| Access Canal
Flats via its northern exit, Burns Ave or Grainger Road from the south.
At the east end of town, Burns Ave heads north and turns into Kootenay
Forest Government Road (gravel). Follow the service road along and past
Mount De Smet, look for a well-used secondary road that runs along Dry
Creek (indicated on the map), 932681. Dry Creek FSR is about 15 kilometers long with a height gain of
nearly 1,200 meters. Despite several side branch roads, it is easy to
stay on the proper service road as it works its way towards Fairmont
Mountain from the south-east; high clearance vehicle recommended. Park
at a small landing before the end of the road, 876727 and hike
on a skid road towards the drainage. From the drainage, veer climber's
right into treed terrain to gain the notched east ridge. Negotiating
the east ridge is a route finding challenge with moderately difficult
sections. At the summit block, we traversed on the
north aspect to gain the west ridge, avoiding difficult
scrambling.
A very short airy ridge
precedes the summit. |
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Our objective from Dry Creek FSR. |
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Parked at a landing. |
| Scramble: RT
7.0; 3.0 up from the landing. Fairmont Hot Springs is a popular
destination,
yet there's very little information available on the internet about
Fairmont Mountain. Surprisingly enough, Google Earth reveals
a forestry road that skirts the foot of the
mountain;
feeling lazy and tired, we planned a visit to Fairmont
hoping for a short scramble. Unsure of the condition of the access
road, we brought the ATV. The quad ride was comfortable and efficient,
knocking off 12.6 kilometers and 1,050 meters of height gain in 40
minutes. From the landing, our route to the ridge seemed easy;
after that, we would have to go and see... When we neared the east
ridge, we started looking for the path of least resistance around
several outcrops; just like last weekend on Glamorgan Peak. We
travelled mainly on the southern aspect but not exclusively, building
some cairns along the way. We encountered a couple of short sections
requiring hands-on scrambling on relatively exposed terrain but other
than that, getting to the summit block is mostly a route finding
exercise. We decided to avoid the scramble up the summit block from
the east; instead, we traversed on the north aspect and reached the
false summit from the west ridge. From there, the cairned summit is
very near. The connecting ridge is narrow, big rocks precariously
placed don't
encourage confidence. We carefully carried on and reached the top
feeling thrilled and partially relieved... still had to go
down...
We found a big 4" diameter
plastic pipe register (hard to miss) and spent some time reading
entries. We noticed a
familiar name, Ferenc had made the summit via the hot springs on west
side. That
made
us smile, we were pleased to see that some scramblers took interest in
the western Rockies. We didn't stay too long, we carefully
backtracked down the ridge and made it to the quad in good time. This
was an unexpected successful trip, we're delighted to share this nice
fall objective. |
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Ascending the
drainage and veering right into treed terrain. |
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Nearing the notched
east ridge. |
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Circumventing this
outcrop on the south side. |
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Skooting over on the
shady aspect to bypass the next outcrop. |
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Back on the sunny
side, we dropped down a little to negotiate the next obstacle. |
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Beyond the
obstacle, this upper bowl leads to the ridge crest. |
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Looking back. |
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Typical terrain on
the east ridge. |
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This outcrop
requires a couple of exposed moves near the top. |
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The summit
comes in view (left center). |
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Stint of hands-on. |
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Nearing the summit
block. |
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The summit block
appears difficult from here. |
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Going around instead
of tackling the summit block from the east. |
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Some snow on the
north side. |
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Reaching the false
summit from the west ridge, the true summit is at the far right. |
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Looking down the
west ridge with Columbia Lake below. |
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The short traverse
to the true summit is freaky! |
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Writing in the
register. |
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Looking south over
the Kootenay Valley. |
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Precarious moves on
the connecting ridge. |
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Superb october
weather. |
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Backtracking. |
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Careful at a narrow
section. |
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Exposed bit around
the outcrop. |
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Down the upper bowl. |
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Traversing towards
the ascent drainage. |
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Reaching the ascent
drainage. |
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A glimpse at where
we gained the broken east ridge. |
| Back
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