Dead Man Peak

Idaho has been enduring another extended session of high pressure, leaving winter peak baggers champing at the bit. After realizing that covid restrictions created a logistical nightmare, we dropped grand plans and caravaned to something more local, at least local by our standards. So on our feet at the Bull Trout pullout by just a little after 9am, temperature +4°F, what seemed like a stiff breeze, the trudging commenced.

Dang trees are blocking our sunshine!

Not a lot to photograph until we had started the ascent of Dead Man.

This is roughly 3 miles from the cars, with very little change in elevation. From here, now in sticky sun-warmed snow, we were facing about a 1000' ascent.

Although the sun was warming the snow some, it was still fairly brisk. At first, anyway. Hard work when the sugary snow allows you to slip backward all the time, yet sticks to your snowshoes and makes them heavy. Poor little Ruby was sinking in, even after several fellas had packed it down.

The boulders signify a nearby summit.

Yes, that's my finger. I had cleverly left my camera in the morning pack-up blitz, so shot these photos with my phone.

That's the brilliant white face of Copper Mountain across the way.

Summit shot with Bull Trout Point in the background. We had followed Dead Man Creek to get here, so I'm calling this one Dead Man Peak.

We plopped down in the snow and enjoyed a leisurely lunch-- there wasn't a breath of wind and it was pretty warm right here. It was great catching up with everybody's busy lives. We hadn't climbed as a group since McGowan Peak in 2018.

Then there was a discussion about how to spend the rest of the day. No one fiercely objected, so we went for the lollipop to Point 7820.

This involved a fine ridge walk with outstanding views.

Followed by a sharp descent to a saddle, then just less than 300' gain to a view back to what looks like a rounded hump of Dead Man.

Lots of views from the summit of Point 7820, which I'm calling Resting Peak (he's not dead, he's Resting). I believe that's Red Mountain. Pretty rugged stuff.

After slogging up through the sticky snow, we were tired and shagged out, pining for the fjords.

So that was followed by a return to our saddle, a long dropping traverse back to our previously broken trail, and then an even longer trudge back to the car.

More trudging. Legs getting tired. Feet hurt. Hip socket feeling funny. gasp gasp. From the looks of things here, even my cell phone was feeling tired.

Still some trudging left, but from here you can hear the cars on the highway.

This was a long day, very tiring. My overall sensations when I reached the truck gave new meaning to the name of this peak.

Map

SuperDave's trip report

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