Old Hyndman Peak - IDAHO: A Climbing Guide

Elevation: 11,775 ft
Prominence: 955

Climbing and access information for this 11er peak is found on pages 250 to 251. Scroll down this page to view many photos and for new route information: (1) Steve Sheriff and Kevin Murray route on the North Ridge and (2) The Travis Michaelis Memorial Route.

Old Hyndman is on my Favorite Climb list coming in at #9. East Ridge/East Face. (Class 3). A great combination of an enjoyable crosscountry approach with strenuous scramble.

The North Ridge of Old Hyndman Peak.

Old Hyndman is on my Favorite Climb list coming in at #9. East Ridge/East Face. (Class 3). A great combination of an enjoyable crosscountry approach with strenuous scramble.

Old Hyndman Peak viewed from the north. Evilio Echevarria Photo

Old Hyndman from Cobb Peak.

The trek up the standard route on Hyndman climbs into Big Basin on the peak’s southeast side.

Old Hyndman viewed from Big Basin look unclimbable.

The standard route climbs into this high basin which is a sea of talus and broken rock. Cobb Peak is on the right. Big Basin Peak is out of the photo to the left and Old Hyndman is off the photo to the right.

The standard route climbs out of Big Basin into this higher basin which is a sea of talus and broken rock. Cobb Peak is on the right. Big Basin Peak is out of the photo to the left and Old Hyndman is off the photo to the right.

As you get closer to the col between Old Hyndman and Big Basin Peak, the route becomes clear. The “Black Dike” cuts a welcoming line up the face.

The talus leading to the col is almost never ending

A closer view of the dike with a climber nearing its top end.

Old Hyndman from Cobb Peak.

Old Hyndman viewed from the west side approach to Hyndman Peak.

Old Hyndman from Big Basin Peak. Brett Sergenian Photo

Old Hyndman, East Ridge/East Face Route. The black dike is visible cutting up the face.

Climbing the black dike.

Old Hyndman from Wildhorse canyon.

The Following route information was provided by (1) Steve Sheriff of Missoula, Montana and (2) Dean Lords of Idaho Falls (with photo below).

(1) Steve Sheriff and Kevin Murray route on the North Ridge.

Old Hyndman Peak, North Ridge, II 5.7, 10/6/2001. Kevin Murray easily
convinced me to climb the north ridge of Old Hyndman. We started at the
campground in Wildhorse Creek, approached and, with some 3rd class and 6 or
7 pitches of broken rock, reached the summit via the north ridge. The last
pitch, just below the summit, had a few 5.7 moves, the others were lower
fifth class. In terms of line and directness, this was a high character
route; it suffers from low quality, but tolerable/manageable, rock. We
elected to descend the south ridge into the Hyndman basin north of Cobb,
woke up a couple mountain goats, crossed the saddle between Old Hyndman and
Hyndman, got back to the north ridge, and still ended up with two raps on
that ridge. 12 hours round trip. This makes a good tour of the mountain.

Steve Sheriff

(2) The Travis Michaelis Memorial Route

Hyndman Peak: Northeast Face
WI 4, M5, (1800 feet)
May 14th, 2004

Abe Dickerson and I completed a new ephemeral ice route on the Northeast Face of Hyndman Peak. This route starts on the obvious thin ice smear flowing from a snow bowl in the middle of the Northeast Face. One sixty meter pitch of very thin WI 4 leads to a rock belay at the base of the snow bowl. Two pitches of 50° to 60° snow and rolling WI 3 slabs lead to another hanging snow slope. The fourth pitch climbed this hanging snow bowl and finished in a narrow ice runnel below a headwall of ice and rock. The next section was the crux and was passed in two 30 meter pitches of technical mixed climbing on thin vertical ice and some exciting sections of dry tooling and mixed climbing up to M5 in difficulty. The seventh pitch started with a WI 3 corner which lead to a steep snow ramp. The eighth pitched crossed the Northeast ridge and a narrow 60° couloir was climbed to the summit after appox. 400 feet. The entire route is threatened by massive cornices hanging from the East Ridge.

Dean Lords