Drive
on highway 6 to Cherryville. At Frank's General Store, turn left on
Sugar Lake Road. Follow this road for about 65 kilometers to the
Monashee Powdercats Lodge turn-off, 046202; continue on this road to
the lodge, 026190. A trail to Mirror Lake exists, but due to snow
cover, we made our way described as follows. From the lodge,
hike west on the service road for approx. 70 meters, then veer left on
the ATV road, 024190. That leads to the lodge's water intake, 020191.
From there, we bushwhacked in a south-west direction for a short
distance before ascending towards a saddle indicating Mirror Lake's
drainage. Once at the lake, we headed west and climbed the headwall;
then, we travelled to the foot of the mountain and climbed the
south-east ridge to gain the first summit. The traverse to the second
summit is straightforward. We
came down steep snow slopes from the saddle between the two peaks.
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Tsuius
hiking trail map.
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Monashee
Powder Snowcats Lodge.
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Scramble:
RT: 9.0; 5.0 up. Following our previous visit to
Mirror Peak a couple of weeks ago, we had a good idea of the route we
would take for this objective. We were hoping the snow cover on the
approach to Mirror Lake hadn't melted too much as we planned to forgo
the trail and go the same way we had travelled. We got an
earlier start
than the last time and hiked the ATV road to the lodge's water
intake. Then, we roughly followed the drainage on its left;
luckily, the snow cover had
only receded slightly. We reached Mirror Lake in about half the
time of our previous visit. From there, we executed a climbing traverse
via the steep snow slopes
at the back of the lake.
Once at the foot of Tsuius Mountain, we opted to ascend the south-east
ridge to the
first of the double summits, then traverse to the second summit. Before
gaining the ridge, we climbed a steep snow slope; Milan led the pitch
kicking nice "buckets" for me. Then we
scrambled to the first peak; a couple of sections offer excitement but
never exceed easy scrambling. The weather was amazing; we traversed
to the second summit while enjoying the view. At the top, we took our
boots off and lazed on the helipad. We took advantage of the
long days of summer and relished in the moment of standing atop such a
wonderful Monashee peak. The descent was thrilling; Milan got to
experience the use of crampons and travel techniques on steep snow. It
was a joy to share my experience and passion for the mountains.
Tsuius Mountain is a very nice objective for scramblers wanting to
tackle straightforward snow travel.
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Veering
left onto the ATV trail.
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The
lodge's water intake.
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Bushwhacking
to Mirror Lake's drainage.
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Aiming
for the saddle ahead.
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Ascending
Mirror Lake's drainage.
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I
love the colour of meltwater on ice.
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Mirror
Lake and Tsuius Mountain.
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Climbing
traverse on the snow slopes at the back of the lake.
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Reaching
the rim of Mirror Lake's headwall.
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Making
our way to the foot of the mountain.
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Tsuius
Mountain's double summits.
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Looking
back at Mirror Peak (center) and Cross Over Mountain on its left.
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Climbing
to Tsuius' south-east ridge.
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The
pitch steepens as we crest over the ridge.
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A
nice walk on snow precedes the first summit.
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Easy
scrambling interrupts the snow walk.
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Looking
back.
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Atop
the first summit with the second peak in sight.
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Traversing
to the second summit.
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On
the helipad of Tsuius Mountain, whoot whoot!
Picture courtesy of Milan Kubik.
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To
the north, Joss Mountain stands directly behind East Tsuius Peak.
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The
north-eastern view includes Revelstoke's Mount Begbie.
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Looking
south-east along the traverse to the first summit.
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Blanket
Mountain (left) and Cranberry Mountain to the right.
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Choosing
an alternate descent route from the saddle between the two summits.
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The
snow slope coming off the ridge is steep.
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Exercising
a short traverse to avoid rocks below.
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Looking
back towards the saddle.
Picture courtesy of Milan Kubik.
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The
terrain is too steep and firm for safe glissading.
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Looking at the lower slopes with Mirror Peak in front of us.
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Back
on flatter ground.
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Backtracking
to Mirror Lake below.
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Dipping
down Mirror Lake's drainage with the lodge in sight.
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Re-entering
the forest.
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