Gap Peak

Gap Peak

December 7, 2003

Mountain height:     2,440 m (8,003 ft)
Elevation gain:        1,197 m
Ascent time:            4:55
Descent time:          2:50
Roundtrip distance: 9.6 km

Scrambling with Mark.

Another beautiful day in the mountains and another brutally grueling scramble that left us feeling like we had been hit by several trucks… and a bus! Having summitted Mount Fable earlier this year, we chose to use Bob Spirko’s ascent route that goes directly to the summit from Highway 1A and is considerably shorter than the alternative via the Mount Fable col (thanks Bob for a great description!).

The first section of the trip, through ankle to knee-deep snow, was exhausting and took considerably longer than anticipated. Thankfully, the west-facing slopes above the tree-line were clear of snow and travel became easier – for about 15 minutes anyway! Here, the scenery really opened up and the steep walls of the cliffs ahead, under a perfect sky, were breath-taking. Traversing around the right side of the cliffs, we found ourselves back in the deep snow. From there, the steep slope that led to the ridge screamed “avalanche”, and we were quick to ascend it and make our way onto the safety of solid rock. A second cliff band was equally scenic and traversing around the left side of the overhanging rock was very enjoyable.

A slog up tedious rubble took us to the summit ridge, with the true summit still about a kilometer away and not yet in sight. By this time, we were absolutely knackered! It felt like the longest 4 km I had ever done and certainly attests to the general rule that winter ascents are often twice as strenuous as the same ascent in summer. Now 1:15 pm, we had to pick 2 pm as a turn-around time, as we didn’t fancy descending in darkness.

The ridgewalk to the summit was terrific and only took about 25 minutes. The ridge was narrow at times, with drop-offs on both sides, but nothing too difficult. Snow, hardened almost to ice by the wind, made a couple of sections a little trickier. The mostly clear west-facing slopes on our left were a beautiful contrast to the snow-covered, east-facing slopes on our right and the continuing great weather added to the enjoyment of the traverse.

The summit view was great. Mount Fable and the traverse to Gap Peak, described in Kane’s book, dominated the north-east landscape and the lengthy summit ridge and huge, vertical cliffs of Grotto Mountain stole the scene to the west. Last week’s Wind Ridge looked quite puny, surrounded by The Three Sisters, Rimwall, Windtower, and Lougheed, with Goat Mountain and Mount Nestor behind. Other notable peaks making an appearance were Mounts Allan and Collembola, Pigeon, McGillivray, Heart, The Wedge, and Fisher Peak.

The descent was mercifully easy compared to the ascent and the scenery was fantastic, as the descending sun lit up cliff faces in bright shades of orange and yellow. We stumbled back to the car at 5 pm, just as darkness was setting in. Overall, a very memorable and rewarding scramble and one that we are sure to repeat.