SANGRIDA PEAK 2478m 8130’
Located about 5km south of Mista on the height of land between Arrow Lake and the Slocan drainages. Views of Spiers, Stanley, Airy, Old Glory, and the Mulvey Group.
Difficulty: C3
Elevation gain: 2480’
Key elevations: Park end Van Houten Rd 5650’; Summit 8130’
Distance:
Time: 4.5 hours up (the 1.5-hour descent was on skis)
Map: 82E/9 Burrell Creek, 82F/12 Passmore
Drive: From Nakusp, drive south on Hwy 6, and leave the pavement at Fauquier on Applegrove Road for 22.5km. Turn left on Van Houten Road and drive to 5650’ – 262023 at the road’s end.
Route: Follow the south fork of Van Houten Creek, and cross an east-west strip of cut block. Ascend steep, tight timber to reach an open basin at 6300’. Go up a fairly steep couloir to reach a 6950’ col on Sangrida’s west ridge 260010. The final 1200’ goes up a gentle, open slope of the ridge and SW face and then a mostly level summit crest to the high point on the southeast.
SANGRIDA PEAK 2472m 8110’ by Kim Kratky
Maps Passmore 82F/12 & Burrell Creek 82E/9
On Saturday, May 15th, our party of four made a ski attempt on this remote Valkyr Range summit on the height of land between Arrow Lakes and the Slocan Valley.
Road access was as follows: travel Koch Creek road for 9.2km; turn left onto Grizzly road and re-set odometer; at km. 4.8, go right onto Greasybill road; at km. 9.3, bear right onto the west side of Greasybill; cross Greasybill Creek; and immediately follow signed GB 200 up and right. This last spur is 4WD high-clearance; the rest is 2WD. We were able to drive the spur 1.5 km. to 4,940’ before reaching snow (GR 305- 955), but the road goes northwest another km. or so up an unnamed drainage.
Starting at 9:20, we skinned up the road to its end and continued northwest through glazed timber beside the unnamed creek. We continued north to a col at 283-970 (GPSed at 7200’) and then traversed part of the basin at the headwaters of North Greasybill Creek intending to reach the south base of Sangrida. However, snow conditions in this basin were hazardous with lots of sloughing on maybe 20 cm. of heavy, new snow; as well, we reached a point where we would have to descend further to avoid cliff bands. So, after 3 hrs. 40 min., we beat a discrete retreat. Retracing our tracks, we endured a glue-like, but safe, descent from the 7200’ col. Farther down in the trees, the skiing was actually quite acceptable.
We reached the truck at 3:05 to complete a 5 hr. 45 min. day, which my colleagues graded a “D” for ski conditions. Our estimate was 1 ¾ to 2 hours to the summit from our turn-back point; that means at least a 9-hour day. We look forward to a second attempt this spring.
On the trip: Pete Holton, Shannon Naylor, Howie Ridge, Kim Kratky, coordinator
Kim Kratky
SANGRIDA PEAK 8130’ 2478 m. May 16 by Kim Kratky
Sangrida, a Valkyrs peak, is located about 5 km. south of Mista on the height of land between the Arrow Lakes and Slocan drainages. The 1971 edition of Interior Ranges describes it as, “between Van Houten and Hutchison Creeks, at the head of N. Greasybill Creek.”
Having made two unsuccessful forays from the eastern, or Greasybill, side (one on skis, one on foot), Howie Ridge and I made a recce from the west via Burton and Applegrove in October 2005 and found we were able to drive to 5650’ (GR 262-023) at the end of the Van Houten Creek logging road. This point is about 2.5 km. northwest of Sangrida gave us a clear view of the peak and the thought that we could make a straightforward ski ascent of our goal.
At about 6:15 am on Tuesday, May 16th, four of us (myself, Howie, Toby, and Kyle Ridge) left Nelson bent on a day trip ascent of Sangrida. Travelling via Nakusp, we continued south on Hwy. #6, left the pavement at Fauquier, motored south on Applegrove Road, and joined Van Houten Road at km. 22.5, and drove it a further 7.3 km. to a point where we were stopped at a bridge by snow on the road (4370’).
After a four-hour drive, we put on skis and headed out at 10:25 on a gloriously sunny day. Within minutes, we ran out of snow on the road and carried our skis for 20 min. Skis back on, we continued to the road’s end in 90 min. from the truck. Then, following the south fork of Van Houten Creek, we skinned up through light timber, crossed an east-west strip of cut block, and ascended south through steep, tight timber to reach an open basin at 6300’. With Toby now breaking trail, we skinned up a fairly steep couloir to reach a 6950’ col on Sangrida’s west ridge (GR 260-010). So far, all had gone as envisioned back in October, although the heat on this mid-May day was draining. The final 1200’ to Sangrida’s summit found us dodging some bare rock as we plodded up the gentle, open slope of its west ridge/southwest face and then continued along the mostly level summit crest to the highest point on the southeast.
By now it was 2:55 pm (4 hrs. 20 min. up), but the snow was still decent—not at all mushy. Howie made a GPS calculation of our elevation, and we settled down for a late lunch. During our 40 min. stay, we enjoyed views of Spiers, Airy, Stanley, Old Glory, and the Mulvey Group from an unaccustomed angle, all the while commenting on the flawless weather. Some systems producing rain could be seen in the Monashees, but these never moved east of the Arrow Lakes.
For the descent, we re-traced our ascent route, covering the upper portion with skins on to avoid the rocks. From the 6950’ col, we skied north-aspect couloirs singly in good spring conditions. Farther down in the basin, Toby and Kyle put on a Powder Eights exhibition in gluey snow. Fortunately, we avoided the steep timber section by locating an avalanche chute to the skier’s right that took us on good snow right down to the strip cut block. From this point, it was just a matter of schussing down the road to our truck, which we reached at 5:00 pm. That gave us a 1 hr. 35 min. descent from the summit and a total day of just over 6 ½ hours.
The long drive home yielded the obligatory stop for burgers at The Hut in Nakusp and an arrival in Nelson at 10:00. We concurred that even a few days later this trip could not have been done completely on skis, as the upper portions of Sangrida would have melted off to bare rock.
Kim Kratky
