Mount Idaho. July 18, 2012.

Partners: Josh and Scout.

Stats: Approx 8 miles and 5,000ft gain to summit elevation 12,065ft. 8hr round trip.

Route: West ridge, class 2/3.

Links: Mount Idaho on Summitpost.

Mount Idaho from Hwy 93.

Mount Idaho is Idaho's seventh highest peak. Many climbers rank this as their most favorite peak of the 12'ers. It has an easy and shaded approach up Elkhorn Canyon to a fun class 2/3 ridge and finishes with a classic scree chute to the summit.

We started from a road at the mouth of Elkhorn Canyon and followed a decent trail into the trees. Elkhorn is not your typical Lost River Range canyon; it's relatively easy to work your way up.

Elkhorn Canyon.

At some point we turned left and hiked up a steep slope to reach the Towers area on the west ridge.

Approaching the Towers.

After the Towers there is a clear view of the rest of the route. Its a pleasant ridge walk until the base of the summit pyramid. Its scree from there to the summit.

Summit pyramid from the west ridge. 

Borah Peak.

Looking up the west ridge, past the Towers.

The main ridge never really feels more than class 2 and sticking to the spine is the way to go.

I took a picture of Josh taking a picture of Scout.

The saddle was a little windy. Note Scouts ears aloft in the wind.

Borah and Sacagawea.

The views of Borah and Sacagawea were as awesome as they were distracting.

Josh en route to the summit.

What parts of the route that could be considered class 3 were fun with very little exposure.

Summit pyramid. 

The summit appeared tantalizingly close but we were only a little more than half way up at this point.

Chute to the east of the summit.

From the base of the summit pyramid, its all about finding the correct chute. We actually went a bit to far to the right and topped out just east of the true summit.

Merriam Lake at the base of the north face.

It was a short, fun and slightly airy traverse to the top.

Looking west from the summit.

We topped out and had a nice long lunch while took in the views.

Close up of the Pio's.

Mount Corruption with Diamond Peak behind. 

Looking east from the summit.

Borah, again.

We were pretty sure we could make out some people moving up to the summit of Borah.

Summit Zzz's.

Maybe our summit lunch break had been just a tad too long. When I encapsulated our moment of glory, Josh was straight cold taking himself a nap.

West face from Elkhorn Canyon.

Yes, Josh was easily roused and soon we descended our peak. We used a dried up waterfall to descent higher up into the canyon than where we came out of it on the ascent.

Mount Idaho from Hwy 93. 

It became what is now the typical hot escape from the LRR. It was easily 40 degrees warmer on the valley floor than it was on the summit.