Mount Harrison
- Mount Harrison
- 3360 m
- Primary factor 1770 m
- Location: North 50.06023, West 115.20599 (GPS on the summit)
- Difficulty: YDS class 3
- Climbed August 14. 2018
Mount Harrison
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How to get there:
A point of reference (NW of Harrison) is the town Radium Hot Springs.
From here, go south on Hwy. 93 about 65 kilometer and locate Whiteswan Lake Forest Service Road
forking left at location N50.113, W115.767. Continue 32 kilometer from here, cross the river and
continue right, now on White River Forest Service Road.
After about 43 kilometer (from Hwy. 93), near location N50.18, W115.30, fork right and cross
the river. The road runs north next to the river, shortly near location N50.18, W115.28, fork
right onto Munroe Lake Road. Follow this road until you are near Munroe Lake and have driven
about 59 kilometer, turn left on Bull River Road, then after about 65 kilometer (from Hwy. 93)
turn right onto a much rougher road near N50.10, W115.10. Continue up and into the valley that
extends west. We drove to location N50.08627, W115.19005, where we camped. This is a good trailhead.
Route description:
First, follow a vague trail/route that will ascend into the upper
valley to the south-west. Aim for a waypoint at location
N50.07417, W115.21196, elevation about 2260 meter.
Comments:
We left our camp/car at 0700.
The terrain was quite reasonable as we hiked up the valley and to
the main col north-west of the summit near 2700 meter.
From here, still ok until we made the point on the ridge from where one needs
to traverse across the west face. This terrain is quite bad, steepish, loose rocks
and generally very unpleasant. When we got to the crux passage, Åke said that
he would not proceed any further. This made me explore a scramble bypass on the
upper side, slightly more rocks, but still unpleasant. We made it across and eventually
got into the broad gully where the quality of the terrain finally improved.
This boosted our morale and the prospects of getting to the summit looked much better.
Finally, we made the summit at 1300, it had been quite a struggle to get here.
When making an entry in the summit register, we noticed that it was almost
exactly one year since the previous ascent by Greg and Rob. Obviously, only
very dedicated peakbaggers will attempt this ugly mountain.
Good views all around. It was very clear that we were higher than most of
the surrounding mountains. We could see several forest fires from this
vantage point. We left at 1330, knowing that we had a rather unpleasant descent
to come.
Somehow, the descent went better than expected. In the crux area, I decided to follow
what is obviously the normal route. This went quite well, the trick is to stay
extremely close to the inside rock at all times. We were somhow also getting more
used to this bad, loose and steep traverse that seems almost never ending.
Finally, back on the good ridge, it was a relief to continue downhill and then
complete the hike out the valley. Back at the car by
1700, not bad and well before dark.
We still had a pretty long dirt road to drive, but this road stayed good for
most of the distance. We forked left (near N49.69, W115.17, onto Sulphur Creek Road)
and made it across (on a considerably
smaller road) to the town of Fernie. A well deserved dinner, then a good
night sleep.