Member Trip report

Climbing Bromaghin Peak

11/17/2018

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I had some unfinished business on the Smokies Traverse.

 

A few years ago, when I started the mountain climbing hobby that would swell into an all-consuming obsession, I attempted the first three peaks of the Smokies Traverse: Lower Titus Peak, Titus Peak, and Bromaghin. The first two were easy; Bromaghin, a Class III, thwarted me. I started up the gully on the east face that is the standard route to the summit, but cowed by the steep terrain, I backed down.

 

Knowing that the first major winter storm was due to strike within a week, I decided to go for a rematch with Bromaghin (and my own fears) while I could still negotiate the high country without snowshoes. As usual, I arrived at the trailhead before sunrise, finding the temperature a comfortably warm 20 degrees. The Smokies Traverse starts at Galena Summit, the high pass on Highway 75 between the ski town of Ketchum and the whitewater town of Stanley. I wasn't looking forward to the first part of the outing, which involved summiting Lower Titus and Titus again: I don't like paying for the same real estate twice.

 

Boy, did Lower Titus have a treat in store for me.

 

A low, heavy cloud deck hung over Sawtooth Valley to the north. To the south, the Wood River Valley was clear. A strong north wind pushed the clouds against the crest of the Smokies, forcing them into a wall that towered over the ridge. When the sun rose as I was close to the summit of Lower Titus, the conditions were perfect for an atmospheric light show.

 

The tattered streamers of clouds whipping over the ridge caught the morning sunlight and blazed with iridescent radiance. Rainbow patterns shimmered all around me. A pearly cloudbow arched over the ridge. And best of all, I saw the most brilliant glory I have ever encountered.

 

Glories consist of a rainbow-hued halo surrounding your own shadow projected onto a cloud deck. It is easy to understand why people in ancient times would see them as a sign and a blessing from Heaven; they are eerily beautiful. I spent several minutes experimenting with the best ways to capture it. I settled on spreading my arms and legs wide to accentuate my shadow, and shooting the glory with my camera in my outstretched hand. It pulsated and bloomed as the interplay of sun and cloud changed; at times, a double halo appeared, and in a few prime moments, there was even a hint of a triple.

 

As the sun rose further and the day warmed, the clouds dispersed. I summited Titus under a bluebird sky, then continued down the ridge to Bromaghin. I eyed the peak suspiciously. It didn't look all that bad; not something that would have turned me back three years ago, surely. The snow, which had amounted to a few inches up to this point, grew patchier as I approached the peak, becoming knee-deep in spots where the wind deposited big drifts, but nonexistent on open slopes. Out came the ice axe. Bromaghin has a big, chunky, pyramidal summit, much different from most of the gentle, rounded peaks of the Smokies. I could easily pick out the gully that had done me in before, now filled with snow.

 

I got to the base of the summit pyramid. The gully stretched above me. Without thinking much of it, I plodded upward, sounding the snow depth with my axe. After a few minutes, I decided that the gully wasn't all that interesting, and I climbed out of it to tackle an exposed rocky spine instead. It was mildly annoying to climb it in my heavy mountaineering mitts, but it wasn't anything I hadn't done before.

 

I was a bit startled at how quickly I reached the summit. Good thing I spent the whole summer tackling peaks in the Lost River Range - they make everything else in Idaho look like a piece of cake. I enjoyed a few of my homemade granola bars, and, as I had a cellular signal, I checked the college football scores before heading down.

 

I tried a different way down, skidding directly down the east face to save time. It seems a little remarkable to say this, but I guess I'm no longer a timid amateur at this mountain travel business. Bergsteiger, 3rd class. I was feeling pretty good about myself when I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face, managing to catch myself at the last instant with my ice axe.

 

Well, guess I won't be climbing the Matterhorn anytime soon. I continued the descent, only with a little more caution.

 

 


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