Idaho Summits Fall Outing - Little Kane Peak

After countless hours discussing dates and locations, the IS outing committee decided on Little Kane Peak, in the Wildhorse Basin of the Pioneer Mtns, for this year's fall outing.  At 10,184 feet and a trail leading up to the main ridge, this peak appeared family friendly.  So 4/5ths of the Fadgen family joined 13 other hikers Saturday morning for a day in the mountains.

Old Hyndman Peak

Mustang Peak - Sunday's planned climb

The rain that passed through the area Friday afternoon left a nice dusting of snow above 9000 feet.  In the brilliant morning sunshine, this snow made the mountain views pop!

Immediately after leaving the parking area we faced our first obstacle - crossing Wildhorse creek.  Though Dan offered to carry anyone across the creek the night before, no one took him up on his offer.  Some of us used sandals to cross, others removed boots and crossed in bare feet, and one just said screw it and walked across while water poured into his boots.  There is nothing like your feet feeling like blocks of ice first thing in the morning!

Early morning creek crossing

Our first view of Devil's Bedsted East

Once across the creek, the group started up Boulder Creek trail chatting in small groups.  After a couple of miles on this well groomed trail, we broke out of the forest and found a spot to easily cross Boulder Creek.  Once out of the trees, it was hard not to trip while gawking at the surrounding mountain views.  We continued on the snow covered trail that switched backed and forth across the mountain face, eventually leading us to the summit ridge.

Oleg and Olga crossing Boulder Creek

After a break in the windless sunshine on the ridge, the group split up.  Six of the guys went left to tag Purgatory Peak (10,942'), while Dan, Bruce, the ladies and I opted to go right toward Little Kane Peak. We all traveled along the ridge top in the warm sunshine.

Heading towards Purgatory Peak

Other than a group of rocks that required us to drop down to the left, the going was relatively easy in the 3-4" of now slushy snow.  After about a mile of ridge walking with no elevation gain, we finally came to the final 1/4 mile and 300 feet to the summit arriving around 2PM.  The views were phenomenal, especially since we were in short sleeves!

View from top

In another 30 minutes, the six that had climbed Purgatory started trickling in led by Dylan.  Eventually the whole group was together again, and after Dan did his obligatory group summit shot we started down.  In honor of Splattski, who opted not to join us and missed out on a fantastic day, we decided to make the hike into a loop by dropping off the NE ridge towards Point 8972.

Dylan led the group down the steep section until we gained a flat, open ridge.  After a bit the group again split up, with Mark, Dylan and I heading towards Point 8972, while the other 10 searched for a gentle way to the valley floor.  With the snow up high thwarting our Sunday plan of climbing the Broken Arrow Arete, we wanted to get an up close look at our plan B - Point 8972.

Rocky Point 8972

Unfortunately, the rock quality left something to be desired.  A little depressed by our Plan B falling apart, we did our best to scree ski down (including Shadow) to the valley floor.  Once down, we cruised up the valley in time to meet the others for the Wildhorse Creek crossing.

Dylan picking up some wood for the evening

About half the group stuck around for Saturday night, enjoying cocktails and conversation on a beautiful clear cold night.  Sunday morning, the Fadgen's elected to head home (too much to do before traveling Monday) while the others went off to climb White Mountain (http://idahosummits.com/trip_reports/trip_report.php?trip_id=199).

Another great Idaho Summits Outing - excellent weather, great location and fantastic friends!