Drive
to Sol Mountain Resort. From Revelstoke, take Highway 23; just before
the ferry, locate the Shelter Bay Forestry Road. Drive this gravel road
to the 30-km marker, then turn right onto the resort's access road,
287835; continue for 1.3 kilometers and turn right again, 281843. At
200885, go left and climb switchbacks; a bit further, go left again at
187886; continue to the parking area, 165887. This is a long, rugged
road in remote wilderness with no cell service; be prepared. Note: when
the resort is open, you may need to park outside of their fenced
parking area.
The approach to Twin Peaks Lakes is straightforward. Walk to the resort, locate the trail,
and follow it to the Bill Fraser Lake junction. Continue on the "Banana
Belt" trail, which ascends to the saddle between Mount Baldur and Sol
Mountain; from there, follow the crude trail due west. Shortly after a
small, seasonal tarn, a buttress bars the way. A cairned trail circumvents the
buttress on its south side until it reaches very steep, treed terrain
which impedes the traverse to lakes; at this point, climb
the south-facing slopes to gain the broad ridge, 122877. Once on the
ridge, you need to lose some height to reach the terrain that delivers
to the lakes; drop down steep grassy slopes among sparse trees (see pictures on the TwinPeaks page) and make your way to the easternmost lake. The traverse
stays above an interesting small lake hung on a shelf.
From Twin Peaks Lakes' outlet, options include climbing Sol Mountain,
then traversing to the objective or hiking to the westmost Twin Peaks
Lake and ascending from there; we chose the latter. We hiked the south
side of the lakes; the snow made travel easy. After crossing the lake's
outlet, 102874, we climbed the south slopes to the ridge; the rest was
a walk up.
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Thin overnight ice on the lake.
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Retracing yesterday's exit from the western peak of Twin Peaks.
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Heading to the crossing at the lake's outlet.
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Hike:
RT 6.75 (includes Sol Mountain); 2.0 up from camp. We woke to a
bluebird day and took some time to make hot drinks before heading out
to Pride Rock. The plan was to retrace yesterday's exit from the second
peak of Twin Peaks and aim for the crossing at the westmost Twin Peaks
Lake that we had scoped out. At the crossing, we took off our boots and
started wading across in the frigid water. This calf-deep crossing was
brief and easy, but by the time we reached the other side, our ankles
were painfully frozen. Now at the base of Pride Rock, we ascended the
snow slopes, where possible, to gain the broad ridge. The last stretch
to the top was gentle, on vast slopes covered with low-growing plants;
the ascent was very pleasant. The view didn't disappoint, and the
aesthetic traverse to Sol Mountain appeared straightforward. We didn't
stay too long before heading down, as we planned to do the traverse to
Sol for a 3-peak weekend, and we had to hike out. This objective was
delightfully easy.
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Short crossing but frigid enough to freeze our ankles.
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We're aiming for a snow sliver that trends climber's left.
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Easy peasy.
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Looking back towards Mount Baldur.
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Nearing the ridge.
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Twin Peaks on the other side of the lakes.
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On the ridge.
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The park-like walk to the summit.
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At the top with Mount Severide beyond Twin Peaks.
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To the east, the traverse to Sol Mountain with Mount Baldur in the background.
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Beyond Goat Mountain, to the west, Sugar Mountain and its lookout are visible.
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Mount Odin and Mount Burnham.
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Heading to Sol Mountain.
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Continue on to Sol Mountain
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| Back
to home page
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