Gap Peak

 May 2006

 

Elevation: 2500m Gain: 1200m Difficulty level: Moderate
Ascent time: 4 hours  Total trip time: 3 hrs Conditions: Dry

Parking area: Baymag Plant #2 (1/2 km west from Grotto Pond parking on 1A)

 

     

At least based on the route description in the Book of Scrambles, we would never have considered doing Gap Peak since it shares the same approach as Mount Fable (ie. a world of pain). However, credit has to be given to Bob Spirko, who described this route, which literally halves the ascent time (or more!).  

 

 

 

ROUTE
Park the car at the gate to the quarry. From the gate, head directly north across the quarry and bushwhack up. While ascending, head in a slightly westerly (left) direction. 

You will eventually come to an opening where you will see a cliff face straight ahead (1). Head right to bypass the first cliff face and then you will have a painful grunt up a sharp incline until you reach a second cliff face. Follow along the second cliff face to the left, until you come across a bowl (2)

Climb up the scree-filled bowl until you access the ridge. This is probably the least pleasant part of the trip. 

On a previous late season attempt, snow gave us much better traction. 

Once on top, there is a long ridge which is quite enjoyable. We had been foiled on a previous late season attempt due to tons of snow on the ridge. However, on this occasion, the ridge was remarkably dry.

We were glad to bump into Kris Thorsteinsson who had brought up a personally handcrafted genuine PVC canister. For those who have experienced the frustration of summiting only to discover that a decades old registry book was destroyed after the old PVC canister was replaced by a white ACME canister; salvation is at hand!!

Now *this* is a cannister

Using the canine rating system (ie. no dog should be able to do a difficult scramble), this scramble is considered moderate.

Having said that, some scrambles might have to be re-rated. 
We did cheat a bit and brought GPS. It wasn't necessary on the way up, however, it did help when bushwhacking on the way back down. Using my elite navigation skills, I would have brought us out 2 km away from the car just like on the previous attempt. Oh well, better to be consistently wrong than inconsistent.

Short ascent with long ridge walk. All in all, quite an enjoyable scramble. Couldn't beat dry conditions, no wind and +20 C in early May. Definitely an improvement over our failed attempt due to snow last year.
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