LONG MOUNTAIN 2640m
This summit is on the Keen Creek-Silverton Creek divide, just north of the park and southwest of Mount Carlyle. The south summit is higher.
Difficulty: D2 challenging
Elevation gain:
Key elevations: Summit 2367 m
Distance:
Time:
Season: Mid-July to August
Access: Poor 4WD for 2 km.
Map: 82F/14 Slocan
1. South Ridge.
Drive: From Silverton, drive up the Silverton Creek FSR – 4WD in the last 2 km.
Route: Ascend through logging slash, a snow gully and loose rock to the south ridge, part of which is an impressive granite slab. A long route. (III,3,s).
FRA David Adams, Doug Ingram, Janice Isaac, Kim Kratky, Kevin Taylor, Fred Thiessen, 17/6/1979. The party descended a rock ridge to the west of the peak, that was much better than the ascent route.
2. West See Route 1, descent. A narrow, twisting ridge.
The ascent started at grid 852-263 with bushwhacking up to the west ridge, sometimes on slabs with vegetation. At 2100m, the ridge becomes narrow with gendarmes, cracks and ledges with vegetation, exposed. Near 2300m (about 865-257), traverse out onto the west face and climb Class 4 rock. Near the summit, move toward the north side of the west face and climb Class 4 slabs and blocks to the top.
To descend, retrace your route to a prominent notch in the west ridge (this is near the start of the scrambling as you descend, or near the end of the scrambling as you ascend). Rappel down a steep wall to the north from a large tooth on the ridge (sling). Go down Class 3 terrain to the talus slope and bushwhack out (better). (III,4).
FRA Doug Brown, Sandra McGuinness, 21/8/2010.
IT’S A LONG WAY HOME: CLIMBING THE WEST RICGE OF LONG MOUNTAIN by Sandra McGuiness
At 2367 metres, Long Mountain isn’t a big mountain, but what it lacks in height, it makes up in length, covering almost 3 km of north-south running ridgelines festooned with gendarmes and spires. The only recorded climbing route is via the long south ridge. For a few years, Doug and I had been looking at climbing the long west ridge, a narrow, twisting ridge that runs west down to Silverton Creek and merges into the west face near the summit. But, it was 2010 before we eventually got up the courage to brave the lengthy 1000-metre bushwhack that would take us up the west ridge.
Unfortunately, Silverton Creek FSR has an impassable landslip at km 9, which lengthens this already long day.
At 7.45 on August 21, 2010, Doug and I set off hiking up Silverton Creek FSR to the base of the west ridge. The west ridge doesn’t become a ridge until about 1900 metres (6,300 feet), so a GPS is helpful to find the start. Particularly as the upper reaches of Silverton Creek FSR are covered by head-high alder and you can’t see anything anyway. After taking a couple of GPS readings at a couple of locations shy of the base of the ridge, we found ourselves on the south side of the creek that drains the basin immediately of the west ridge and could no longer delay the inevitable bushwhack.
Plunging into the bush at 8.15 am, we immediately, on Go with head high rhododendrons growing between thick stands of slippery, green herbaceous vegetation, most of which seemed to contain nasty spikes interspersed with a few spruce and pine trees which were similarly well-armed. We cursed, struggled and thrutched our way up this for about 70 metres until we entered an older forest, note I say older, not old growth because this forest was only marginally less thick than the cutblock. The same head-high rhododendron, the same devil’s club and gooseberry, but added to the mix – for extra enjoyment – was a dense carpet of incredibly slippery pine needles. Thrutching our way up, I frequently found myself sliding back down the slope the way my breakfast egg slides off my Teflon fry pan. After an hour, we had managed to gain perhaps 250 metres of elevation, and had noticed no perceptible thinning of the forest, perhaps higher we thought. Pushing on, near 1900 metres, the ridge begins to appear as do lots of large boulders and small cliffs. Interesting fourth class climbing up this section, with some strenuous and tenuous moves up slabs covered with slippery pine needles, the crux sections of which, almost inevitably featured thick rhododendron or spreading – and usually dead – trees to make the climbing spicier. As I scrabbled up, I couldn’t help but think, “I hope I don’t have to reverse these moves”.
At about 2100 metres, the ridge becomes narrow and gendarmed, but, unfortunately, the rhododendron, shrubs, and, small trees – live and dead – don’t give up. For what seemed like hours, but was probably about 300 vertical metres, we worked our way up and down gendarmes, climbing slabs and cracks, traversing narrow ledges, fighting with rhododendron and dead pines on the crux sections, clearing small holds of slippery pine needles, and kicking off loose rocks. How long could this go on? Eventually, at about 1.00 pm, we got onto an easier section of the ridge and were dismayed to find ourselves still 300 vertical metres from the summit. We still had a long way to go. In the interests of expediency, we traversed off the west ridge onto the west face and finally escaped the tentacles of bush. Scrambling up the west face – thinking “What will this be like if it rains” – up slabs, boulders, and short steps, we could see the remnants of the west ridge to our left still covered with long-lasting scrub and rhododendron.
Higher up, the west ridge merges with the west face and we continued scrambling up, a mix of fourth and third-class terrain. The summit block is a steep, black-lichened jumble of boulders and bluffs, but we found a fourth-class route up, and a long time after setting out (5.25 hours), we eventually hauled ourselves onto the surprisingly flat and spacious summit.
With storm clouds massing to the west, and rain already over the Valhallas, our first thought was “Is there an easier way off?” followed by “How long do we have before it starts raining?” Regrettably, no easy escape route presented itself. The north ridge looked overhanging, the south ridge looked long and festooned with its own series of gendarmes, and the direct west face descent looked just plain nasty, it seemed as if we would have to retrace our steps. We carefully down climbed the west face, a slip here would mean a long, but fast descent, not the sort we were after. Back on the west ridge, we down-climbed to a prominent notch. Peering over the north side, it looked as if one long single-rope rappel would get us down the long steep wall below and into a gully which appeared to lead out to easy talus slopes in the basin immediately north of the west ridge. While I slung a huge tooth on the ridge, Doug dropped the rope down confirming that a single rope rappel would reach, and quickly threading the sling, we dropped the rope down and rappelled off. A short 40-metre down climb from the end of the rappel, put us out into a talus field, with all the technical terrain behind us.
It was still a long walk down, we got enmeshed in an avalanche slope for a couple of hundred metres in between boulder fields, and the bushwhack down was no better than the bushwhack up. I kept looking at my altimeter watch to see how much elevation we had to lose and it constantly looked like a long way. But, we did eventually stumble out onto Silverton Creek FSR and hobbled down the road back to the truck with sore knees and sore feet. I’d completely shredded my climbing pants on the route, and they were hanging in tatters about my legs. My arms were similarly flayed, and I looked as if I had been dragged through the proverbial privet bush (or slide alder patch) backward. But, we had climbed Long Mountain, possibly by a new route.
Route notes: Drive Silverton FSR to the landslip and park. Hike up the road for a couple of kilometres to reach the base of the west ridge – a GPS helps. We started up at GR852263 (NAD27). Expect lots of fourth class scrambling along the west ridge with exposure. Near 2300 metres (about GR865257, NAD27) traverse out onto the west face and climb fourth-class terrain up towards the summit. Near the summit, move towards the north side of the west face and make some fourth-class moves up slabs and blocks to reach the summit.
To descend, retrace your route to a prominent notch on the west ridge, this is near the start of the fourth class scrambling as you descend (or near the end of the fourth class scrambling as you ascend). Rappel down a steep wall to the north from a large tooth on the ridge (sling anchor). Scramble class three terrain down to the talus slope below and bushwhack out.
Sandra McGuiness
