At my daughter's invitation to do a climb, I get my last East Fork summit
- October 23, 2011
- Team: Mariel
- Summit: McIntyre Peak, 11,210'
- 2 miles, 3300' gain, 3.5 hours
- Car-to-car 4 miles, 3300', 6 hours
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
Mariel invited my to visit and do a climb. I can't resist it when my daughter wants to hang with me, so after a long day of work in McCall I drove across Deadwood to Hailey. 4 hours, if you are just shy of crazy on the dirt section (which is 46 miles). We got up the next morning at a leisurely hour so that Hailey Coffee Company would be open. Turns out they open at 6am, seven days a week. But we got our lattes and breakfast burritos a little after 7 and headed up the East Fork road. This was significant for me because McIntyre was my last peak in the drainage, having already done Grays, Paymaster, 10805, The Box, Jacqueline, and Big Basin. |
|
We bumped up the road- I measured it from PK Pass to the turnoff to Grays at 3.8 miles. I didn't want to push the Suby to the very end... although on our way back someone else had driven their Suby all the way. So we had 10 minutes of road to hike. Good chance to warm up. It was 31° at the parking spot @ ~8000'. |
 |
| From the end of the road to the start of the climb is only about 20 minutes. After climbing about 1500 feet we hit the sunshine. Ahhhh. That's Peak 10805 in the background. |
 |
As we got farther up the basin, I saw what I thought were the two gullies. Unfortunately I did not have a map or directions (I was too busy organizing my remodel work at the cabin to sufficiently organize my hike). So although the gully looked good, we later determined it was the wrong gully. |
 |
We were way too far east. So instead of the standard route, we connected with the east ridge. I had wanted to climb the east ridge anyway, but had been a little concerned about the potential for harder climbing.... Mariel said something about not being a beginner, so off we went. |
 |
| We stayed just below the ridge crest , so we had to cross several narrow, but quite firm little couloirs/gulleys. It might have been nice to climb the snow in crampons if we had had them, but we instead stuck to the dry areas as much as possible. |  |
Eventually we made it across the remaining east ridge and got on the south ridge just below the summit. That's Jacqueline Peak in the background. |
 |
And then we were on top for a stellar father-daughter moment. |
 |
It was a perfect day and the views were drop-dead gorgeous. |
 |
| We decided to stay on the crest of the east ridge on the way down. As it turns out, that was easier (and way more scenic!) then the lower line we had taken on the ascent. |  |
| Eventually we dropped off the ridge and headed for the easier ground lower in the basin. |  |
When we got back to the trail, the bright sun really highlighted the fall colors. For those interested, the East Fork is ablaze! |
 |
|
|
