Mink Peak Spires (Attempt)- Bitterroots
Date: April
15, 2018
Participants:
Dan Escalante, Tom Herwerden, Forest Dean
Three years
ago I climbed the 9363’ high point on the ridge west of Trapper Peak. This point is known as “Mink Peak” due to the
fact it sits just north and above Mink Lake.
Upon reaching the summit I looked to the east at the nearby rock spires
and had a strong feeling that the highest of these was clearly higher than
“Mink Peak”. Over the last two years I
have ascended some peaks both to the north and south of this area and each
time, when observing these spires, have felt that one of them is really the
actual high point of this mountain. Thus
I hatched a plan to go climb it to find out!
After making plans for a date for this attempt, I was turned on to an
article by a couple of guys who climbed these spires a few years ago. They essentially confirmed what I suspected-
Mink Lake “Spire” (which they dubbed “Illusion Spire”) is the actual high point
(exact elevation to be determined). I
needed to climb it!
Dan, Tom and
I arrived at the Boulder Creek trailhead and started up the trail at about
7:00am. First mile was on mostly bare
ground, but then we were in to off and on snow cover…some solid, some
soft. We strapped on skis/snowshoes and
slowly made our way up the trail (Dan crossed the creek at one point and found
the going a little better, but more sidehilling). It took us nearly three hours to all get to
the Boulder Creek Falls due to the poor conditions. Shortly thereafter, Tom turned back as he was
struggling with post holing on his snowshoes.
Dan and I began a diagonal ascent up into the Mink Lake drainage. Not feeling well, Dan stopped at about 11:15
just as we entered the drainage proper.
With his blessing, I decided to skin up to the lake and see what things
looked like. Hauling the rope and all
kinds of other useless gear, I slowly
made my way up to Mink Lake- arriving right at noon. Snow was falling hard, wind was blowing and
the Peak/Spires at head of drainage were all socked in. So, I tucked my tail, ripped the skins and
had a nice, enjoyable 1500’ ski back down to the trail. The rest of the day was pure misery! Rain was falling; skins wouldn’t stick; bare
patches of trail meant more hiking than skiing.
We all got completely worked on the exit!
Naturally,
the sun came out in mid afternoon. Tom
and Dan beat me back to the trailhead by over two hours. I arrived back at 4:45pm. Looking forward to going back up there under
some better conditions!
Stats to
lake: 13 miles round trip and about
3000’ elevation gain.
Forest Dean
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