Idaho has 85 mountain ranges and subranges. Man with Pocatello roots summited the highest peak in each

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — When Jeremy Powell stood atop Fenn Mountain in the Selway Crags, he was feeling pretty accomplished. Summiting the 8,021-foot mountain in remote North Idaho’s Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest marked the completion of a peakbagging goal he’d been working toward for nearly a decade.

But the excitement quickly faded into the realization that this journey was only partway over. He still had to return to his truck and begin the long drive home to Boise.

By the time he returned home, Powell was again feeling excited. Summiting Fenn made him the first person to complete the highpoints of each mountain range and subrange in Idaho — a list of 85 mountains that includes Mount Borah, Hyndman Peak and Castle Peak.

“It was a lot of time driving and a lot of really awful roads and sleeping in my truck and the whole day,” Powell told the Idaho Statesman. “That was kind of the point, though, is that I got to see all these towns that I’ve never been to.”

Maps, lore make up Idaho peak list

Idaho has a slew of prominent mountain ranges: the Sawtooth, Lost River, Boulder, White Clouds and Boise ranges are some of the more popular in the state, but they’re just the start of the list.

Of the dozens of ranges, the vast majority are subranges of the Rocky Mountains.

Powell said determining which peaks to pursue was one of the trickiest parts of the challenge. He crafted his goals using a list from the Idaho: A Climbing Guide website. Tom Lopez, a mountain climber who runs the site, maintains a “list of lists” — various “peakbagging” goals to challenge hikers and climbers.

Lopez painstakingly created the list of ranges and subranges by researching U.S. Geological Survey data against local maps and landmarks.

“Some of the stuff is based upon geology, and some of it is based upon just what local people called the mountains,” Lopez told the Statesman. “If you’re asking for a logical reason for some of these, there really isn’t one.”

When Powell, who grew up in Pocatello, started making his peak list around 2015, Lopez’s list had 75 peaks. Powell combined that list with a map created by Derek Percoski, a Sun Valley-based mapmaker who creates peak checklist maps. As technology evolved in the last decade, some of the highpoint and range information shifted, altering his goals, Powell said.

Today, Lopez’s list matches Powell’s with 85 peaks. (Hayden Peak is listed twice, for the Owyhee Range and its Silver City subrange.) It includes ranges like the Bitterroots, Owyhees and Portneufs and subranges that include the Selway Crags, Pahsimeroi and Bighorn Crags.

Powell was first to finish — and one of few to pursue — range list

Powell’s peakbagging pursuit was an uncommon one. He finished the list on Sept. 6, and just one day later, Terri Rowe, an accomplished peakbagger from Meridian, completed the challenge when she summited Redbird and Bennett mountains in the White Knob Mountain and Mount Bennett Hills ranges.

“These lists take you to places you wouldn’t normally go,” Rowe told the Statesman in a phone interview. “Most people are into state highpointing, but what’s neat about these other more obscure lists is all the different places it takes you.”

Powell said knowing Rowe was working on the same list helped keep him motivated, even though they were never able to hike together.

“Her hiking accomplishments are an inspiration,” Powell said.

Powell and Rowe are the only people to finish the range and subrange challenge, and there isn’t much competition. Lopez said according to data on Lists of John, a popular website for peakbaggers, there are only a handful of other climbers who are close to completing the list, including Lopez himself. The closest competitors still have about two dozen peaks to summit to complete the list, Lopez said.

He said there are a few other lists on Idaho: A Climbing Guide that include more technically challenging peaks. But the range and subrange list ranks high for difficulty because of how farflung its peaks are, and how infrequently some of them are summited.

That meant a lot of planning for Powell, and sometimes bushwhacking to summit peaks that don’t see a lot of traffic or have an existing trail to the top.

He said some of the obscure hikes — like Moose Creek Buttes in North Idaho, where he bushwhacked about nine miles to reach the summit — were “kind of awful.” But with no one else around, the views from the top and the feeling of isolation were unmatched.

At times, bad weather, wildfires and other unexpected issues affected Powell’s plans. Once he drove nearly to the Canadian border to hike South Selkirk Crest to find the road closed.

Powell said it took him five years of failed attempts to finally summit Castle Peak in the White Clouds. Fires and a freak blizzard deterred him for a few years. And in August 2015, when conditions were looking good for Powell to bike into the mountains and hike the rest of the way to the peak, then-President Barack Obama signed a bill creating the Cecil D. Andrus-White Clouds Wilderness just days before Powell’s trip. It outlawed biking in the area surrounding the peak.

Those experiences taught him that flexibility was key.

“I realized that the mountains aren’t going anywhere, and you can always go back,” Powell said. “And if it’s not safe for whatever reason, then it’s always more important to go home than go to the top.”

He said he’s grateful to friends who came along on hikes with him, and other hikers who offered directions, company or advice on the mountain.

Powell said finishing the list wouldn’t have been possible without support from his wife and kids.

“Each time I get ready to leave for an activity, my wife says, ‘Make good decisions and great execution,’” Powell said. “Thanks for trusting me to not do anything dumb. No matter how excited I was to get to the top of each mountain, I was always more excited to get back home.”