Bonneville Peak

Bannock County, ID High Point – 1/18/2025

Trip Stats (Click here)

Summit Elevation: 9,271 ft.

Trip Distance: 3.49miles 

Total Vert: 1,040 ft.

Travel Type: Backcountry Skiing

I heard an idea a while back. A podcaster was explaining why we should put ourselves into situations that make us suffer. The idea wasn’t “to make us stronger” or to “test our limits.” It was a little darker than that. The idea was that we should do hard things because we are all going to grow old. We are all going to get sick and watch our loved ones die around us. We are going to suffer and we are going to die; it’s coming for everyone. So, we should do hard things to make friends with that suffering now, so so we can welcome it down the road when it inevitably arrives.

That has kind of been on my mind a lot the last little while. I think we do need to grow, push ourselves, and learn through hard things, but I also like the idea of time in the mountains being a training for the hard things that are going to come in our life as it goes on. A series of small “training hards” began for me about 5 weeks before the day I climbed this peak.

Back in December, I had an opportunity to visit Portugal with a friend, which was an absolutely relaxing and awe inspiring experience. It was an exceptional trip that was immediately dampened by the worst sickness I’ve had in years. Yes, I got the dreaded airport plague. I spent the following 2 weeks up until New Year’s with an awful cold which left me not being able to work due to losing my voice multiple times. What I believe was Covid then morphed into a bacterial chest infection, which needed antibiotics to overcome.

After kicking that bug and crossing the threshold into 2025 I thought I would feel better, but instead once again lost my sense of smell to what I think was a different strain of Covid and contracted a gnarly sinus infection. The blows kept coming for about a month. The beginning of the real Idaho winter was off to a rough and ultra fatigued start. But on a frigid blue-bird day in mid-January I realized I needed to just get out there and decided to try for the Bannock County High Point.

With a somewhat hoarse voice and legs feeling like lead, I decided to go out and try for Bonneville Peak. Luckily, this goal aligned with my rough state because the peak sits at the top of the Pebble Creek Ski Area. The plan was to go to ride the lift about 2/3 the way up the mountain and make the rest of the journey on foot. If things were right, lapping the backside of the mountain a time or two was also in the cards.

So, I saddled up in the Subaru and made my way down I-15 to Inkom, ID. Interestingly enough, everyone else in Pocatello and the Marsh Valley had the same idea to ski the Creek. When I arrived a line of cars were waiting for a place to park. As I am not the most patient person, I parked in a bend in the road with a couple other people frothing at the bit for some snow and I walked the side of the road up to the resort. I rode the small beginner lift up to the lodge and talked to a seasoned local who had mentioned he’d never seen it that packed. After a few jokes about the cold single digit temperature I wished him luck on finding a beer and went on my way. I bought a bump pass at the ticket office and loaded on the lift.

It definitely was a life saver being able to ride the ski lift almost all the way to my destination. I have skied the back side of the resort before without lift access and it isn’t a walk in the park to get all the way back there. After a few short minutes I was at the top of the lift, sticking skins to the bottom of my skis.

From here the route was actually pretty straight forward. To the left of the ski lift there is a ski patrol cabin. Near the entrance of the cabin there is avalanche beacon test point. There is usually a preset skin track that breaks off and ascends up out of the ski boundary here. I followed the track and spent a few minutes listening to some tunes and enjoying the frosty pines as the laughs and calls of the people at the resort quickly faded away.

After a few hundred feet of climbing the trees break and you quickly skirt south below a rock band. The easiest route follows the bottom of the cliff band before sending you on an easy slow climb, across an open bowl, up the last 300 feet or so to the summit. From here the views of the marsh valley were stellar. The crisp subzero night had cleared the air so you could see the mountains in central Idaho and into northern Utah.

As I made a final push up the slow angled ridge to the summit the stoke was building. It was barely 1 o’ clock in the afternoon, the sun was shining, the wind was non-existent, there was 5 inches of new blower pow, and less than a half dozen tracks to be had on the whole back side of the mountain. The cards don’t fall like that very often.

I arrived on the summit in good spirits, because of good cell service I FaceTimed my parents for a couple minute to show them the view and snapped some pictures. Another county high point done, CHECK!

I began to excitedly transition into ski mode ready to get some powder laps on the back of the mountain and then there was bad news to be had. As I locked my ski boots into downhill mode I noticed that the right boot was awfully squishy. I checked the buckles and cinched the strap. No change. So I pulled up my ski pants to inspect what was going on. In a heartbreaking turn of events I found that the outer hinge point of my boot had cracked and split in 3 places.

It was a critical failure making the stiffness of the boot nearly completely null. I tried to pop it back into place the best I could and, with some backcountry ingenuity, I ski strapped that sucker into submission. With a little pressure the boot became skiable, but it was definitely not a fix. It was like skiing with one stiff freestyle boot and one soft mountaineering boot.

At this point in the day I had to make a heartbreaking decision. I had reached my main objective for the day and really want to ski some laps, but I was concerned about the boots integrity and skiability. I didn’t want to get stuck in the hole on the back of the mountain in subzero temps by myself, so I did the adult thing and begrudgingly began to descend back to my car. Never is a man more bitter than when he has to turn his back on untracked powder.

Luckily, skiing on the way down to the car was exceptional. The blower powder skiing the trees above the Pebble Creek made for a lot joyful noise coming from a hoarse voice. The light fluffy snow was fast and fun as it rolled over the tips of my Bent 110’s. As I came up on the groomed cat-track I dropped into a short but waist-deep drift and plowed a small mountain of snow out onto the cat track near a family who was watching wide eyed. They kindly noted to each other how fun that looked, I gave them a smile and darted off.

My descent led me down the steep ski groomed runs, having to remind myself constantly that I had a broken boot. Even though I tried to keep it prudent I still popped off a couple small kickers carved in by the hoards of skiers and boarders. My legs were more fatigued than expected and I put them to the limit skiing the chop left at the resort. I finally zoomed around a rope and past the parking lot and out the other end of the resort, opting to buck a little sagebrush rather than hike back down the road. The plan worked perfectly and I ended within a few paces of my vehicle.

There was still plenty of daylight and the feelings were mixed. I had just had some fun coming down that mountain but I was tired and my body was definitely not as recovered as I had hoped. I inspected the damage on the ski boot and it was worse than expected. I called Skimo Co. who is always super helpful and they told me to put in a warranty claim. As of the time I’m writing this, I have shipped them off and I’m waiting to see how it turns out. It’s really put a damper on the ski season.

Ultimately, things were a mixed bag. It was a hard few weeks leading up to this adventure. There was a lot of anxiety and worry and I had hoped that this adventure would have gone better, but instead it kinda just added on a different kind of struggle. Strangely, I felt peace.

A lot of times I really do get lucky with conditions and gear, but sometimes it’s not great. Sometimes things are a bummer, but maybe that is part of living. Maybe we have to learn to live with things that aren’t perfect. As much as we like to fool ourselves, life isn’t going to get easier. It’s going to get more and more rough. But maybe knowing that suffering is coming is the very part of life will help us slow down and enjoy the blue skies and the artistically windblown summits along the way.

“Today it is bad, and day by day it will get worse – until at last the worst of all arrives.”

– Arthur Schopenhauer