I wanted my summer vacation to end on a high note, and the highest note I had available was 12,662 foot Mount Borah.  

Idaho's highpoint was one mountain that I have put off climbing for a long time.  For one thing, I don't like crowds, and Borah is easily Idaho's best-known peak.  For another, I was nervous about Borah's steep shoulder, known among locals as Chickenout Ridge.  

But this year, I have been exploring the Lost River Range, of which Borah is the centerpiece.  Despite towering over its neighboring peaks, Borah is considered one of the easier climbs in the range, so after tackling a few of Borah's bretheren, I decided I was ready to take on Chickenout.

I pulled into the trailhead parking lot Sunday evening, hoping for it to be deserted.  There were half a dozen groups camping out to do the climb the next morning, so I made the best of it and let it be a social occasion.  Four of the groups were local; one was from Michigan and another from Colorado.  The Coloradans were a group of college boys who had brought along a surplus of beer, which helped me immensely in turning in early, as I had decided to begin the climb at 4AM.  I wanted to catch a few Perseid meteors before sunrise, and I wasn't disappointed.

In a word, Mount Borah is, for the most part, tedious.  The climb begins with a steep ascent of the toe of a ridge, the trail making hundreds of small switchbacks as it climbs to 10,000 feet.  I had to remind myself to be grateful for a trail at all, as most of the places I go don't have them.  Much of the rest of the climb is across scree and talus fields, tiresome to walk, but they were comparatively stable.  

Then there's Chickenout.  It really isn't all that bad - in fact, I thought it was the most fun part of the whole outing.  It is a serrated ridge at 11,300 feet, featuring some serious exposure, but with good rock that offers plenty of hand- and footholds.  There are spots where a fall would be fatal, but you'd have to be blindfolded or drunk to make a serious mistake.  However, coming down from the summit, I ran into two groups traversing Chickenout that were clearly having a miserable time - one poor lady was petrified, clinging to the rock, sobbing, and ignoring her husband's entreaties to climb down.  That's Mount Borah for you - its exalted status as the highest peak in the state draws people with no experience in mountain travel.

Owing to my early start, I made the summit at 9:30, when the chill of the night was still lingering up high.  There was a dense haze from numerous forest fires in the region, which is typical of the Rockies in late Summer.  I signed the summit register, guzzled some water, munched on my homemade granola bars, and headed down.  Borah is certainly a fine feather for my cap, but honestly, his less famous, wilder brothers are more to my liking.