Trip Report
Almost a week before this trip, I sent out an email inviting people out. Initially the location was to be in the Sun Valley area and several people responded that they were in. As the week wore on, people bailed because they thought the weather was going to be bad or because the drive was too far. To compromise on the drive, I chose Cottonwood Peak near the Soldier Mountain Ski Area (only 1.5 hours from Boise). On Saturday night, only the brave (or ones that can actually read a weather forecast) remained... John and myself.
The peak I chose, Cottonwood Peak, is the 8300 foot peak that sits just northwest of the Soldier Mountain Ski Area. It is named after Cottonwood Creek that starts on its eastern flanks and quickly feeds into the larger Soldier Creek.
We left Boise right at 6am and were dressed, in boots, and walking on the trail at 7:45am. Looking around we could tell that we were in for bad weather, as there were at least 2 or 3 clouds in the sky. The wind was blowing about 10mph and it was chilly, but John and I run warm anyway and were glad to have the air conditioning.
Or route was up the road that left the ski area parking lot and followed Soldier Creek. We followed this road that had been groomed by snowmobiles to where the South Fork of Soldier Creek branched off. At the fork, we headed up the ridge towards Point 7174. The day was turning out to be stellar! The skies were nearly cloudless and there was no haze in the atmosphere, lending superb views in all directions. Our route up the ridge was steep, but the snow was hard and allowed us to walk without snowshoes.
Views opened up as we made progress. First just the Soldier Mountains, but later the Bennett Hills to our south, then the Boise Mountains to our north, then the Smokies, Pioneers, etc... to the east. Winds near the top were blowing 10-15mph, but the sun and our efforts were keeping us warm. The summit finish was really cool, with a corniced 50-foot hump to ascend. It was a unique Idaho winter snowshoe, as we did not use snowshoes on the entire ascent. In fact, even breaking in an inch or two was rare.
Views from the top were great. After some poses, we were on our way down. We probably could have been down in half the time, but we decided on a alternate route. This allowed for a great butt glissade, but also forced us to use our snowshoes when we got into the sun-baked snow in the bottom of the creek. After no more than a mile with the shoes on, we were again on the hard pack and cruising to the vehicle. We headed home with blue skies and big grins after a fun day.
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