Monday, August 18, 2008

Hiking and Surviving Idaho's Tallest

At 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 9, 2008 I heard the first climbers prepare to summit Idaho's tallest, Mt. Borah. "Too early" I thought while listening to their commotion from inside my car parked near the trail head where I had attempted to sleep. Although I hadn't slept a wink all night in anticipation of the hike, I opted to wait another hour before getting up and hitting the trail by 5:30 a.m. when most hikers set out to avoid being caught in an afternoon storm. Apparently, afternoon storms are common during the summer on Mt. Borah.



With flashlights and our hiking essentials, we hiked in darkness for around 45 minutes before dawn lit our way, as we continued up the steep unrelenting face. The hard-packed trail passes through a forest then continues almost straight up through an open exposed shale and loose rock covered face.




We hiked for about an hour and a half before reaching the infamous "Chicken Out Ridge". Chicken Out Ridge is a narrow steep rocky face requiring scrambling using your hands and feet. Many hikers opt not to continue and turn around before attempting this ridge. Experienced climbers may find climbing the ridge easy. However, I found the ridge intimidating and at one point not far after starting out on the ridge, had to stop for about 15 minutes to build up my courage to continue. The slope is very steep and drops off on either side. A climbing mistake could end fatally. Eventually the ridge gets less challenging and gut wrenching before the "saddle", a flatter ridge usually covered with snow. The last push to the top at 12,665 feet is also steep and rocky.




We had made it just to the saddle when we heard lightening and saw an ominous storm quickly approaching. With renewed energy (from successfully climbing Chicken Out Ridge or confused from lack of oxygen) we were determined and excited to reach the summit, but fortunately our common sense presided and we turned around. We weren't the only ones; those hiking near us also turned around, including the few who had reached the summit. As slowly as we had gingerly made our way up the ridge, we all seemed to descend quickly urgently trying to beat the approaching dark, loud storm. By the time we reached the "more challenging" areas of Chicken Out Ridge, a long train of several hikers were making their way down, all seemingly gliding down the rocky ridge without a sense of fear, perhaps motivated to reach safer grounds as soon as possible. I don't recall seeing so many hikers during the accent and wondered where they'd came from. I also don't recall worrying about what I was doing other than avoiding getting hit by lightening.




Just as we made it past the rocky ridge, a thick river of fog seemingly magically appeared from the depths of the cliff below, enveloping us. We only had to continue a short way (or so it seemed) before hiking down out of the fog when the brunt of the storm hit pelting us with hail and rain and threatening us with lightening. At this point some ran down the steep slope including two who'd been at the summit shortly before the storm came. We came across a few brave (or stupid) hikers who'd decided to wait out the storm, hovering near the few large rocks only slightly higher than the exposed rocky slope, and some who were ascending, also hoping the storm would pass. Personally, I wouldn't be thrilled about hiking on wet rock especially on Chicken Out Ridge, nor would I want to be waiting where lightening danced all around me.



By the time we reached the trail head, the sun was shining, albeit with lightening heard high above near the mountain top. We were disappointed that we hadn't reached the top but delighted to be safe and enjoyed sharing a few stories with fellow hikers who'd also made it safely back and who were still high on adrenaline.



Will try again next summer!


- Lisa Kleiman

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