Climbing Near Weippe, Idaho

The Fat Albert area is readily identified from the highway by finding the huge natural arch just left of center on Lightning Dome. It lies directly uphill from the main parking pullout. Park at a large pullout at mile 21.1. Cross the highway to a road cut and scramble up a left trending ramp to the trail. Follow this to the base of the wall near the Fat Albert arch. Expect a 10 minute hike. Descent All single pitch routes can be descended with one 30M rappel over the arch or scrambled off to the right on exposed ledges. Multipitch routes should rappel “Cretin’s Corner” with two ropes.

Home to the finest hand crack at Lightning Dome, this area is best identified by finding the slender pine that grows out of an obvious crack system; this is the namesake route of “Midnight Fright.” Park at a large pullout at mile 21.1. Cross the highway to a road cut and scramble up a left trending ramp to the trail. Follow this to the base of the wall near the Fat Albert arch. Walk right about 200 feet, past a couple large Ponderosa pines to a narrow ledge with a bush. Expect 15 minutes. Descent There are two ways to descend from these routes: 1. A single rope rappel off a tree into the gully that faces “Fat Albert.” 2. Walk off to climber’s right from the top and circle back around to the base.

The mass of Lightning Dome as viewed from Highway 13 is primarily the “left side” of the formation. The routes here lie between the left edge of the crag and the prominent low-angle gully visible on the far right. There are four sections within the Left Side: • Parasite Wall • Black Pine • Fat Albert • Midnight Fright Park at a large pullout at mile 21.1. Cross the highway to a roadcut and scramble up a left trending ramp to the trail. Continue up this trail past occasional cairns to a faint fork. This left hand/uphill fork, more or less directly, leads to the Midnight Fright, Fat Albert, Black Pine, and Parasite Walls.Descent From the summit, walk on the uphill side of the two downed trees to the ridge crest, then head down the crest to the obvious stacked boulders. Continue down on their right to a pair of tall, slightly burned Ponderosa pines. Scramble down a bit of 3rd class terrain then left across a gully. Grassy ledges lead to the base of the Parasite Wall, where the approach trail leads back to the crag.