Idaho Exposure

Hiking, Climbing, Backpacking, Snowshoeing, Backcountry Skiing. Photos by Thomas Oetzell; idahoexposure.com


Most viewed - Thompson Peak, via Goat Lake, September 13, 2013
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IMG_3321.JPG30 viewsWhile cooking dinner, the clouds descend to the lake. Within minutes it is pouring rain. We eat dinner comfortably in the tent, having made the correct decision. It rains for an hour and a half, stopping long enough to hang our food, and get ready for bed.
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IMG_3314.JPG25 viewsThe remaining consolidated snow in the couloir draining into the south end of Goat Lake offers a fast route to the upper lake basin we had hoped to reach before dark. Thompson Peak, our objective for the following day, appears to be making its own weather.
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IMG_3532.JPG25 viewsTraversing the east side of Goat Lake seemed much more difficult than it had the day before. It's already 6:40 pm, and we have not reached the outlet. We ended up reaching our car at about 10 pm, a much longer descent than I had estimated. It was a long day, but a fantastic one-- and not the first time we returned to Iron Creek trailhead after dark!
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IMG_3312.JPG24 viewsWe reach serene Goat Lake about 7 pm. The snow-filled couloir on the northwest side of the lake looks smaller this year.
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IMG_3412.JPG24 viewsSouthwest from the Thompson/Mickeys Spire Saddle to Mickeys Spire.
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IMG_3482.JPG24 viewsThe east ridge of Thompson Peak and the town of Stanley on the Salmon River from the summit of Thompson Peak. Lower Stanley (downstream) sappears above Stanley in the photo.
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IMG_3496.JPG24 viewsThe clear blue waters at the outlet of the 'unnamed lake' below Thompson Peak at roughly 9000'.
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IMG_3404.JPG23 viewsJust after 7 am Sunday morning, we are off to climb Thompson Peak. Behind us, the first rays of sun hit Peak 10312 south southwest of Goat Lake.
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IMG_3529.JPG23 viewsThe deep lake high in the lake basin south of Goat Lake. There is a waterfall at its outlet, but you will have to go there to see it. This is the second trip we've taken here, and I still have not photographed it. The professor declined the opportunity to be photographed standing next to it.
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IMG_3304.JPG22 viewsThe sun was trying to break through the cloud cover, casting encouraging displays of light on the green hillsides above Stanley Valley.
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IMG_3408.JPG22 viewsLooking northwest from the Thompson/Mickeys Spire Saddle, a tarn on the west side of the basin.
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