Valemount residents Braden Hutchins and Gord Peters attempted a mid-fall summit of Swift Mountain last weekend. The SUV made it up just fine, except for the last two kilometres which were very steep and rocky, Peters says. From there, the pair hiked up a brutally steep and hard-to-follow trail until they got to a boulder field with patchy snow. The summit was in sight, so they pushed on through the treacherous terrain. They finally got to the summit ridge, only to see the true summit maybe 200 feet away, across a snow-covered ridge. Peters says common sense kicked in and they decided not to attempt it. Even so, their elevation gain was 800m or 2600 feet.
Peters said the views in every direction were spectacular. They could see Mt. McKirdy, Canoe, the Cariboo Range, Robson, Resplendent. Peters says he thinks he even spotted Mt Edith Cavell through the clouds. “I’m going to hurt tomorrow, but it was so, so worth it!” he said.
Photos: Gord Peters and Braden Hutchins
