#86/109 Garns Mountain

Steve ascending the upper snowfield, Garns in view.

Garns Mountain, in the Big Hole Mountains, was Steve's suggestion for a peak near his place in Driggs Idaho. The plan was to ascend via South Horseshoe. This particular trail will take you right to the summit of Garns Mountain and out the opposite side of the Big Hole range should you chose to arrange a shuttle and through hike. Our plan was just out, up, and back. Usually in July you can get into most back country areas in the Teton Range, but this past winter and spring the range has been hammered again and again with snowfall. It will be well into August until some areas are easily accessible.

The Tetons from the summit of Garns

But today (7/9/2011) was a beautiful day in the Big Holes, and except for some snow patches, was passable, albeit rather wet and boggy in places. Correspondingly, every shady spot along the way was ripe with mosquitoes, so it kept us moving at a steady pace.

Looking over at the Tetons on the ascent.

We were passed by a number of dirt bikers and a couple mountain bikers on our ascent. At one point we chatted with a few taking a break. "I see you're doing this the old-fashioned way," one commented. "Where's your bike"? We laughed and admitted our old school method was by choice. We picked up some beta and moved on. They soon passed us, but snow turned them around not long after. Of course, our "old-fashioned way" laughs at snow. When we reached the summit, we overheard a cyclist that had come up from the opposite side comment that "I've been coming up here each year for 40 years and I've never seen snow up here this late."

Piney Peak from the summit.

We took a break, had a snack, and watched chipmunks beg from us while one even went so far as to taste Steve's pack strap until we shooed it off.

Me thinks pack straps are tasty treats!

We were really tired when we reached the car, and no wonder...15 miles round trip for 2500 vertical. Still a wonderful outing! More information about Garns Mountain can be found at SummitPost.

 Splattski!!

# 85/107 Peak 10941 - Idaho Summits Spring Outing 2011

Margo and Cerro Ciento ridgeline (back)

The 2011 mountaineering season started out with #84, Camelback Mountain, a local peak outside of Pocatello. I had a rough winter 2010 physically. Seemed that everything broke down after the great mountain bike wreck of summer 2010. After a very difficult ascent of Camelback, I went back to the doctor and made another run at physical therapy. At the same time, I met this great guy, Steve, who got me out skate skiing about every weekend from the end of January through the begining of April. Between PT and Steve, the Idaho Summits Spring Outing came back on my radar. So I brought Steve along to meet a few of my climbing friends....

Peak 10941 was chosen after a lot of consternation over the initial choice of King Mountain in the Lost Rivers, a peak I had already done and was non-motivated to do again. Weather and snow stability conditions caused, thankfully, a change of location to this lovely little gem in the Boulder Mountains outside of Ketchum, Idaho. A bonus of the whole deal was that Idaho Summits Dan had rented his company's condo for us; so we left behind the camp gear and camp food and enjoyed comfy beds and good quality cuisine in Hailey. I was first to vote for Thai food because rice noodles (which are gluten free/Celiac friendly) carry more carbs then regular noodles...little known fact. So it was Pad Thai for dinner.

We enjoyed a leisurely 8:25 a.m. start at the trail head for a nine-person assault on the peak. Half the group planned to hike entirely and the other half would be descending on skis. Conditions were overcast when we started out but close to treeline a beautiful day burst into bloom. We ascended steadily without incident...just a few little weird steps here and there. At the high ridge traverse before the summit I followed Dan's decision to switch from snowshoes to crampons. Somehow I neglected to take a summit video or a SummitGirl photo but I did put a few photos of the day together to music.

Of the nine, Alex, Dave, Dan and I climbed and descended the peak in snowshoes/crampons. John, Dylan and Steve skinned/cramponed up and skied down. Jacob booted up, crossed over and bagged Cerro Ciento before hiking and glissading down, and Nathan, bagged 10941, Cerro Ciento, and Easley Peak before skiing down. Skiers (who had met Nate on his descent) beat the climbers down by 20-30 minutes, and Jake pulled in about 5 minutes after the climbers.

Trip Stats
Mileage: 7.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 3800 ft
Time: 7:30 hours
Class 2+
Partners: Dan, Dave and Alex P., John and Dylan F., Steve, Jacob, Nathan.

Partner Trip Reports:
Dan Robbins: Idaho Summits
John and Dylan Fagden: Fagden's Adventures

Margo & Steve, 4/29/2011

Peak 10941 brings my unique peak total to 85. Multiple ascents of a few of these peaks bring my overall count to 97 and then I reach two entries in my spreadsheet of "numerous ascents," Carbonate Peak in Hailey and Bonneville Peak in Inkom. My guess for those is probably 5-6 each...so...instead of continuing to say I probably have about 100 peaks, I am conservatively taking my 107 total forward into Summer 2011. My next summit will start at number 108. So...wanna join me on a little hike?

El Capitan, Sawtooth Range, Idaho

Posing with El Capitan (far right)

I celebrated my birthday weekend by attending the Idaho Summit's Fall Outing to climb El Capitan in the Sawtooth Range, Idaho. Dan, the owner/moderator of the Idaho Summits website/board started the outings in 2004. Weather cancelled two trips I tried to attend, so I didn't actually meet these guys in person until the Fall 2009 outing, which made this my third outing.

El Capitan turned out to be a perfect peak for the 12 that attended. Although it was slightly under 10K, the peak offered a pleasant scenic approach, rock hopping among snow patches, class 3+ scrambling, an exposed final approach ridge, and a rather "airy" summit. We got all 12 mountaineers on top, but it was crowded. With 800+ft drop-offs all around, maneuvering was a careful undertaking, which made it all the better.

Class III climbing

At least five other members of the group are prolific writers. So, I decided to let John P, Steve, Dan, Kris, and John F labor over their trip reports for me to link to, while I collected the group's photos to make a video trip report. (If your computer can handle it, be sure to select a higher resolution to view.)

If you don't already know why I picked the music I did, check this out.

If you'd rather not have DLR screaming at you, here is the photo album.

Check out the other trip reports for more thoughts and great photos.

Dan's Trip Report

John's Trip Report

Steve's Trip Report

Kris' Trip Report

Fadgen Family's Trip Report

Congrats and many thank yous to friends and climbing partners: Dan Robbins, John Platt, Steve Weston, Margie Ankrum, Pam Shirey, Dave Garton, Barbara Rose, Kris Franklin, Jacob Robinson, John and Dylan Fadgen.


Summit Girl on the summit

Caught in the Moment

In my exuberance of being on my (any) bike again (it's been 1 month since "the endo"), I did something I have never done before...it's a windless night and except for the slight pain in my wrist that indicates to me that I probably did break something in it, I am flying on my road bike. I'm coming off the "city creek road" and turning onto the old highway, by the Jehovah's Witnesses Center. Ah...no traffic, I don't have to slow...Yippee...big wide sweeping turn and I'm cranking...18, 19, 21, 23, 26 mph and then the red car passes me on the RIGHT. I look down to my left and there it is...the solid YELLOW line. Gads...I am hugging the center lane...quick shoulder glance, hard drift right and I am on my way again, safely, solid WHITE line under my tires. Whew.

In the exuberance of being on my bike again.


Serengeti Flats descent, long before it was called Serengeti Flats.

Table Mountain - Party of Three

I am way behind on trip reports again. The planning-outings-for-friends experience has gone quite well this year. I've put together 7 trips for a total of 10 peaks so far. I have been getting anywhere from 3 to to 7 attendees, but sometimes you have to count the canines. Table Mountain is peak number 10 and probably the area's most classic, epic climb that is achievable with little to no mountaineering experience. Dan Kotansky, Dave Pacioretty and I enjoyed a glorious day for this outing. We started out under some questionable overcast skies that we figured might lead to donning rain coats, but after a few sprinkles we were kept under comfortable climbing conditions on the steep west face.I slept all of 2 hours the night before, so when i wasn't trying to keep up i was wondering if I'd be able to hang all the way or have to bail at the upper ridge. As we got into the mellower upper ridge meadows my faith came back and after a snack break, our final approach to the table summit went down. We completed the ascent in 3 hours.
Dan has never done it that fast (he usually takes the other route) and it's been many years since I have done it that fast. It was cool enough for long sleeves and a rather busy day on the summit block as there were probably 50+ folks that had the same idea in mind for the day. The clouds burned off, so under sunshine we headed off for the canyon descent and saw great waterfalls, wildflowers and lots of greenery. Lower in the canyon we had to cross the stream a few times. I have seen the water higher, but not faster. The guys were great at helping their cat team member get across.

I have posted the full complement of Dave and my photos on my Picasa site. Dan uses an instamatic (how funny...blogger doesn't have this word in its spelling dictionary) camera, so when he gets his film developed (oh i can't stop laughing), i was saying...when he gets his film developed, I will add his photos to the page. Here is a short summit video.



Ahhh...finally a peak over 11K this year...i feel renewed.

Trip Time: 3 hours to summit. 7hr 56 min full trip plus breaks
Elevation gain: 4009 ft.
Total Trip Distance: 10.2 miles

Number 70 - Little Sister, Idaho Summits 2010 Spring Outing.

I have a hard time getting my mind around that fact that I have made another landmark...I've summitted 70 discrete peaks; with, at last count, another 15 repeats of a number of them. Wow, that's 85 peaks...and that is what I remembered to write down. Pretty amazing for someone who had hoped to just do one sometime during her lifetime. Maybe it is time I admit I have a climbing problem.

Little Sister was the chosen adventure for the Idaho Summits 2010 Spring Outing. Matthew Durrant and I coauthored the write ups of Little Sister and its West Ridge route on SummitPost.Org. So, I'll let you check those out there. (By the way, if you were on the team, please sign the Climber's Log)

Our group of 14 was the largest outing the Idaho Summits group has had. Little Sister's Class 2 approach, even with snow, encouraged and motivated me to recruit others, so Margie, Dave (coworker) and his son, Alex, joined me. We had a great time, became even better friends, and I got to meet even more Idaho Summits members. A great group with a common love of the mountains. Just so cool.

Since I knew I could count on at least 2-3 other online trip reports, I decided to do something different (in addition to the SummitPost articles), so I took a stab at making a photo trip report. So now I've made my first YouTube post.

And just think...there used to be a time when all you did was climb a mountain and tell a few friends about it, and there was no such thing as a camera to prove it. Amazing.

Dan's Idaho Summits Trip Report

Splattski's Trip Report

My FaceBook Status 4-1-2010

I returned from Hawaii on Tuesday and I've been too tired to post my facebook status...so here it is, on my blog cuz i've well exceeded the FB character limit.
Sooooooooooooooo.....11 days; 6 flights; 2 islands; 1 wedding, 1 new daughter-n-law, 4 more new family members; (1) 4,576-vert hiked summit of the tallest mountain in the world if you count the below sea level height, 1 drive-up summit, 1 road to Hana and a hillbilly detour, 1 Volcanoes National Park with no lava flowing and no Plan B for no lava flowing, 1 sea arch with huge waves crashing, 1 southernmost point of the U.S. where a professional photographer was kind enough to take our photo (always, always ask the folks with fancy cameras to please take your photo), 5 excellent body board rides, 1 I-Sure-Didn't-See-That-Wave-Coming experience, 2 scuff-ups from body board surfing against rocks, 1 aquarium, 8 zip lines/3 awesome zip line guides, 15 total hiked miles;
AND...7 beaches/1 black sand, 1 huge bamboo forest, 6 waterfalls; 1 full moon bow, 3 rainbows,1 full sunrise/sunset, 1 huge rainstorm; 13 new Hawaiian words, all public appropriate; 7 humpbacks, 1 gorgeous whale song, 3 geckos; uncountable birds, trees, flowers, 1 "home" tree (think Avatar), 1 banyan tree (different than the home tree), 1 ocean wave-swamped chihuahua still holding on to its fetch-stick;
AND...1 shopping district, 3 shopping markets, 2 supermarkets; 2 leis, 4 necklaces, 1 pair earrings, 2 Hawaiian shirts, 1 sarong, 1 shorts, 2 baseball hats, misc knick-knacks, and 1 stupid expensive sucker purchase, BUT a little less stupid expensive because...I also have 1 never-worn, outrageously-priced, ticket-still-on, one-piece swimsuit I can return to Macy's because my bikini still rocks (yes...surprised me too)
AND FINALLY...4 bars, too many Mai Tais, sake, 8 bottles of wine (1 local winery); 2 salsa dances with a tolerant and talented partner, 4 restaurants w/1 on the water, 2 condos, 1 hotel room, 1 mistaken car entry with shocked passenger sitting in the back seat; 43 videos, 372 photos; 3 new FB friends; several hilarious stories, many more memories; lots of sashimi, too many dark chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, 1 invention idea; and 1 BFF that was there every step. Whew!

So, basically, I would say my status is EXCELLENT! Mahalo.