Julies Journal
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Oct 8, 2004
Website photo of Borah through the Cottonwoods
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Oct 9, 2004
Marathon weekend climbing . . .
Its almost impossible to find someone to climb with at this time of year. I called Ted Rupp, a climbing friend and climbing instructor for the Spokane Mountaineers, and he was thrilled to go. He said he'd been neglecting his passion. The two of us headed out for the drive on Fri. Oct. 8th at 4:00 p.m. after work, and we drove straight through to Salmon, Idaho, with one stop in Missoula, MT for dinner. We arrived at approx. 12:30 a.m. at the base of Borah (7400 feet). The wind had picked up quite a bit (one thing I forgot to check on), but the temperature was in the 60's -- quite warm for this time of year. I took the back of the Jeep Liberty, while Ted roughed it on his thermarest on the ground. We woke about 5:00 a.m., and started climbing by 6:00 a.m. Ted figured we were ascending at approx. 1200 feet per hour (which is a bit fast but the terrain wasn't difficult -- just gravely and steep). Ted wasn't feeling to very well past the 10,050 ft. mark, so we slowed our pace. Once we reached 11,700 (Chicken Out Ridge) we were joined by two other climbers. The winds began to pick up at a rate of approx. 70mph gusts. The four of us decided at that point to turn around and not make the summit attempt. With Ted not feeling well, and the clouds rolling in, I feel we made a good decision. It is not always about the accomplishment of reaching the top, but the experiences, knowledge, and wisdom gained in the climb itself. We descended, reached the car at 2:00 p.m. and got home on Saturday night by 10:00 p.m. Thanks to Ted's prior experience on Borah this was a great weekend.
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