Idaho Selkirks: Hunt Peak Circumnavigaton May 17

Hunt Peak circumnavigation

We finally completed the circumnavigation of Hunt peak that I€™d been contemplating for the last couple of years.

Participants:  Matmaster, Eli , Jon , Jake , Matt R, Buttercup, the Captain, and the Yami-Daddy.

The trip was slightly complicated by a general lack of snow on the snowmobile trails and up to a foot of new snow in the high country from several storms last week.

We began by skinning up the slope above the Camels Prairie warming hut and climbed the 800 feet into echo bowl.  We then traversed along the West face of Hunt Peak and up to a small saddle on a ridge overlooking Hunt Lake.  Views of Hunt Lake, Gunsight Peak, Roothann, Chimney Rock, and Hunt Peak were spectacular.  Jake and Matt used a cornice saw (cornice floss?) to cut off a good sized chuck of a cornice.  The block fell and started a small avalanche on the slope we intended to ski.  The slide was small and didn€™t travel very far, which we took as a good sign of the stable snowpack.  We dropped in to the €œsecret pass€ above Hunt Lake and had about 500 feet of nice turns on slow but good quality snow.  We put skins back on and climbed the 300 feet up to Hunt Pass.  Another 400 foot descent brought us to €œFault Pass€ above Fault Lake.  500 feet of the best turns of the day led to Fault Lake, where we had lunch and contemplated some snowshoe tracks heading up the East Ridge of Hunt Peak.  Curiosity got the best of us, so we followed the tracks to the point where the track-makers had removed their snowshoes and started climbing around a rock tower.  Since we were skiing, we decided to boot pack down a couple of hundred feet through slabs, stumps, and bear grass to get to good snow below and finished the ski descent into McCormick Lake.  Some weeks ago, a massive avalanche had hit McCormick Lake and sloshed much of the water and lake bed out and down its outlet creek toward the Pack River.  There were large blocks of ice on a slope 30 feet above the lake, and mud and ice strewn everywhere else.  After taking pictures of the carnage on the little lake, we skinned up the steep 800 foot slope above McCormick Lake to gain the South ridge of Hunt Peak.  We followed to ridge to just below Echo Peak and then dropped into Echo Bowl.  We then skied the final 1400 feet down to the warming hut, completing the circle.  7 miles and 3300 feet of elevation gain in 7 hours.  Good tour!