Door Jamb Mountain IV
and Loder Peak IV
February 9, 2020
Mountain heights: 1996 m, 2097 m
Elevation gain: 925 m
Ascent time: 3:00
Descent time: 2:30
Scramble with Doug.
Waking around 5 am, I decided it had been too long since I was in the
mountains, and regardless of the less than optimistic weather forecast, I would
get out and do something. But what???
Remembering that Doug Lutz had decided to attempt Door Jamb Mountain and
Loder Peak, I fired him a message around 5:30. To my delight, he responded
immediately and by 7am we had both arrived at the Jura Creek parking lot (a new
parking lot that I didn’t know existed until my arrival).
We started the trip by headlamp, under cloudy skies and relatively warm
air temperatures. The wind was initially not a concern at all, but that started
to change as we gained elevation and left the cover of the trees. An
inconvenient, blustery breeze soon became a bone-chilling and violent wind. We
hoped for better conditions higher up, but things only got worse.
However, in between all those losing battles with the wind, we both
enjoyed short sections of terrific scrambling on solid slabby terrain.
Ascending them with microspikes was not ideal but manageable. Watching Doug lead
the way up some fairly steep slabs was a sheer delight – he is a natural
scrambler and very confident and competent on challenging terrain.
Eventually we arrived at the summit of Door Jamb, snapped a few photos
and immediately continued on towards Loder. The wind had no intention of
letting up and we needed to keep moving to stay warm. The summit of Loder was
reached with relative ease, but at this point the unrelenting and viciously cold
wind was cause for concern. Hats off to Doug at this point for braving the
elements to take a few summit photos and a summit selfie. We both used our
hiking poles to brace ourselves against a wind threatening to blow us right off
the mountain. I could not bring myself to exposing my hands to the cold and for
the first time in forever didn’t take a single summit photo!
Needless to say, our summit stay was very short. We quickly wrote off
the idea of continuing the trip to the next unnamed highpoint and started down the
alternate descent route via Jura Creek. This makes for a terrific loop route
and allows you to lose a great deal of elevation in a short time span – definitely
a bonus for this bone-chilling February day! Shockingly, the skies started to
clear at this point, though plumes of blowing snow above us, clearly indicated
the wind had not let up.
The descent went without a hitch and, as usual, Jura Creek was amazing.
I was especially surprised to find out we could descend the small canyon above
the false fault – the summer trail stays above the canyon. The larger canyon near
the start of Jura Creek was likewise spectacular and a fine way to end a
terrific trip.
A huge thank you to Doug for setting up the trip, breaking trail most of the way (very Dave McMurrayish), being an awesome
scrambling partner (also very Dave McMurrayish), as well as an all-round classy guy (ditto)!
Click HERE to see Doug's fantastic video of the day!
Click HERE to see Doug's Facebook report.
Some pleasant sunrise colours
20 minutes into the trip and my water hose is frozen solid. Doug's too! (photo by Doug)
Doug scrambles up a slabby section
More slabs and getting a few rays of the morning Sun (short lived unfortunately)
The completely treed form of Exshaw Mountain
Farther north, Exshaw Ridge is a much better trip, offering open views and fun ridgewalking
Cloudy view to the southwest (photo by Doug)
Typical sections of good friction slab en route - great to ascend when it's warm!
Doug tackles the slab
And then leads us up another fun section of good rock
There were a few snowy sections along the way
At the summit of Door Jamb Mountain (photo by Doug)
Loder Peak and Mount Yamnuska (right)
Doug at the summit
Heading towards Loder (I'm down there somewhere) (photo by Doug)
A much needed break from the wind (photo by Doug)
The ascent of Loder is an easy affair (photo by Doug)
Brave summit selfie by Doug - the wind threatened to knock us down throughout our very short summit stay
The continuing ridge to Goat Mountain - one failed attempt via this route many years ago
Mount Fable is distant, but front and centre
Doug leads the descent
A few tricky spots to negotiate
My turn to lead
Into the descent drainage - fun and easy travel from here on in
Pretty happy (and shocked) to see blue sky
Now in the tributary that leads to Jura Creek
Following in Doug's tracks. The snow covered some hidden treasures (photo by Doug)
Approaching Jura Creek
Doug spots a boulder on the left
And then climbs it
I'm staying grounded! (photo by Doug)
One of those hidden treasures! (photo by Doug)
Blast from the past: "Little Goat"
Arriving at Jura Creek (photo by Doug)
Entering the first canyon (usually bypassed above) (photo by Doug)
Doug follows
At the bottom of the false fault. Unfortunately snow is covering the fascinating rock (photo by Doug)
Looking back at the false fault and the canyon (photo by Doug)
Doug passes a section of pretty cool rock
Close-up
The hike out was characterized by beautiful weather and patrches of violently blowing snow
There's one
And another
Cool undercut of rock (photo by Doug)
Doug passes the undercut
In the amazing second canyon (first if you are going up Jura Creek)
My usual intimate moment with rock (photo by Doug)
This boulder looked liked a giant piece of carrot cake
I went in for a bite, but it was rock hard!(photo by Doug)
Doug checks out the sheer rock faces
Close-up
More fun canyon walking on logs (photo by Doug)
Doug descends the logs
Coming out of the canyon
Parting Look at the fun ridge of Door Jamb
Doug takes a great pano on the drive out. Left to right: Door Jamb, Loder, Goat, and Yamnuska. (photo by Doug)
The End