Home > Trip Reports > Jan 11/12, 2013, Tiger Peak, Idaho Bitterroot's

Jan 11/12, 2013, Tiger Peak, Idaho Bitterroot's

1/11/13
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Posted by bcjunkie on 1/15/13 12:27pm
Met up with Tonda and John, from Moscow, for a weekend exploring Tiger Peak, in the Idaho Bitterroot Mountains. We met up Friday evening, at my family's ski cabin at Silver Mtn, and enjoyed a little Kellogg nightlife. The next morning we headed up Burke Canyon, out of Wallace, Idaho, towards Tiger Peak; elevation 6700.
    From our start, right from the road, we took the old mining road up a creek bottom, for less than a mile (around 300 vert). From there, it is straight up the mountain for maybe 2700 vertical, to the peak. The excessive logging and great natural terrain make this mountain one of the best backcountry destinations in the Inland Northwest; as far as access goes. It has a continual pitch of 30-40 degrees, amazing chutes and bowls, and great bang-for-your-buck. After steep skinning for 3 1/2 hours, we made it to the top of the peak, with good visibility and continual, very dry, snow falling most of the day. The snowpack was super stable, and only showed that the top 1 1/2 feet, which was blower powder, was a little greasy at pitches over 35 degrees. This meant that we could take out any objective; which I have not had the opportunity to do on the prior 6-8 trips. Sweet!
    Our first run from the top was an excellent 1500 vertical snorkel session down an east ridge with wide open pitches and meadows. We were so stoked on the snow conditions...some of the best Utah-grade powder I have skied in a while. After the skin up, we decided the main NE chute, around 2400 vertical and 35-45 degrees, was in order. After the cornice drop, we effortlessly stormed down the funnel, as it got steeper and narrower...with the bottom section being very steep and technical. We then connected to our skin out; on a very heinous bottom slope that was not only very steep, but was jungle-esque, and had old mining ruins all around. No place for lack of judgement!
   The next morning, we headed back in for more! Upon reaching the top, at around noon, we decided 3 runs were in order. First, we took the north bowl out, getting around 5-600 vertical, on pillow-infested, and perfectly steep aspects. At the bottom, we were entertained by 2 snowmobilers getting seriously stuck on a lower flank. One had high-marked right into a tree well, on a 35-40 degree slope; resulting in lots of cussing and shoveling, by both. We had a pretty good chuckle with that little incident. After skinning back up, we decided to take out another aspect on the east slope that we skied the day before; for another 1500 vertical. For our last run, we decide to take the epic NE chute again...this time staying high on the left side, and taking the flank down to the bottom; where we happened upon a nice little pitch to the creek bed that was damn near 45-50 degrees! After getting back to the rig, we all agreed that that was some of the best snow and terrain, in recent memory. The stoke factor was off the charts! A great trip to a hard-to-get mountain; with 5 runs total, and close to 10,000k vertical! One of my all-time favorites!

Here is some pictures:

-Tonda and John skinning tricky terrain near the bottom; with mine evidence all around
-On top of Tiger Peak...
-Lower down the NE chute, on the first day
Here are a couple more...

-Tonda and John skinning up the east aspect after farming the wide open, steep slopes...notice the canyon way down below...that is the start from the road
-the north bowl and my turns on the left, with the guys taking the right side; funneling down through the trees...notice the green tree....Tonda, and all, decided that tree was bad!
-the top of the NE chute, and ridge between that and the north bowl...super-duper!

Very cool.  Nice TR.

Thanks Mat! We will have to get after this, one of these days...conditions are primo right now!

Just a few more...

-John and Tonda enjoying some scrambling near the top
- Looking out on some serious terrain; on the second day...on the lower flank of the NE chute
-super steep slope right to the creek bed...which I had the glory of getting first...on the second day's outing, on the way home  ;D

Way cool!  I've always wondered about BC adventures along I-90 when driving to and fro Montana.  Something for the mind to ponder as the miles pass by.  Many years ago I did some touring near Lookout Pass on the ID/MT border but nothing like this.  Nice photos and thanks for the TR.

Yeah... That must have been your Subaru parked at the bottom. I did a sled access trip at the back of Burke from the substation. Snow was better than expected. Even got face shots on the sled.. There was a nice pillow line where I skinned up.


Yeah...probably saw my buddy's Subaru parked below...sucks not being able to get the goods, though...?

Glad you caught it in safe avi conditions.  That canyon is a notorious terrain trap when it is not.  I can recall a day or two of terror in there.  This year with a right side up snowpack is a good time to slay those slopes.

Definitely a once and a while opportunity! That face is pretty scary, when the snow is ready to flush out...glad you have experienced the Tiger Pk/Burke Canyon area...what a great destination!

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jan-11-12-2013-tiger-peak-idaho-bitterroot-s
bcjunkie
2013-01-15 20:27:44