Beaverdam Peak, Valley County, Idaho

With a winter storm on the horizon, John and I decided to bag Beaverdam Peak, just above Lick Creek Road. See John’s trip report here when available. http://www.splattski.com/2019/2019.html

A look back down to Summit Lake, one of my favorite areas to photograph as frequent visitors to my blog may already know. Sawtooth Peak in the background.

The peak is only about 1.5 miles from our parking spot but the going is pretty tough with lots of granite ribs, downfall, slippery vegetation, and other obstacles. Occasionally, we hit a refreshing open area. Our route today headed straight up the right flank of the mountain through one of the shots just above John’s head.

The views of the Lake Fork Creek drainage were spactacular with the clouds boiling above.

As we approached the summit ridge, things began to get more and more difficult, with snow covered blocks, ice sheets, and weather closing in on us. Cue ominous music here!

We made it to the ridge and both declared that we didn’t want to make a decent on the route we had just climbed then after some moments of anxiety, at least for me, along with darker skis and howling wind, we called off our push to the summit just 250 of elevation short of our goal. This was a rare moment as John and I rarely fail to achieve our daily goal. It was the right decision as it took almost an hour to find another route off the mountain. We then sat down, had lunch, spotted a small lake below, and revised our goal for the day.

After some fairly intense bush hacking, voila! Sawtooth Peak over the unnamed lake.

A look back at Beaverdam Peak. After working our way over to this lake from the base of the peak, we figured our why this mountain was called Beaverdam Peak. There is a large basin just underneath and it’s full of water, streams, and in the past, likely beaver!