car. A downed tree stopped me from making it all the way in, I threw it in reverse quickly worried that my hot undercarriage would start a fire and I backed out about 1/2 of a mile with no backup lights riding my brakes to illuminate the bush road till I could turn around. So I pitched camp pretty excited about the next day.

I left camp at 9:15 and started off. After about 3 miles or so I got my first glimpse of the North face but I came in on the wrong road because I was on the ridge abouve Rock Creek. Scree slopes for about 800 feet brought me into Rock Creek. On the way down I found a nice big four boint Buck rack with a good chunk of skull still in tact.... deeming it my good luck charm I straped it to my pack. It took me 4 hours to reach the bottom of the face where I put my pons on, ate a can of smoked oysters and took a pull off the Canadian Hunter.

 

 

I chose the line connecting 3 couloirs because the ice looked really nice compared to the standard route. The 1st few hundred feet were strait forward 50 degree fun crisp Neve.

 

 

I got some real ice at the first constricion, going left of a rock island. I could tell that I was moving slow already, I had hoped to climb the face in 2 hours.

 

 

The second little couloir was really nice, it held ice at about 45 degrees for a full pitch. Hard smooth bluish alpine ice, with unsharpened tools and new boots I dreamed of water ice...... Ohhh sweet water ice with those beautiful concave places to stick, not this hard shit. I had left camp late hoping to have warmer temps while on the face, it didn't help the face never got any sun and it was pretty cold back there. I had been waiting for the last high pressure cold snap that didn't yield snow, keeping the ice clean. I got lucky and the ice seemed to keep on going.

 

 

Halfway through the couloir I found a nice rock to straddle like a horse and take some breaths. Seriously the exposure on this line was unreal. After this it eased out and some Neve and a little traverse led me to the main couloir with the chockstone. This runnel was SICK! I took left of the chockstone at 45 or 50 degrees and about 1000 feet directly up the face these 2 full pitches of meandering ice were a real peach.

 

 

I wish I brought my harness so I could clip into my tools to take pictures. Lokking down from this couloir was truly amazing it looked like the pictures of the Canadian Rockies, rock band after rock band with a tounge on ice in the middle looking down way down the glaciated ice.

When the ice ended Neve for 30-50 feet led to a rock band dead-end. Here i could have gone left or right for weaknesses but I chose to go strait up the steeper rock with no snow on it to rest me calfs and put my tools away for a bit. it was really secure and about 50-70 feet of 5.5ish rock. Followed by neve.

The last couloir to the summit ridge was the best ice on the face about 250 feet of 50-55 degree goodness..... Hard, dinner plate ridden blue alpine glass. Half of the whole face would have protected on screws! It took me about 3 hours to get to the summit from the base of the N. Face.

I chilled at the register takin solors, sippin Hunter and drying socks. I took a picture of the horns on the summit laughing about my favorite quote "the higher you get the higher you get" I was feelin it.

 

 

 

The decent is where I dropped the ball..... And punted it in the wrong direction. I went down chickenout ridge and kept going donw the right way, the trail dissapeared so i went back up to make sure I didn't miss any turns. Then I decided that the other way down looked like it recieved some traffic too so I gave it a go. I was laughing at myself for not bringing a map, not reding about the decent and not even tearing out the page in the book.

I ended up down climbing the S. Face finding 3 water bottles, a camera (if it is yours contact me). I even got to jack a rap anchor or two. After about 4 hrs it was dark and I still hadn't found any trails but I knew I was in the wrong drainage. I got to a waterfall I had to down climb to get through the constriction, I put my helmut and gaitors on and took the bad luck horns off my pack.... ultralight gone wrong. If you ever solo something and leave everything behind to go fast try not picking up deer skulls on the way, I swear I have down syndrome.

From the bottom of Elkhorn Creek I could have either bushwhacked in the dark for a few miles hoping to find my bush road or I could walk to the highway. I was taped out on schwwacking the highway sounded great. it took me about an 1 1/2 hours to get to the hwy. Then I walked down the hwy for a couple of miles. A nice guy from Missoula picked me up and drove me 2.8 miles up doublesprings road, where I set off on foot agian. Then of coarse I couln't find my non-existant road and took a wrong turn, and walked 1.5 miles down the wrong road, turned around and walked the correct 1.5 to my car. All in all 14.5 miles 5,000+ feet of ele gain, beat up and sick of walking and out of it I had made it. At about 6 pitches of real quality goodness with real exposure this is the nicest alpine ice route in Idaho I've ever done..... Classic. I would suggest you check her out.

 

Approach Notes:

map, read decent, maybe?

[spionin]

haha! awesome!

i was reading this and realized that last year we had a very similar set of experiences: got off route on the approach, had an unbelievable time on the climb itself - the ice just goes on, what a freaking treat!, got totally confused on the descent and almost went down the wrong drainage before getting back on the ridge, AND got picked up by a random dude (from upstate NY) who drove us back to the car after we got lost! i guess these experiences come as a package deal with the climb.

 

loved your comments about the stuff you found when you descended the wrong drainage - sounds like many a poor soul went down that way. awesome report.

[corvallisclimb]

Way to go Captian Fric!!!!!! Now move back to Oregon and come hang out with your friends!!!

 

:tup: :brew:

 

 

Solo summit solar hits!!!!

[powderhound]

is that a set of antlers on your backpack?

[John_Scurlock]

That's an outstanding account of a real adventure. I photographed Borah's NF on September 3, 2009 during glacier photography flights. Here are two views of it, less snow/ice than what you had:

 

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/138827780

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/138827786

 

That cirque holds the remnant of the Otto glacier, which may not actually exist any more, though I'd guess there's ice under the rocks. The Otto was said to be Idaho's last glacier. It may also be Idaho's only named glacier, though I'm not sure on that. I found no other glaciers, in the Lost Rivers, White Clouds, or Sawtooths (I was working off a GIS database of large snowfields and potential glaciers). Plenty of old moraines though.

 

My flight to Borah originated in Hamilton, Montana, with an unplanned stop in Salmon to clean the canopy - right after departure from Hamilton, I had a large insect impact, the remains of which dribbled back over the area on the plexiglas where I'd normally take photographs.

 

click on the word 'original' below the images to see the largest uploaded size.

 

 

[mccallboater]

I bet there are at least a few permanent snowfields in the Bitterroots on the Idaho side, and a few small ones in the Idaho Selkirks. Gunsight peak's snowfield used to last all summer, but the dry years of the past decade may have done it in.

[ezra]

Thanks for a sweet TR alpine bum!