Apex Peak, aka Peak 11,220

Apex Peak on the left

As Michael and I drove over Double Springs Pass in a snow squall Saturday afternoon, we discussed our intention of climbing Apex Peak.  At 11,220 feet, Apex Peak is one of the more obscure, Lost River Range, 11K peaks.  The weather was rather frightening on our drive up from Arco, with high winds, rain and snow, but NOAA promised us a clear day for Sunday.

Spotted this baby Pronghorn on the way in

We drove to the end of the road on the east fork of Burnt Creek and made camp in a damp meadow, near some recently fallen snow.  A quick dinner of BBQ chicken, ramen, and a bottle of Pinot was enjoyed as night fell.  We knew we were in for a cold morning as we finished off the last of the very chilled wine.

After a quick breakfast, we were heading up the surprisingly nice east fork trail by 7:30.  As NOAA predicted, it was cold, calm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Looking up the other (west) fork of Burnt Creek

A possible DDP, Peak 10,149

Upper drainage of EF Burnt Creek

We followed the diminishing trail almost to the saddle between peak 10,149 and Apex, before putting on crampons and taking a hard right.

Upper East Fork Drainage

Micheal heading up

As we got higher the views opened up.  Unfortunately, I left my digital camera at home and had to resort to the camera on my phone.  I hope to not have to do that again.

EF Drainage with Peak 10,149 on the right

Ferguson Peak (11,509)

We zig-zagged our way up the steep snow field and eventually reached the north ridge at 10,800 feet.  The views of the east side of the Lost River Range were fantastic!  However, my phone camera skills were not.

We followed the meandering ridge to the summit at 11,220 feet.

The North ridge

Summit!

After a short break, we started down.  I spied a nice glissade path that would take us down to the saddle.  So, after stowing away crampons, we were off!  We dropped 1000 feet or so to the saddle and briefly talked about climbing peak 10,149.  Since there was nothing compelling about this peak, we opted to continue glissading down.

Glissade path

Once back in the drainage we just followed the path back out to our campsite.

Another excellent adventure with Michael!

Stats:

Time: 6 hours round trip, 4 to the summit

Distance: 7.5 miles

Elevation: 3300 feet