Trip Report
This winter I finally got Carrie setup with crampons and winter boots that would support those crampons. I was jonesing to get her out to test out our equipment. I wanted a nice area with reasonable terrain for her first snow climb. I had a place in mind, but needed Doublespring Spring Pass Road to open for the year.
On Friday I found out Doublespring Spring Pass road had opened. It was game on!
The mellow, yet beautiful area I had in mind was Horseheaven Peak (Peak 10878 on the Borah Peak quad) near Doublespring Peak. I had done a snow climb of Doublespring Peak a few years back and knew the neighboring peak would make for a great return.
On Saturday at noon we set off for the Lost River Range, enjoy the scenery along the way. It was a beautiful day. We setup camp at the head of Cayuse Canyon right near Horseheaven Pass.
After a great dinner, warming fire, and sunset; we hit the tent for an early rise to take advantage of below freezing temps the next day.
We awoke at 6am and were walking by 7am. Within 1/2 a mile, the jeep road in Cayuse Canyon was blocked with snow. Luckily the snow was hard and supported our weight. Around 8400' we left the road and followed the ridge just right of the canyon. The ridge was more barren and thus kept us out of the snow. We continued climber's right of the canyon all the way to 9200', where the canyon finally comes out of the trees. Here I figured the snow in the canyon would be weathered and support our weight.
While taking a break at 9200' a hound came and visited us. She was very friendly and hungout while we took our break. We looked for an owner, but saw nothing. After our break was over, she starting following us on our climb.
The snow above the treeline was firm as expected. The canyon is spectacular at this point, with large rock faces on both sides. We ascended to just over 10,000' and put on our crampons. We probably didn't need them, but we hauled them up there, so they were going on! Good practice anyway. Before I could even start instructing here, Carrie headed up the snowfield faster than I could catch her.
Eventually the snow ran out on the ridge to Horseheaven Peak, so we took off the crampons and hiked the remaining 300'.
Views on top were incredible as we had lunch, dried our feet, and enjoyed the sunshine. Rose (the hound) had followed us all the way to the summit and she relaxed as we gave her some water and shared our lunches with her.
On descent we ran into 3 people skinning up the canyon. As we approached, one of them asked if our dog was friendly... my response of "I don't know, it's not our dog" drew some laughter.
Eventually we made it back to camp. Rose slept and soon after her owners (with 6 other hounds) arrived to pick her up. She was supposed to be tracking a bear, not messing around climbing a peak. Luckily they didn't seem too mad at her and introduced us to one of their puppies.
What a great day... the scenery, terrain, and company were all top notch!
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