Pavlos Peak - Idaho Summits Fall Outing 2011

When the call went out for the fall outing to occur on Sunday October 2nd I was quick to plan a weekend that allowed some bird hunting and peak bagging.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), Dylan had a Homecoming Dance planned for Saturday night so the bird hunting plans were squashed.  Instead, we decided to make an alpine start and leave town at 4AM.

Unfortunately, 4AM wasn’t quite early enough and we were the last two to roll into Christian Gulch around 9AM.  After quick introductions, quickly packing up some final items and taking a few group photos, we were off.



The group heading up the elk trail


The first part of the hike was a little bushwhack through the trees until we stumbled upon a great elk trail.  We followed this trail to a saddle above point 9076.  There were eleven of us, Dylan and myself, Margo, Dan, Steve, Dave, Alex and Sean who we had previously climbed with.  New to us were George, Leslie, and Eric. The weather was great for hiking, a slight overcast with temps in the 50s.

Dave enjoying the rest

The pace was rather brisk as we topped out above the tree line.  I stuck around there waiting for Dan, Margo, and Steve and after chatting with them a few minutes I looked up and the others were almost out of sight. 

Once out of the tress the crux of the climb was in view - a long band of rocks that allowed a little bit of scrambling while enjoying a steep drop off the north side.  Once over this band though, it was a straight forward hike to the summit at 11,109 feet.




Dan motoring on up!



Margo enjoying the crux



Summit views




















Once on the summit the wind picked up and it was getting chilly just sitting around. While we waited for Dan and Margo I quickly ate a PBJ and some trail mix while the others were getting antsy to move on to Petros.  I was undecided on Petros since we had climbed this earlier in the year but decided to join them at the last minute.

Petros with the route highlighted

The route between Pavlos and Petros takes you down the scree filled west slope of Pavlos and along a broad flat saddle filled with solid scree.  Dylan commented afterward that it was so smooth you could play soccer on it.  It was an awesome sight!

The soccer field

The climb up Petros involved another slog up a steep slope filled with larger rocks to a cliff band.  At this point Leslie and I decided against going any further since the cliffs looked a little loose.  Sean lead off selecting the best route, quickly followed by Dylan and the rest. Quite a few times I’d hear “Rock!” followed by the sound of rocks tumbling down the mountain.

The summit to Petros

Sounds like the group quickly tagged the summit and then spent a considerable amount of time finding a route down.  From my view point the group played it safe as each person individually descended out of the cliffs before the next proceeded.

Once down off of Petros, everyone but George proceeded back up the west ridge of Pavlos with Sean quickly leading the way.  George had decided to hit another peak on the way back (sorry – not too sure which one) – this guy is a mountain goat!  The climb back up Pavlos was pretty brutal because of the wind, which had really picked up.  Not too sure about the wind speed, but occasionally it made it hard to breathe.

Fighting the wind

Once back on top of Pavlos we all had an easy stroll down to the cars following our ascent path.


The trip stats were approximately 7½ hours car to car, approximately 8.5 miles, and 4600 feet gained.