Alice Schenk’s Arduous 5-Year Quest Takes Her to the Highest Points of Idaho’s 44 Counties
By Dianna Troyer
While bouldering and bushwhacking for hours, Alice Schenk envisioned a metal vertical pipe somewhere above her, sticking out of a rock on the summit of Bare Peak Northwest along the Idaho/ Montana border.
It tantalized and taunted her.
Would reaching it elude her again on a sunny autumn afternoon? Or would her 4th attempt reward her with becoming the second woman and 10th person to summit the highest points in each of Idaho’s 44 counties?
“It was a beast, a brutal mountain with tons of side-hilling and bouldering,” says the Rupert resident and retired health and fitness professor for the College of Southern Idaho.
Alice jokes she holds the record on Peakbagger.com for most attempts at an Idaho County High Point.
“It was my last high point and the hardest of all,” she says.
For decades, Alice, 67, was familiar with achieving physical feats and rarely feeling defeated. A distance runner since high school, she has logged more than 54,000 miles, finished 39 marathons, including the Boston Marathon 5 times, completed ultras, and finished 6 Ironman triathlons.
“On that mountain, I had tasted defeat and did not like the flavor,” she says.
Since 2021, Bare Peak Northwest, the high point in Idaho County, had frustrated her 3 times in 3 years. She had been forced to turn back when confronted with a thunderstorm, a wildfire, and a ravine that looked impassable.
“I was weary and had all but given up,” Alice says.
Through hiking groups on social media, she learned of Jason Lee Nipper, an experienced hiker and climber who has summited all 115 of Idaho’s 11,000-foot-high mountains. Alice contacted him and was grateful he agreed to guide her and her daughter, Sarah Day. They rendezvoused at the saddle before the final push to the top.
“At the last stretch, there’s no trail and a maze of steep pinnacles, ravines, and ridges to navigate,” Alice says. “His assistance there was incredible.”
Finally, after 6 hours and 15 minutes of hiking and climbing with an elevation gain of 2,842 feet, Alice stood on the 9,436-foot-high summit Sept. 26, 2024.
“I will never forget touching the pipe on top,” she says. “I spent so much time on Bare Peak Northwest in agony, defeat and finally triumphant victory. I wanted a summit photo of me standing tall and brave against the sky in my T-shirt that said, ‘Vini, Vidi, Vici.’ ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Instead, I am slightly bent over or sitting on the rock at the top, thrilled but exhausted. Regardless, I am 100 shades of happy and 1,000 shades of grateful. It was finished.”
Their grueling 7.7-mile trek from their camp on the ridgeline to the high point and back to camp had taken 15 hours and 18 minutes.
After 5 years, Alice had finally tagged all 44 high points.
“I’m thankful that God gave me these moments, memories, and opportunities to be in his mountains,” Alice says. “I will remember all the time, love, energy, and encouragement from my husband, Wayne, and our daughter, Sarah, who went with me many times. Wayne went to keep me safe, and although he has 2 more peaks to finish the 44 counties, it’s not his passion.”
While hiking, Alice reminisced about launching her alpine adventures in 2010. She vowed to climb Idaho’s 9 peaks above 12,000 feet, a 5-year odyssey she chronicled on the Peakbagger website.
In 2019, she happened to read an article about Terri Rowe, the first woman and ninth person to summit Idaho counties’ high points.
“I love a challenge and thought, ‘I can do that,’” Alice says. “What a great way to see Idaho.”
3 of the peaks Alice had already summited were county high points: Mount Borah, Diamond Peak, and Hyndman Peak.
Starting in September 2019, she tagged 6 more high points and added 20 summits in 2020. More than halfway to her goal by 2021, she emailed Terri, asking for advice about the north Idaho high points.
“It can be tricky because some highpoints have no names or trails and are simply GPS points described on Peakbagger,” Alice says.
Terri invited Alice to her home in Meridian, a moment Alice recalls as a blessing.
“My mind and heart had a renewed focus,” she says.
In hindsight, Alice says she doesn’t have a favorite peak.
“I loved them all,” she says. “This adventure allowed me to see stunning mountain landscapes in remote locations. In Northern Idaho, the 27-mile road to the Clearwater County High Point, Rhodes Peak, was a scary drive for me with its steep drop-offs and my fear of heights. The day trip hike was 17 miles of stunning scenery and tough hiking.”
Getting to Valley County’s high point required a unique approach.
“We were the first to fly into Indian Creek on the Middle Fork of the Salmon (River) and hike up the back way—an 18.5-mile round trip to an abandoned fire lookout tower on top of Baldy with over 5,100 feet elevation gain in 9 miles,” Alice says. “The alternative route was a 3-day, 33-mile hike in the Frank Church Wilderness.”
Alice reflects on her most difficult and last high point.
“A decade from now, I doubt I’ll be able to hike to this high point, but I will never forget the rare, extraordinary days of adventure this mountain gave me,” she says. “I’ll remember seeing elk, deer, mountain sheep, and a bear.”
Transforming a dream into reality is fueled by smaller goals along the way.
“Huge goals tend to up the ante,” Alice says. “Goals keep you moving forward when you feel like giving up. They’re like magnets pulling you onward and giving you hope. I see Terri has tagged all the lower 48 state high points twice.
“I want to do that, but I’d have to nail the toughest in the next few years,” she says. “I’ve done the highest—Mount Whitney. Mount Rainier might be out of my league, though. We shall see.”