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 Pride Rock, backtrack to Sol Mountain’s connecting ridge. Follow
the ridge crest to the objective. There are minor dips along the way,
and the scrambling is easy. The challenge is
route-finding back to the lake; numerous bluffs exist, and the way down
is short-sighted. I suggest studying the terrain from the lake to avoid
getting cliffed out on the way down. It is also possible to ascend the west ridge without going to the lakes.
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Leaving
Pride Rock and heading to Sol Mountain.
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Looking
back at Pride Rock's gentle ascent.
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Making
good progress. |
Scramble:
RT 6.75 (includes Pride Rock); 1.0 up from Pride Rock. From Pride
Rock, it made sense to continue along the aesthetic ridge and include
Sol Mountain in our weekend tally. The ridge appeared straightforward
and offered an alternate descent to our camp at the lake. The traverse
was indeed uncomplicated with some easy scrambling. We enjoyed the view
at the top briefly before our return to camp. The descent required
route-finding as the south slopes are interrupted by bluffs. We lucked
out on the way down; we followed the ridge for a short distance, then
went down and managed to find the only break we could see in the lower
rockband. Maybe we came down too far along the ridge, which complicated
the route; our way is hard to explain and could be difficult to
duplicate. I suggest studying a descent line from the lake with great
care. Once back at our tent, we packed our gear and grabbed a bite
before heading home. We basically backtracked, except that when we
reached the broad ridge after climbing the steep grassy slope, we
decided to continue towards the trail instead of circumventing the
buttress as we did on the way up. This worked okay, but we still had to
go around a minor rockband, and find a way down steep, treed terrain.
Back on the trail, we hiked in autopilot mode until we got to the
truck. The drive down to civilisation was stressful, but thankfully
uneventful. All in all, this was a superb weekend.
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Easy
scrambling.
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Last
stretch.
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Summit
ahead.
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Looking
back, the connecting ridge is short and simple.
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At
the top.
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Twin
Peaks and Twin Peaks Lakes.
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Leaving
the top.
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Following
snow along the ridge for a short distance.
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The
descent to the lake is short-sighted.
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Lucky
break in the bluffs.
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We
came down somewhere near the arrow.
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Heading
out from the lake, we aimed for the arrow.
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Last
glimpse at Sol Mountain, notice how the bluffs bar the way down from
the ridge.
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While
continuing along the broad ridge towards the approach trail, we
circumvented minor bluffs skier's left.
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Looking
back at the bluffs.
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Almost
at the base of the bluffs.
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The
arrows indicate our route out from the lakes; on the way in to Twin Peaks, we
circumvented the bluffs climber's left (red arrow).
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Making
our way to the saddle, where the good trail awaits.
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to home page |
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