August 31, 2020

By Tim Briese

6.1 miles, 1500’ elevation gain, 4:20 roundtrip time

Brian and I drove to Independence Pass and at 730 am embarked on the trail that climbs gradually toward the ridge southwest of the pass. It was chilly and breezy this morning. We saw a young couple in flowing wedding attire doing a photo shoot nearby in the early light, a very chilly undertaking it seemed. I guess young love was keeping them warm. We could see Mountain Boy from the pass and on the entire approach, which was handy for picking our route.

mountain boy peak, at the far left, from independence pass.  igloo peak is in the center.

We weren’t interested in following the ridge all the way around to our peak and going over unranked Igloo Peak with its difficulties. Instead we elected to drop off the ridge to the left into Mountain Boy Park and traverse cross country over to our mountain.

we hiked across mountain boy park, in the center

We looked for a place where it was feasible to leave the ridge and after hiking about a mile and a half from the trailhead we left the trail at 12,500’ and dropped to the left off the ridge, skirting a field of snow and descending a couple of hundred feet on steep grass into the basin. From there we easily contoured south across the basin toward Mountain Boy.

getting closer to mountain boy.  we aimed for the saddle with the snow above the center of the photo.

We passed some impressive bus-sized boulders along the way, which gave this place a wild and primitive feeling to me.

brian by one of the big boulders

There are two saddles between Igloo and Mountain Boy, and we aimed for the left one which appeared easier to reach to regain the ridge. The ascent to the saddle became increasingly steep though, and I found it a little nerve-racking easing around a snow bank just below the saddle on very steep, wet dirt, fearing that my footing might give way at any moment.

heading up the slope toward the saddle.  photo by brian schultz

the steep dirt by the end of the snow bank, which was steeper than this looks.  photo taken on the descent.

Once we reached the 12,800’ saddle, we headed up Mountain Boy’s northwest ridge, at first on a trail up through scree and then on a gentler grassy slope the rest of the way to the top.

looking back at igloo peak from mountain boy's slopes

the final stroll to the summit

We arrived on top about 945. It was great to be up there, with nice views all around.

brian on the summit.  grizzly peak is to the right.

independence pass at left center, and some of the numerous peaks visible from the summit

After half an hour on top we headed down. Curiously, we came upon a golf ball lying in the tundra in Mountain Boy Park on the way back. One can only wonder how it got there.

somebody's ball lying in the rough awaiting their next shot

It was getting very windy as we hiked back to the pass, and I was glad we had not hiked the ridge all the way because it would have been pretty vicious up there. There were lots of people walking around at the windy pass when we arrived about fifteen minutes before noon. After exchanging goodbyes with Brian I loaded up and headed for home.