Mount Borah - Tallest Peak in Idaho 08-08-08
Mount Borah Experience : We reached there a day before the actual hike. I went there with a friend, who works in Micron. Two of us had cooked food and lots of energy drinks with us. After dinner, we went to sleep, however could not get a good sleep because of uneven ground. We woke up early in the morning at about 4:00 AM and had some more food. At 5:00 AM, we were set to go. The hike was pretty steep and had a slope of about 30 %. This simply means that in a climb of 1 hour you are loosing about 300 Food Calories, where 2000 are sufficient for one day.
We had lots of water with us which made the climb even more difficult. Each ounce counted and I wanted to get rid of everything. At about 1000 feet, we finished the tree line and we still had 2000 more feet to go. The climb was becoming steeper and steeper and legs were getting tired and tired. It started becoming a mind game after the excitement which followed. The next part was the steepest and required a slow movement which actually lasted about 1000 more feet and led to a rocky part.
The rocky part had big stones and sharp rocks where one would have to rest against the rock, find a foothold and with hand's strength climb up. The wind at that part was blowing hard and the temperature was much lower than before. The hands were freezing and loosing strength to hold anything. I finally took my jacket and gloves and wore them. My first reaction looking at the chicken out ridge was - Oh man ! No way - I can't do this -
If I slip, I will find myself in a 2000 feet deep trench - if course – dead. Then someone who was following me took the lead and climbed it. I followed him constantly thinking - how would I come down even if I go up easily. There were about 10 people around, a few of them ahead and a few following. After struggling with the rocks with more than 4 point contacts with them, we reached a safer zone where the slopes were not as high and foot holdings were firm. After a few more minutes, we found people returning from the top and declaring the first warning of thunderstorms.
Thunderstorms
My first reaction about the thunderstorms was - what can these thunderstorms do !
In 5 mins, entire mountains were surrounded with clouds. The winds were blowing at a speed of thirty miles per hour and within 5 mins the scenes were completely different.
My second reaction was - this IS deadly !
In about a minute everyone heard a great noise of thunder and lightening !
My third reaction was - Shit ! We are finished today
There was no time for fourth reaction - it was only to run back
Now all those rocks which took minutes and minutes of efforts while climbing looked deadlier.
This time, I was facing the 2000 feet deep ditch and my back was facing the rocks. A slip meant the same thing in this case as well. Adrenaline was rushing and a life threat was there! Lightening usually hits the tallest object it finds. You are standing at the mountain top - you ARE the tallest object.
Run man !!
My friend yelled at me when I was still thinking - If I die at least there should be some pictures !
So I took some more pictures.
The visibility was becoming lower and lower and the best I could see was the cloud front approaching me with a 20-30 miles per hour. My next snapshot taken by camera could show objects as far as only 10 meters and the very next snapshot showed full white screen. Then it started pouring as well. Lightning was roaring with a higher frequency and amplitude. My friend who was ahead of me started yelling my name. I cried back but because of these heavy winds he could not listen to me. There was no way to see the cliff and if I was going on a right track. Finally I got rid of the camera and started climbing down with patience and hurry.
After coming to about the 4 touch points on the rocks, I had the steepest part ahead of me. Now at least going down was easier however there was no safe spot yet. We rushed as hard as possible and got tipped over the rocks several times. After about 30-40 mins of constant climbing down, we reached the tree line.
The ground was completely wet and I think I slipped four or five times, though I did not hurt myself.
After coming to tree line, it was pretty safe and then we thought of going to the top once again -
“Can we do it !” was what I was thinking though with some pain in the knees
Finally decided not to do it, and then with about a constant pace, we started coming down. It took very few minutes to come down from 11500 feet to 6000 feet. At 11:30 AM we touched the base camp again - dead tired and hungry.
We packed all the stuff and headed back to Boise. We had our lunch on the way.
That was the trip!
So it was adventurous!
These are the things -which differentiate men from boys.
We had lots of water with us which made the climb even more difficult. Each ounce counted and I wanted to get rid of everything. At about 1000 feet, we finished the tree line and we still had 2000 more feet to go. The climb was becoming steeper and steeper and legs were getting tired and tired. It started becoming a mind game after the excitement which followed. The next part was the steepest and required a slow movement which actually lasted about 1000 more feet and led to a rocky part.
The rocky part had big stones and sharp rocks where one would have to rest against the rock, find a foothold and with hand's strength climb up. The wind at that part was blowing hard and the temperature was much lower than before. The hands were freezing and loosing strength to hold anything. I finally took my jacket and gloves and wore them. My first reaction looking at the chicken out ridge was - Oh man ! No way - I can't do this -
If I slip, I will find myself in a 2000 feet deep trench - if course – dead. Then someone who was following me took the lead and climbed it. I followed him constantly thinking - how would I come down even if I go up easily. There were about 10 people around, a few of them ahead and a few following. After struggling with the rocks with more than 4 point contacts with them, we reached a safer zone where the slopes were not as high and foot holdings were firm. After a few more minutes, we found people returning from the top and declaring the first warning of thunderstorms.
Thunderstorms
My first reaction about the thunderstorms was - what can these thunderstorms do !
In 5 mins, entire mountains were surrounded with clouds. The winds were blowing at a speed of thirty miles per hour and within 5 mins the scenes were completely different.
My second reaction was - this IS deadly !
In about a minute everyone heard a great noise of thunder and lightening !
My third reaction was - Shit ! We are finished today
There was no time for fourth reaction - it was only to run back
Now all those rocks which took minutes and minutes of efforts while climbing looked deadlier.
This time, I was facing the 2000 feet deep ditch and my back was facing the rocks. A slip meant the same thing in this case as well. Adrenaline was rushing and a life threat was there! Lightening usually hits the tallest object it finds. You are standing at the mountain top - you ARE the tallest object.
Run man !!
My friend yelled at me when I was still thinking - If I die at least there should be some pictures !
So I took some more pictures.
The visibility was becoming lower and lower and the best I could see was the cloud front approaching me with a 20-30 miles per hour. My next snapshot taken by camera could show objects as far as only 10 meters and the very next snapshot showed full white screen. Then it started pouring as well. Lightning was roaring with a higher frequency and amplitude. My friend who was ahead of me started yelling my name. I cried back but because of these heavy winds he could not listen to me. There was no way to see the cliff and if I was going on a right track. Finally I got rid of the camera and started climbing down with patience and hurry.
After coming to about the 4 touch points on the rocks, I had the steepest part ahead of me. Now at least going down was easier however there was no safe spot yet. We rushed as hard as possible and got tipped over the rocks several times. After about 30-40 mins of constant climbing down, we reached the tree line.
The ground was completely wet and I think I slipped four or five times, though I did not hurt myself.
After coming to tree line, it was pretty safe and then we thought of going to the top once again -
“Can we do it !” was what I was thinking though with some pain in the knees
Finally decided not to do it, and then with about a constant pace, we started coming down. It took very few minutes to come down from 11500 feet to 6000 feet. At 11:30 AM we touched the base camp again - dead tired and hungry.
We packed all the stuff and headed back to Boise. We had our lunch on the way.
That was the trip!
So it was adventurous!
These are the things -which differentiate men from boys.
posted by Rohit Malshe at 2:51 AM
3 comments
