Mount Bor
Mount Bor lies on crenelated ridge
north of Black Prince (unmarked on NTS 82F13) and, on the map, has
the appearance of a couple of bat ears with a slightly higher (8
metres) southwestern peak, while the lower northeastern peak sports
the name on mapsheet 82F13. In late June 2007, three of us climbed
the higher southwestern peak as a day trip from the Drinnon Lake
trailhead. For many years, I'd been intending to go back and tag the
lower northeastern peak, but time, conditions and other constraints
delayed my return by five years.
In late July, 2012, in a brief period
of clear weather between massive rain events, three of us again hiked
into Gwillim Lakes on the well-maintained BC Parks trail. The
campground at Gwillim was either under water or under snow and
completely deserted - apart from marmots. After a quick break we
crossed the two outlet creeks from Gwillim Lakes on a solid
snowbridge (first) and wet rocks (second). On the north side of the
lakes, a rough trail leads up to the upper Gwillim Lakes and is most
commonly used by scramblers heading for the south ridge of Lucifer
Peak. We followed this trail to the upper basin, then some boulder
hopping for 60 metres or so led to nice solid snow that took good
steps all the way to the Black Prince-Lucifer col.
Heading up to the Lucifer-Black Prince col
On the north side, after a quick easy
snow descent of perhaps 180 metres, we found a relatively level
gravel/slab platform beside a creek and made camp. The weather was
somewhat gloomy but no thunderstorms seemed imminent so we headed up
towards Mount Bor. The only guidebook for the area, has one recorded
route which makes no sense "walk up the east face, use the
northeast ridge at the top." The east face, however, is clearly
not a "walk" and there is no "northeast ridge".
So, as is usual in this part of the Kootenays, the best thing to do
is ignore the guidebook description and work out your own route.
Alanna not only wanted to climb a snow
couloir that led to the west ridge but also wanted to kick all the
steps. Both Doug and I are only too happy to let the youngsters do
the hard work so quickly agreed and we all hiked up easy snow slopes
to the base of the couloir where Alanna, panting like a happy puppy,
behind me, asked "May I?" "Of course," said I,
graciously relinquishing the step kicking.
We climbed the couloir on the left
Alanna blasted up the couloir to the
ridge while Doug and I were merely sucked behind in her wake. The
west ridge is rather loose, and has two towers of shattered rock
perhaps 70 metres apart. The easiest route follows the ridge for a
short distance - one class 3/4 step - then traverses on ledges on the
south side below the first shattered tower until it is easy to
scramble to the top. On top of the first tower, the second tower
looks higher (both towers have cairns) and contains the summit
register, so undoubtedly, like us, you'll feel the need to climb it
too. The easiest route to the second tower is to scramble along
ledges on the south side to the base of the final tower, then pick a
line and climb to the top - another short section of class 3/4.
Ledges on Mount Bor
We hung out on the second summit until
the cold wind chased us down. We toyed with the idea of descending
the west ridge to the col between the northeastern and southwestern
summits of Bor, but the short descent from the col to snow slopes
below looked desperately loose so we decided to climb back down the
couloir. Although we had to face in, with Alanna's super steps, this
was quickly achieved and we boot-skied back to camp.
Our campsite, while scenic was quite
cold with katabatic winds blowing down from the snowfields above us
so we were all snug in our tents soon after dinner.
Alanna dwarfed by the big cliffs near camp
Urd Peak
Next day we got up at 6 am, and left
camp just after 7.00 am for the long walk to Urd Peak. Heading
slightly north from camp we descended classic glacier polished slabs
weaving our way between snowpatches, short steps and wet slabs until
a good snow slope led all the way down to Rocky Lakes some 300 metres
below. We passed around the eastern side of Rocky Lakes so we did
not need to contend with the outlet stream and wandered on a pleasant
mixture of firm snow and meadow to the larger Hird Lake. We took a
chance and passed Hird Lake on the east finding a good log jam
crossing of the outlet stream. Beyond Hird Lake, we wandered a short
distance through an avalanche decimated forest of knocked down and
flag trees until a grassy slope led up to a prominent snow ramp.
Contouring east on this snow ramp, we reached a snowy draw that led
up to a col below the west face of Urd Peak.
Alanna and Doug with Urd Peak still far in the distance
The guidebook description for Urd Peak
"a grassy slope walk from the west" is accurate enough
although it's a steep grassy walk and features more loose rock than
advertised. Nevertheless, it is easy and within half an hour of
leaving the col we were on the summit, which sports a massive cairn
but no summit register. There is an interesting and somewhat
unfamiliar - as you are looking south instead of the more usual north
- view of the Devils Range from the summit as well as far reaching
views to the Monashees to the north and, closer in, the Valkyrs to
the west.
The Devils Range
Conscious of the distance we still had
to travel back to camp and back to the truck, we stayed only 30
minutes on the summit before retracing our steps back down to Hird
and Rocky Lakes. Climbing the 300 metres uphill to camp felt hot in
the sun, but, by the time we got to camp, grey clouds were billowing
over Black Prince and we hastened to pack up the tents.
Alanna kicked another great swath of
steps up the snow slope to the Black Prince-Lucifer col and we
glissaded as much as possible on the route back down to Gwillim
Lakes. Our snow bridge had melted completely away so both outlet
creeks were crossed on wet rocks, and we blasted down to Warlock
Lake, back up to Drinnon Pass, and, over-taking what seemed like
hordes of day hikers, we made it out to the truck three hours after
leaving camp. Had I not been trying to keep up with iron-legs
Alanna, I suspect I would have gone much slower.
Doug and Alanna on the Black Prince-Lucifer col
Alanna had stashed three bottles of BC
apple cider in the creek and I downed mine in one large gulp. Doug,
who was driving, wisely refrained, as after a long day hiking with
not that much food I felt almost instantly tipsy. Driving back,
Alanna happily polished off two bottles in the back of our truck and
entertained us with stories of her various climbing exploits on the
way home.
Urd Peak from Rocky Lake
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