I wanted to get out in the high country badly. I was weighing my options, when my wife announced that she would like to go. I threw some ideas at her, one of which was a peak near Copper Basin... she immediately jumped on that one. She loves Copper Basin (and even more so now).

We headed up to Hailey to stay in the company condo after work on Friday. The weather was iffy with a chance of rain. When we woke up, it wasn't looking good from Hailey. Oh well, lets head up and see what's going on in Copper Basin.

We made the rough drive up over Trail Creek Road and into Copper Basin. The weather was actually quite nice, with some clouds, but the sun was out and it was a great morning.

We eventually arrived at our prescribed launch point of Copper Basin road, where I noticed a short side road that allowed us to park off the main road and in some trees. Being able to see the entire route from the start, we realized we could leave the snowshoes in the car, but did hold onto the ice axes, as it appeared there were a few snow patches to contend with.

We hiked up the drainage a bit, then veered climber's right and hiked through the forest to get on the northwest ridge. The hiking was fairly easy, with some occasional deadfall and one or two areas of rock to contend with.

Eventually we popped out of the trees and could see the rest of the route ahead. Instead of scree, the terrain was grass covered, allowing us to cruise on the final 500 feet to the summit.

The weather on top was holding, with partly cloudy skies and the temperature was warm. However, almost as soon as we arrived, the wind started gusting, fairly hard at times.

We enjoyed the top for quite awhile... Roundup Peak has incredible views in all directions! It is a great place to view Copper Basin and the Pioneer Range. However, you also can see Mount Borah, Leatherman Peak, the White Knobs, etc...

We made a loop of the route, by heading down the north ridge on our descent. We had made good enough time to pull out the lawn chairs and eat fried chicken and drink beers at the trailhead, before some black clouds and drops of rain let us know it was time to head out.

Great day, great peak, great area, great climbing partner!

Take the Copper Basin Loop Road, which is accessed from Trail Creek Road. Access to this route is just north of the Lake Creek Recreation Site (shown on the Big Black Dome, ID quad). Access the short side road mentioned in the trip report near Point 8229.

We did the loop counter clockwise, but Copper Basin Road was much better on the way out and we could have probably saved 30 minutes not looping it.

See the GPS track.