Good Views From Summit

1.7 miles, +1,260 ft, -160 ft (From Lake Levale); 18.8 mile approach from Silvertip TH

On November 11, 2016 I was making a blitz trip from Boise down to City of Rocks to activate it in the ARRL’s National Parks on the Air program. I had always wanted to run up to Mt. Harrison and had just enough time in my schedule to do so. I had read W7IMC’s short summary of his 2013 trip, as found on the SOTA Summit Summary. A paved drive up to a 6 pointer! In Idaho! Hard to believe and it is likely the only one of its kind. Sure enough that is what it is.

Sunday, January 15th, 2017 was my attempt to do Mt. Spokane (formerly referred to as Jump-off-Joe). I believe my activation is the first “winter” activation of this peak. As previously reported, there are several ways to access this summit, which even include taking the chair lift in the ski area! Previous activations from other have included driving to the top, hiking, and Mountain Biking. My attempt would be on a snow shoe trail that is well travelled.

Saturday, January 14, 2016, I attempted the first ever winter activation of Quartz Mountain. This summit intrigued me as I have previously skied on the cross country ski trails at Mt. Spokane. The trails, which many are on a Forest roads, create the basis for the cross country trail system. There is a warming hut in somewhat close proximity to the activation point. I believe it is possible to drive up to the summit during the summer. The cross country trail maps shows the road leading to the summit as “occasionally groomed”. It was unclear when or if this trail was groomed this year.

Tiffany Mountain’s 8242 foot summit classifies it as a 10 point SOTA summit. With only a few exceptions, 10 point summits in the W7W association are technical climbs, or exposed Class 3 or 4 scrambles.

Peak 5740 is one of the handful along the north side of Hwy 20 - west of Mtn Home Idaho.  Although, there was deep snow, this turned out to be a good winter bonus point summit.

Please see this detailed blog on the first activation of Mount Rainier by Doug-W1DMH.

http://w1dmh.blogspot.com/2014/06/rainier-w7wrs-001-sota.html#comment-form

I found that the turnoff at Lizard Creek Road off of Highway 20 was not marked by any sign. However, it is about 0.75 east of MP57 and exactly 33.0 miles from the Millican Store if you are coming from Bend.

This is a fine hike that many should try at some point - it's 4.4 RT miles and 800 feet of gain for the 'short' version described here, with a summit pinnacle that makes for a fun scramble if you feel the need to get to the tippy top.