West Bearjack 3.10.08

I was hoping the recent nice weather would hold out for one more day. I was able to hit the road by 0600 with some light rain. I expected the day to degrade into some heavy rain so I wasn't optimistic for a great deal of success. I parked opposite the Jack Creek Road and was off. The goal for the day was West Bearjack Peak which ranks a lowly 100 on the B/C 100. From the onset the rain was only building as I plodded the 3.5 miles to my jump-off point. The road was packed solid from heavy snowmobile traffic so I just booted it. I found a logging road not on my map just before I was going to leave the main line. I scouted it out until it ended. I could see a nice open but steep route above me to connect with the ridge that I wanted. I had to drop and do a tedious creek crossing to access this route. I climbed about a 100' and switched to snowshoes. I easily reached the ridge and had a enjoyable ascent. I had a few rock outcropping to negotiate.

Soon I reached the main ridge with some views of what turned out to be a false summit.

The ridge was open and easy and soon I was a the base of the false summit.

Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:47 pm West Bearjack Peak 3-10-08






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TOPO!mapW Bearjack





I was hoping the recent nice weather would hold out for one more day. I was able to hit the road by 0600 with some light rain. I expected the day to degrade into some heavy rain so I wasn't optimistic for a great deal of success. I parked opposite the Jack Creek Road and was off. The goal for the day was West Bearjack Peak which ranks a lowly 100 on the B/C 100. From the onset the rain was only building as I plodded the 3.5 miles to my jump-off point. The road was packed solid from heavy snowmobile traffic so I just booted it. I found a logging road not on my map just before I was going to leave the main line. I scouted it out until it ended. I could see a nice open but steep route above me to connect with the ridge that I wanted. I had to drop and do a tedious creek crossing to access this route. I climbed about a 100' and switched to snowshoes. I easily reached the ridge and had a enjoyable ascent. I had a few rock outcropping to negotiate.

















100_1973

100_1974

100_1975

100_1976





Soon I reached the main ridge with some views of what turned out to be a false summit.


The ridge was open and easy and soon I was a the base of the false summit.


As I crested I realized that it wasn't the true summit which I had felt all along. I could see me route plainly in front of me. I dumped my pack and switched back to just boots.

The ridge narrowed and had a small tricky portion but nothing of too much bother. I reentered the forest and made my way to the true summit which lies furthest West. The weather turned to a nice sunny day and became quiet warm. The views were very nice and I snapped some quick picture.

The route back was easy and I soon I was making over the false summit.

I reached my pack and had to break out the sunscreen and sunglasses! I was surprised the weather had improved I had fully expected the rain to strengthen as the day went on. I intended on following the ridge to reach East Bearjack but I really didn't have the time. The descent was made more enjoyable by my snowshoe breaking a hinge and then postholing and having my foot wedged. I was forced to use my ice axe to dig my foot out. After what seemed like an eternity I extricated my foot. I stayed on the ridge instead of following my up route and I regained the road without having to do another unpleasant creek crossing. The road out seemed much longer but eventually I made it to the car.




Approx 11 miles 2100ft of climb 6 hours car to car