Smutwood Peak II

"Smutwood Peak" attempt

December 26, 2009

Ascent time:                5:55
Descent time:              2:55

Snowshoeing and a little mountaineering with Mark.

My first ascent of “Smutwood Peak” was an easy and very scenic affair in the summer of 2007. Mark and I expected a winter attempt to be at least equally, and probably more scenic, but far from easy. Our expectations were fully met.

A multitude of broken trails made easy work of the initial part of the trip, but also took us a little off-route when I erroneously made a “zig” when a “zag” was warranted. Once in the upper valley, northeast of Mount Birdwood, the scenery was outstanding and just got better and better as the trip progressed. The snow-plastered south face of Mount Smuts gave the peak a very Himalayan look.

An easy jaunt west across the beautiful open valley of Commonwealth Creek brought us to the start of the real work. The ascent from the valley floor to Smuts Pass was slow and grueling, through the deep snow. It took us a good hour and a half to slog up approximately 360 vertical metres of terrain to the pass. Were it not for the clear skies and impressive views of Smuts, we would have been very tempted to turn around and go home.

Another terrific view waited at Smuts Pass; this time of day’s objective – Smutwood Peak. Lack of time was definitely becoming a concern at this point. We hurried over to the col between Mount Birdwood and Smutwood Peak, to yet another amazing view, this time of Mount Birdwood, Snow Peak, and Mount Sir Douglas. The heavily corniced south ridge of Smutwood put the icing on the cake of what I would characterize as some of the best mountain scenery we’ve ever experienced.

We were hoping that travel up the ridge would be relatively easy and the summit would soon follow. However, the snow that made the scenery some of best we’ve ever seen also slowed our progress considerably. After 30 or so minutes of following the tracks of 5 mountain goats (they were well ahead of us, but obviously aware of our presence), we downgraded our objective to the false summit.

Even the route to the false summit provided a couple of challenging sections, but we arrived there unscathed and in great spirits. The ridge and surrounding scenery along the way were absolutely beautiful, as was the view from the false summit. Mount Birdwood was simply stupendous! A traverse to the true summit would have taken at least 45 minutes to an hour, leaving us only about 45 minutes of decent daylight to get to safer terrain. As well, the mountain goats could now be seen at the true summit. Our presence near the summit would have invariably forced the goats onto the very exposed and avalanche prone west ridge/slopes. Of course mountain goats can handle themselves, but further putting them at risk didn’t sit well with either of us.

Caution was required for the first part of the descent, but after that it was smooth sailing. Especially fun and rewarding was the 18 minute, plunge-stepping descent from Smuts Pass down to the valley below – a task that, as mentioned, had taken 1.5 hours to ascend. We completed the trip by headlamp, though a half moon in the clear sky did a pretty good job of illuminating the landscape by itself.

Overall, a full day of stunning and mesmerizing beauty.

Mount Nestor (left) and Old Goat Mountain get some alpenglow