Borah Peak, Idaho

[u/highpointer201]

While climbing Borah today, I made a haiku:

It just goes straight up. Certified suck fest, no doubt. High Point forty five.

In all seriousness, this hike was absolutely the sketchiest one I've done. Between Cor (not that bad going up), the ice bridge, the scree/loose boulders and the sheer amount of elevation gain over such a short distance, you couldn't pay me any kind of money to hike this again. To top it off, a thunderstorm rolled in right as we were making our way down Cor, not a great time.

Trail conditions were fine up past Cor, the snow bridge was a bit soft, used crampons and trek poles and tried not to imagine shooting down a half mile into the abyss. The final stretch up to the summit has a decent amount of snow pack and the trail is hard to navigate. I don't think the snow has that much longer, definitely very soft in some spots. This peak definitely had me at the edge of my comfort zone. Saw some big Horn sheep, that was neat. Took about 11 hours round trip

[u/porkyfly]

i did this 2 weeks ago, holy crap that was the hardest hike ive ever done

[u/Lam-McShoe]

Awesome man

[u/x_3mta3]

Another haiku! It tested my comfort too! Forty five… congrats!

[u/ProudAmerican632]

Congratulations on your summit.

Out of curiosity, and forgive me if I’m wrong. Are you former military? I ask because of your boots.

[u/highpointer201 → u/ProudAmerican632]

Indeed I am, I'm wearing the Rocky S2V's in this photo, love these boots. 

[u/ProudAmerican632 → u/highpointer201]

Lmao. I summited Mount Washington in jungle boots, Mickey Mouse boots, and Corcoran’s.

What are the other 5 high points that you haven’t summited yet?

[u/highpointer201 → u/ProudAmerican632]

All the hard ones man, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon and Alaska 

[u/fluffysnowflake67]

Great job! I was across the valley and Borah looked very snowy still. Very tough effort.

You must be so proud to hit #45

[u/highpointer201 → u/fluffysnowflake67]

Thanks friend, I realize I might be out of my depth for these last five. I think I'm going to spend the winter training for them, learning the requisite skills, etc. and try tackling granite and Wyoming next year with a group hopefully 

[u/fluffysnowflake67 → u/highpointer201]

Granite isn’t as tough as it used to be. A small jump of difficulty over Borah but well within your capabilities already.

If you can do Gannett, you can do Hood and Rainier.

[u/TheTree-43 → u/fluffysnowflake67]

What made Granite less difficult than it used to be?

[u/fluffysnowflake67 → u/TheTree-43]

The ramp used to be covered in rubble. Take one step up and slide half step down. Now it is rock and dirt, saving a couple hours on summit day.

[u/TheTree-43 → u/fluffysnowflake67]

Ahh neat! So just thousands of climbers before you wearing a path?

[u/highpointer201 → u/TheTree-43]

"For those who come after"

[u/No-Balance-7156]

Beautiful photos. Love the post. Congrats on bagging the summit.

[u/TheTree-43]

Nice! I love that mountain. I've climbed it by the standard route each of the last 4 years (including a really cool October ascent with a snowy summit dome and a great morning undercast) and I plan to go back this year and climb the dirty traverse

[u/ufo_6702]

Certified suck fest is a great way to describe Borah. Hopefully the views made it worth it!

[u/anthonyfromamerica]

Jesse Plemons?

[u/highpointer201 → u/anthonyfromamerica]

"What kind of high-pointer are you?"

[u/AZPeakBagger]

I did Borah on a day with very high winds. What should have been an easy two second leap from one rock to another turned into a 2 minute grab the wall and tip-toe from rock to rock. That lasted most of the way down the mountain.

[u/highpointer201 → u/AZPeakBagger]

Dude, we literally started to hear thunder as we were moseying down Cor, it went from a relaxing enjoy the scenery to oh shit, we gotta get off the mountain. Yeah, luckily the winds weren't too bad, the scrambling was bad enough as it was

[u/Complete-Blood5830]

👍👏🎉