Trip Report
Winter 2011/2012 finally hit in late January. Due to the storm and accompanying avalanche danger, I had not gotten out in a few weeks. So when a week of dry weather settled the snow, I was chomping at the bit to get out. The peak on my mind was Vienna Peak in the southern Sawtooth mountains. I first tried skipping work on a Tuesday, then a on a Thursday, but neither worked out. I finally settled on a weekend trip with John.
The weather forecast called for a 30% chance of snow, but moderate temperatures for winter in the Sawtooths, so John and I headed out despite what might turn out to be a less than perfect day.
The drive up had an eerie feeling, even before we saw a cougar on the road between Boise and Idaho City (a mountain lion, not the other kind of cougar... get your head on straight). After Idaho City, it spit some snow. By Lowman, it was getting lighter and less eerie. Near Stanley, we could see the Sawtooths were fogged in, but there was some blue sky above.
Our trailhead for the peak was the "Vienna Mine" highway historical marker about a 1.5 miles south of Smiley Creek Resort. As soon as we arrived, a young lady hurriedly parked and rushed up to us. John and I are handsome fellows, so this was no surprise. However, she just wanted to ask if we would take a GPS unit with us so they could study if people were recreating in wolverine habitat. John and I were both thinking that it would be fun to be in the room when they pull up our route and remarked "They went where... on snowshoes?!".
Our plan was to cut across the meadows on snowmobile tracks to the main Smiley Creek Road. Once we hit the Smiley Creek Road, we would hike to the base of Sawmill Canyon and hike into the canyon. This was a 2.5 mile hike on packed trail, which took us 55 minutes.
We then turned into the canyon. The initial few hundred yards were post-hole hell, but after that, we were in good snow. John led a great route through the snow, keeping us in open glades most of the time and well positioned to get to the saddle between Abes Armchair and Vienna Peak.
From the saddle, we did some steep switch backing to about 9900' and were now on the obvious summit ridge. The route was obvious, except for about 50 feet, where it looked like the cornices might be tricky. However, that section was easy and we were on the homestretch.
The 6 mile snowshoe to the top had taken it's toll, but the top was very alpine and the views spectacular, which brought my energy levels back up.
After pictures, videos, and some celebration, we headed down. We improved our times dramatically on the way down to the road, but the long day was taking its toll and the 2.5 mile hike on the flats seemed like it would never end.
A burrito in Ketchum and good conversation on the way home made me forget about the tired legs. It was a long day, but well worth it... great day to be in the mountains!
|
|
