Pocatello couple caps decade-long journey to summit state’s highest points

POCATELLO (Idaho Statesman) — Icy weather, snowstorms, obstructive foliage and rugged terrain along the wild Rockies were just some of the obstacles Ben Nickell and Anne Koski faced on a 10-year journey to climb the highest point in each of Idaho’s 44 counties.

Last month, they reached the top of Bare Peak Northwest, their final peak.

They believe they became the 13th and 14th people to complete this feat, according to data from Peak Bagger, a website where enthusiastic climbers can log their ascents. They also may be the first couple to do so.

“A lot of people do the ‘Idaho 12ers’ — the nine 12,000-foot peaks — but this appealed to us more because it got us out to see more of the state,” Nickell said in a phone interview.

The pair’s lengthy quest was almost accidental, starting as a casual climb with friends in 2016 on Hyndman Peak. They did a few more climbs and Nickell realized some of them happened to be county high points. In 2020, they got serious about completing all 44.

They didn’t set a deadline, but Koski, who is getting her knees replaced next year, wanted to complete the journey before she could no longer.

“I haven’t been able to run for the last couple of years,” Koski said. “I’m just a lot slower on trails now. I knew I wanted to get it done before my knees gave out.”

‘So rugged and barren’

Nickell is a high-performance computing systems administrator at Idaho National Laboratory, and Koski is a high school biology teacher, which meant the pair had to plan their climbs around weekends and summer. Some climbs were quick weekend getaways; others were week-long trips in the summer.

The wild outdoors were no surprise for the Pocatello couple, who met while running. They had gone backpacking, run marathons and run trails, and Nickell was a mountain biker and snowboard and skiing instructor.

But their journey became more than a physical feat of climbing peaks. Through these 10 years, Nickell and Koski said, they got to see parts of Idaho they never imagined visiting.

From the Hells Canyon area, to the mountains and forests in North Idaho, to the breathtaking views in the Bitterroot Mountains, the couple saw Idaho in all its glory.

Koski and Nickell, both 52, joked that picking a favorite climb would be like picking a favorite child, but they are particularly drawn to mountains in the Lemhi Range, such as Bell Mountain and Diane’s Peak.

“They’re so remote, no one does them,” Koski said. “They’re just so rugged and barren.”

One peak, Big Baldy, took them deep into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Reaching it from the nearest road would have required a roughly 30-mile hike, so the couple flew into an airstrip used by rafters traveling the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Their highest point of the journey was Borah Peak in Custer County — the state high point at 12,665 feet.

They’ve slept in their Subaru at trailheads, camped, backpacked into peaks and stayed in local Airbnbs. For many of their climbs, they would leave on a Friday night, sleep on the trail, then spend all of Saturday hiking.

Along their adventures, they saw mountain goats, rock fossils and even a golden eagle. But witnessing the state’s beauty and wildlife was met with the occasional fork, or tree, in the road.

Fallen trees blocked forest roads, snow forced them to abandon some attempts and return later, and on one climb, a navigation error sent them up the wrong side of the peak.

They were 500 feet from the summit when they realized the remaining route required equipment they did not have. They had to descend 1,500 feet and climb from the other side.

Since their start in 2016, improved navigation technology has made the trips easier for the couple, who use mapping apps and GPS tracks posted by other hikers, along with printed maps and information from those who have completed the peaks before them.

The navigation tools came in handy, as the pair said there wasn’t always a trail; often they had to do some bushwhacking and create their own.

“You’re rarely on a trail when you’re doing these,” Koski said. “You might start on a trail, but then you have to go off-trail to get down.”

‘I was pretty grumpy’

It was all good practice for the couple, whose final climb, Bare Peak Northwest with a 9,436-foot summit, was also their hardest.

On the Montana border, during a new moon in pitch-black darkness, they completed their 22-hour trek, both uphill and downhill, at 4 in the morning, bringing an end to their decade-long journey.

Nickell said they were out hiking so long, their headlamps started dying. Luckily, the couple, far experienced at that point, had brought extra gear for what was supposed to take 16 hours.

The couple waited to complete the trek until they found a good weather window. Fortunately, the weather was in their favor. The terrain, not so much.

Anne said the climb involved seemingly endless boulders, sidehilling and scrambling. She had to move slowly because of her knees and relied on hiking poles to take some weight off them.

“I was pretty grumpy, honestly,” Anne said. “I kept thinking we were closer than we were, and it was just like an infinite loop of just more of the same.”

Due to their exhaustion, the couple did not have a proper celebration. They have considered the idea of completing the Idaho Centennial Trail in sections, rather than all at once, and also want to return to places they’ve visited and explore other mountain ranges, including the Wind River Range in Wyoming.

But in the meantime, the couple is taking some well-deserved rest.

Koski said what kept them going all these years was being together and finding their rhythm as the hours melted by.

“We’re trauma-bonded,” Koski joked. “After the last one, I’m like, ‘OK, if we can get through this, we can get through anything.’ ”

Nickell said getting to see Idaho from the highest view gave him newfound appreciation for the state, and the couple advises you don’t have to be an athlete or particularly fit to do what they did.

“Just get out there,” Nickell said. “Try it and see if you like it.”