GOLD RANGE
The entire Monashee Range was once called the Gold Range, but the name is now limited to the mountains just west of the Columbia River and Upper Arrow Lake, south of the TransCanada Highway (Eagle Pass) and north of the Whatshan Range (the 900m pass connecting Sitkum Creek (into Sugar Lake) with South Fosthall Creek (into Upper Arrow Lake).
The highest summit of the Gold Range, Mount Odin (2970m), is visible from Highway 23 north of Nakusp. In the highest uplift of the group, four large ridges branch east from the watershed. These are the ridge of Hughes Peak, the ridge east of Gates Peak, the spectacular Thor-Niflheim massif (Stegosaurus Ridge), and to the south the Odin-Grady-Burnham ridge.
South of the uplift, the mountains are lower and less alpine. Blanket Mtn., Cranberry Mtn. and Mount Odin support large ice fields and glaciers. Approaches below the tree line are difficult because of the jungle of undergrowth.
Good rock climbing on gneiss (pronounced “nice”) and granite is in the southern Gold Range and Mt Begbie in the north. The rocks of the Gold Range are much older than the Valhallas at 2.1 billion years, among the oldest in North America. Gneiss often resembles granite to the untrained eye.
Access & Approaches
Traverses & Camps
Hwy 1 – Three Valley Rd
Δ Mt English
Δ Davis Peak, Joss Mt & UN2670
Highway 23 Revelstoke to Shelter Bay
ΔM Mt Begbie
Δ Mt Tilley
Dry Ck Rd – Coursier Lake
Δ Blanket Mt
Δ Armstrong Pk
Δ Cranberry Mt, UN2692 & UN2580
Δ UN2610 & Ladybird Ridge
Δ Hughes Peak
Δ Gates Peak
Dry Ck Rd – Fostall Revelstoke Rd
Δ Tower Four & UN2730
ΔW,K Mt Thor
Δ Mt Sigurd & Mt Brynhild
Δ Mt Niflheim
Δ Kelly Peak & UN2670
Δ Mt Beorn & Spam Peak
Δ Frigg Tower
Δ Mjollnir Tower (Storm Tower)
Δ Mt Odin, Mts Hugin & Munin
Δ Saturday Pk
ΔK,B Mt Burnham
ΔK Mt Grady
Δ Laag Mt
Δ Mt Gunnarsen
B Backpacks Gold Range – Climbing Camps 2003 & 2006
Shelter Bay FSR – Limekiln Rd
Paint Lake Trail & Mt Symons
North Shuswap FSR – Sugar Eastside Rd
Monashee Provincial Park – Spectrum Lake & Peters Lake Trails
Δ Mt Fosthall
Δ Cariboo, Slate, Goat, Twin Peaks & Baldur Mts
Sitkum Lakes Trail
Δ Mt Sitkum & Goat Mt
