HILDA PEAK 2639m 8658 ft
West of the head of Koch Creek, it’s the highest mountain in the Valkyr Range. Access is difficult as Lequereux is in between Hilda and any road.
If the Koch Creek approach is blocked, one can approach as for Hilda Peak, Route 4, from Nakusp, past Burton and past Fauquier (ferry point), a long drive. Also Route 3.
Difficulty:
Elevation gain:
Key elevations:
Distance:
Time: 8.5 hours round-trip
Map: 82F/13.Balfour
Drive: From Nelson or Castlegar. Hwy 3A è Hwy 6 – 15.6km è Upper Passmore Rd 13.2km è Junction Koch Ck and Little Slocan Lakes FSRs. Go straight on Koch Creek FSR.
Summary: Koch Creek FSR (Greasybill FSR left 9km, Watson Creek FSR right12km) è Dago Creek FSR left @21km è Branch 1 FSR right @22.6km è McKean Lakes 30.5km
0.0 Start on Koch Creek FSR. Go straight. Right goes to Little Slocan Forest Rd 13.2 from Passmore Rd/Hwy 6 junction.
9km Stay right on the main road. Left goes to Grizzly Creek Recreation Site (2 tables, above creek gorge, no flat parking) and Greasybill Cr Rd.
11km Go straight. Right is Marioka Road to Mt Flynn. For Mt Flynn, reset odometer; 1.4km Fork, to the right; 8.1km Fork, go left.
16km Stay straight and level. Then pass two ascending right forks (the second one has 51km sign).
17km Cross bridge over the creek. Go straight where the rough road ascends right. Power line.
21km At a huge boulder, go right on the higher road. Left goes up Dago Ck FSR. Access the route up the South Ridge.
22.6km Stay left on the lower road. Upper road signed Branch 1.
25.8km Cross a bridged tributary of Koch Creek
30.5km Pass a 65km sign just before reaching the bridge over McKean Creek. Continue on the road – maps show this road goes all the way to Windy Lake (the lake north of Lequereux). (refer to Backroad Mapbook – Kootenays and one should be able to discern all the turns)
Routes:
1. East Face. From near the head of the Koch Creek road, bushwhack to the lake north and slightly east of Mount Lequereux. Do not climb the latter but traverse the peak (2450m, 8050 feet) west of it, skirt south of the next peak and ascend the east face of Hilda Peak.
Just before the top is a steep-sided, knife-edged snow ridge about 10 meters long in early season. (III,3,s)
FRA Bob Dean, 14/7/1966. There was a cairn on the summit.
2. South Ridge. Branch off from the Koch Creek road, and drive up Dago Creek (two-wheel drive) to the south of the peak. Leave the vehicle at 1460 meters (4800 feet) near a waterfall, and at 1770 meters (5800 feet) go northwest through alpine meadows. It is 5 km to the east side of Hilda Peak (Route 1). Ascent, 5 hours. The party traversed south along the ridge to Peak 2380m (Class 3), two km south of Hilda Peak.
FRA Kim Kratky, Howie Ridge, October 11, 1980.
3. North-Northeast Ridge.
Drive: Drive south for 17 km (10.6 miles) on the Burton Creek (Trout Creek) logging road, which starts 2.5 km (1.5 miles) southwest of Burton (on Lower Arrow Lake, south of Nakusp on Highway 6). The last five km of the road are deactivated (high clearance, four-wheel drive, low range).
Route: A trail starts a few meters past the bridge across Burton Creek. Hike for about one hour to the first small lake. The trail stays on the south (left) side of the creek and then ascends a headwall.
A further half hour of hiking brings one to a second lake. Proceed along the north (right) side of the lake and ascend on the right side of a small creek to a pleasant alpine bowl. Bear left to reach the snowfield and ridge. From here there are various options.
From the top of the snowfield, gain the ridge on the north-northeast end and scramble to the top (snow cornice). (II,3,s). FRA Rudy Goerzen, Peter Raulston, Wm. Sones, 17/06/2001.
Variation: Climb the snow chute at the top of the snowfield about in the center of the ridge. A short scramble brings one to the cairn (placed a register). (II,3,s).
FRA Rudy Goerzen, Marny Graf, Patrick McMeachen, 22/7/2001.
Variation: Approach the ridge to the left of the snowfield (frozen hard). Also a short scramble. (II,3,s).
FA David Cunningham, Rudy Goerzen, 8/9/2001.
4. Southwest Face.
Drive: Go southwest from Nakusp on Highway 6 past Burton, and past Fauquier (ferry) for 8.9 km (5.5 miles) on Applegrove Road. Turn onto the unsigned Taite (Creek) Road. Take the left fork at 12.7km (7.9 miles) and go to the end at 310-153 (high clearance, four-wheel drive, low range in places). A long drive
Route: Ascend north through the cut block, reach a horizontal skid road and follow it west to where it starts to gently descend. A cairn uphill of the track marks a good trail going north through the cut block, timber and to the basin.
Attain the subalpine terrain and the basin southwest of Hilda Peak and climb the southwest face, unstable large boulders (carefully) and snow. (II,2,s).
FRA Janice Isaac, Kim Kratky, Howie and Toby Ridge, 24/9/2006.
5. Northwest Ridge. The northwest ridge is hard Class 3, done during the traverse of the Valkyrs described below.
HILDA PEAK 2639m 8658’ Map: Burton 82F/13 by Kim Kratky
This was to have been a trip to Mt. Prough in the Valkyrs. The plan was to access our goal via Taite Creek, which flows west into Arrow Lakes south of Fauquier.
On Sunday, Sept. 24th, our party of four—Howie and Tobi Ridge, Janice Isaac, and me—drove 8.9 km. south of Fauquier on Applegrove Road and turned onto the unsigned Taite Road. Local sources had told us, “You can drive right to the end, to Hilda Basin, and you can find the trail too.” Still, as we motored along the sketchy-looking road, we wondered if this could be the right access. After forking left at km. 12.7 and negotiating some deep water bars, we reached the road’s end in a cut block at km. 14.9 (GR 310-153, 6,050’). Although the road is old, the roadbed is solid. 4WD LR in places. After determining that access to Prough looked problematic, we decided on Hilda, about 2 km. to the northeast.
Heading out at the embarrassing hour of 12:05, we plodded up and north through the cut block, reached a horizontal skid road, and followed it west to the point where it began to gently descend. At this point, we noticed a cairn on the uphill side of the track. Voila, the trailhead. And so we followed this decent trail north through the remainder of the cut block, timber and sub-alpine terrain into a basin southwest of Hilda. We continued to our goal on snow and unstable large boulders of the southwest face, reaching the summit at 2:50.
On a sunny, warm day we rested for about 30 minutes as Howie and I reminisced about our ascent of Hilda from Dago Creek on October 11, 1980. As well, we located the KMC summit tube and inspected the record book. This was substantially water-damaged, but I was able to pick out the names of KMCers Bill Sones and Rudy Goertzen. The first page of the record said this was Mt. Dolly Varden and gave information about the first ascent by Bob Dean and Gerry Brown in 1969. I can only guess that this tube was destined for Dolly Varden, that the party wrote the FA entry in advance, and that somehow tubes or booklets got mixed up. For some inexplicable reason, I didn’t change the record, so page one still bills the peak as Dolly Varden. As the kids would say, “That’s just so not right.”
On return, we made a careful descent of the snowy rocks, found the top end of the trail without incident (here is where the flagging tape is useful), and reached the truck at 5:15. This route gives excellent, non-bushwhacking access to Hilda if you don’t mind the drive.
Kim Kratky