Find Nearby Peaks

This peak is not in the book. Published December 2019

---

Peak 9085 is a rugged mountain that towers over Bare Canyon to its south. The west aspects of Peak 9085 are frightening and have probably never been climbed. The towers on the southwest ridge are, thankfully, lower than the easier-to-reach high point at the northeast end of this rugged ridgeline. There is no easy way to reach this mountain. The shortest ascent route is probably via Spring Canyon to the south. USGS Copper Mountain

East Ridge, Class 2

Access

Spring Canyon Road is located on ID-28 in the Lemhi Valley between Mile Marker 40 and Mile Marker 41, exactly 9.9 miles north of the junction of ID-22/ID-28 and 3.4 miles south of the north entrance to Birch Creek Campground. It is signed with a simple street sign. Spring Canyon Road is poorly maintained and is now a primitive 2-track road. At 1.6 miles, the road goes left at a fork and becomes faint and rutted. At 2.7 miles, the road reaches the mouth of Spring Canyon. Park in the open grass here (6,350 feet).

The Climb

From the mouth of Spring Canyon, hike up the canyon on the 2-track jeep road, heading northeast then north. There is a fork in the canyon at 7,060 feet and an unsigned road junction. The main 2-track jeep road goes right here for a short distance up a side canyon. The very faint remnants of Spring Canyon Road go left here. There is a split-rail fence section here to act as a blockade to vehicular traffic. Go past the fence and continue hiking up the left fork which is Spring Canyon. The road soon ends in a narrow gully at a large pine tree (7,200 feet).

Bushwhack up the dry gully in the center of the canyon, heading north to reach a ridge saddle at 8,330 feet. Higher up, you will find a game trail to expedite your climb to the saddle. This is Saddle #1. Now you must scramble across the upper reaches of Bare Canyon to arrive at another ridge saddle at 8,580 feet. This cross-country trek requires a traverse then diagonal drop to a dry gully followed by a face climb up to the forested saddle.  This saddle (Saddle #2) is at the base of the east ridge of Peak 9085.

The hard approach is now done. Finish this peak off with a scramble west up through a nice, open pine forest, staying on its left/south side to avoid thick sagebrush in the forest on the right/north side. The live forest gives way to a burn area on the left/south side with downed timber to go around. The open terrain on the left/south side of the ridge quickly gets you to the rocky terrain higher up. Skirt the left/south side of a rocky buttress and then climb over 2-3 more rocky ledges/outcrops to reach the summit, which is another rocky buttress.

The summit of Peak 9085 is rocky and open, albeit with desert scrub right there. Indeed, the summit high point is a prickly desert bush with a large boulder under it. There is a summit cairn on a rocky fin/outcrop just behind, and west of, the prickly bush. The ridge towers to the southwest along the ridge will frighten the you-know-what out of you. Thankfully, they are lower in height than where you are currently standing and you need not climb them.