GLACIER VIEW PEAK 2760m 9055′
Located on Sawtooth Ridge, between Woodbury and Joker Creeks.
1. FRA Richard E. Plewman, before 1949, who climbed it many times, route unknown.
2. Northwest Ridge, Northwest Face. Contour south and west from the Woodbury Ascend a snow chute to the right (west) of the icefall of Woodbury Glacier and go up the glacier to the northwest ridge. Pass over two bumps on the ridge, and descend to a col (Class 4).
Scramble to the top over the northwest face. A summit of possibly equal height is due east. Time, 3.5 hours up, 2.5 hours return. Glacier (II, 4,s).
FRA Kim Kratky, Janice Isaac, 13/7/1986.
WEST TOWER
The highest point of Glacier View Peak is the second tower west of the pass at the head of the glacier. The party below also climbed the first tower (Class 4) from the pass.
1. North Face. Climb the right-hand side of the glacier (true left) to under the col between the towers. Go up loose and dirty terrain (Class 3-4) to the base of the frozen snow ramp. Climb the corner at the left of the ramp (one crampon and one hand on rock, one pick and one crampon on frozen snow) and then 35 metres to the col. Class 3 slabs (scree) lead to the top. Ice, Glacier (III,5.3,s).
FRA Doug Brown, Sandra McGuinness, Sept. 5, 2005.
This north-face route was the first ascent of the mountain. Also, see the approach just above, which was from the road’s end, making for a long climb.
From the original description: The climbs described above for Glacier View Peak do not lead to the highest summit.
Leave the trail to the Woodbury Cabin before the final switchbacks to the cabin and contour around the head of the valley, aiming for the rubble well below the toe of Woodbury Glacier. One should exit the trail opposite a large swampy meadow (911-157, above Wolf Cascade), but you can’t see this meadow until well above it. From the south end of the meadow, hike up to the west side of the toe of the glacier. Hike up the glacier aiming for a small col between the false summit to the west and the true summit. Some steep snow leads to a loose-looking ramp/slab system that leads to the col between the summits. There may be a bergshrund to cross and this section may require crampons, an ice axe and rope depending on conditions. Once on the col, weave your way up scree-covered slabs to the summit. May repel back to the glacier. Rope up as the Woodbury Glacier is full of crevasses.
A Long Day on GLACIER VIEW PEAK by Doug Brown
With the Woodbury trail finally reopened, Sandy and I climbed on Glacier View Peak as a day trip on September 5. Rough calculations led me to expect an 11-12 hour day, although I secretly hoped we’d do it in 10-11. I’m sure there is a good reason why I, a passionate morning hater, chose such a long day trip that required a savagely early morning rise – I just can’t think of it right now. The brain-addling bounce up the Woodbury Creek FSR enhanced my early morning nausea to the point where eating breakfast was not possible, so when we hit the trail at 6:40 I was once again forced to seriously doubt my sanity.
The trail was initially in good shape, however, once we entered the burned area, the extra sun afforded by the killed trees and the lack of hikers for the last 2 years had allowed the green vegetation to take over the trail. There was heavy dew the night before (isn’t there always?), so we were thoroughly drenched in no time. Despite the soaking, and accompanying whining, we made good time on the trail, and after two hours of marching, the trail was clearly on the final approach to the Woodbury hut, and heading the wrong way for us.
After a snack, we left the trail and headed cross-country trying to preserve our elevation by contouring around the head of the valley aiming for the rubble well below the toe of the Woodbury Glacier. The bush, wet and greasy vegetation, and small bluffs soon convinced us to take our lumps and descend a hundred or so metres to a flat meadow that afforded much easier travel. Anyone who follows us should attempt to leave the trail when opposite the large swampy meadow centred at 911157 (NAD83); the difficulty is that you can’t see this meadow from the trail until you are well above it. From the south end of the meadow, we made our way up the standard glacier excrement of talus, dirt, scree-covered slabs, and general close to the toe of the glacier.
It was easiest to gain and ascend the glacier on its far west side. We strapped on crampons and started up the blue ice of the toe, but in a very short distance, we encountered frozen fern snow and were forced to whip out the rope. The only route described in The Climber’s Guide to The Columbia Mountains of Canada is Kim and Janice’s Northwest Ridge – Northwest Face route. Their description mentions a peak of nearly equal height to the east. I checked with BC Basemap, and spot elevations indicated that the peak to the east is 8 metres higher, so I believe that the route description in the guidebook directs you to a peak that is not the highest point of Glacier View – and it would be a non-trivial exercise to get along the ridge between these two peaks. With this analysis in mind, I studied a photograph and various maps, and convinced myself that I had identified the tower that is the true summit; a march to the head of the glacier would take you to the broad and gentle-looking east ridge. And so our route was chosen.
We followed a route mostly on the (climber’s) right-hand side of the glacier on frozen snow up to 35-40 degrees. The ambitious could bring two tools and pick a line up the middle of the glacier that would provide steeper hard snow (to 50 degrees maybe) that I think would compare favourably with the popular north glacier route on Mount Aberdeen in the Lake Louise group. With a modicum of weaving and probing (the glacier is moderately crevassed), we reached the pass at the head of the glacier. We started up the east ridge enjoying 3 rd class scrambling on good rock. But soon we were struggling a bit on some exposed fourth-class terrain that was not part of the plan and had us questioning our decision to leave the rope at the pass. After a few backtracks and a move out onto the NE face, we did manage to get ourselves to the top.
Unfortunately, it was very clear that the next tower to the west was higher. The route along the ridge to that higher point was festooned with several nasty gendarmes which would have been at least mid-fifth class; the lingering bits of fresh snow were keeping the lichen wet in places, so we weren’t tempted to try the traverse ropeless. So much for all my careful planning. Our only option was to descend to the glacier, traverse around the north side to under the summit proper, and hope to find a way back up the north face. It was now after lunch, and we had a long way to go before we slept that night, and thus weren’t feeling too optimistic as we roped up on the glacier again. Once we walked around to under the wee col between the true summit and the summit we had just climbed, one option did present itself: some loose-looking ramps and slabs that appeared to lead up to a snow and ice-covered ramp that might take one to the desired col. We short-roped our way up some rather loose and dirty terrain (class 3-4) to the base of the frozen snow ramp. Here Sandy gave me a belay and I headed off up a rather entertaining corner at the left-hand side of the snow ramp: one crampon and one hand on rock, one pick and one crampon on frozen snow. Enjoying the climbing again, I ran out 35 m of rope to the col, and Sandy quickly followed. It was a quick jaunt up the solid but scree-covered class 3 slabs to the top.
After quickly assuring ourselves that we were higher than all the other adjacent towers and that the geography matched the view that Basemap predicted from the summit, I snapped some quick pictures and we started our long descent.
We quickly down-climbed to the col, and in recognition of our mounting fatigue and the looseness of the rock, we did two 30 m. raps to get off the rock and onto the glacier at a point where the bergschrund was well bridged. After a quick nip down the glacier, and a stagger down the talus, it was less than two hours march back to the truck.
Round trip was completed in 12 hours, but a strong party could easily take two hours off that time if they knew where they were going, and limited themselves to only the highest peak.
Doug Brown.
