Brundage Mountain SOTA brings the thought of riding a chair lift at the ski resort to the summit.  In actuality, the true summit is a mile north of the ski resort are requires a bushwhack for most of the 4 mile round trip.  The views from the summit mostly make up for bushwhack and somewhat dangerous final ascent to the summit.

Winter activation of a "standard Idaho 2-pointer" (read: barely achievable especially during winter!).  I took advantage of a newly activated holiday at work (President's day) to activate the closest summit to Boise.  I went up the standard "hiking" summer route.  The round trip on foot is 11.5 miles and 3000 ft vertical.  The summer "4x4 drive-up" route is gated closed Nov-April and is currently under a bunch of snow.  

Peak 5580 is in a cluster of 2-pointers east of Mountain Home Idaho on the north side of Hwy 20.  They lie about 1.5 hours from Boise so it makes for a nice trip to knock off a few summits.  These summits are generally considered the most achievable around Boise even know it takes a short drive to get there.  Other summits in the area require off road driving or longer hikes.  Some of the peaks in the cluster are available for year round access (SR-130 being the best), but Peak 5580 is a ways off the highway.  In the winter the road is not maintained and could be sn

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.

Peak 7384 is the next SOTA Peak to the north of Granite Mountain W7I/SR-138.  It is bushwhacking at its finest with endless deadfall on the main portion of the mountain.  Limited views from the summit make this peak not the most enjoyable, but it is SOTA nonetheless and that is always good!

 This peak is about 12 miles NW of McCall Idaho.  There is no trail to the summit, but it is an easy bushwhack.  To get to the "trailhead" take Hwy 55 north out of McCall and take the Brundage Ski area turn off a few miles north of town.  Follow this road to the Brundage Ski area, but instead of turning into the ski area parking lot remain on Goose Lake Rd.

This was my second activation of Kepros.  This is a long hike where you just need to keep going...  When it seems like you should be at the summit, it is still way off in the distance.  When you finally get to the base of the actual mountain, you have gone 4 miles, gained a bunch of elevation, but had just descended to almost the elevation of the car!  The final push to the summit is steep, but you are on a double track.  A set of hiking poles may expedite the steeper sections.

This was my second activation of Sunset Mountain.  The first activation was with K7ZO when we did a triple with 2 other summits to the NW.  See that trip report here:  Sunset Mountain 2015.  This activation was a double with the unactivated Peak 7460.  See the full trip report here:  Peak 7460

This was my second activation of Mores Mountain.  This Mountain makes for a nice double with Shafer Butte.  See our (w/K7ZO) previous trip report for more information.  Parking at the forest service picnic ground at the saddle between the two summits makes a nice base camp for restocking or having lunch before/after the activations.  Note there is a $5 per car self-pay to drive into the picnic area.  Picnic tables and pit toilets along with the central location

During my first activation of Sunset Mountain (2015), I spied Peak 7460 down the Hungarian Ridge trail leading from the summit of Sunset Peak.  An out and back activation was realized in 2016.  It didn't see like it was going to be a big deal hiking down from Sunset peak and then back up to Peak 7460, but it turned out to be quite the effort!  6.2 miles round trip and 2410ft of climbing.