Part of the Valkyr Range, this group of mountains extend for 11 kilometres in a north-south line to the west of Burton Creek. They are the mountains visible to the east from Lower Arrow Lakes – south of Burton and east of the Fauquier/Needles ferry. The mountains in order are Naumulten, Mt Rollins, Mt McBride, Mt Prough, Hilda Peak and Mt Shardelow. Mt Lequereux extends to the east of Hilda. The crest of the traverse is only 8-12 kms from the east shore of the lake.
Valkyr Adventures (www.valkyradventures.com) has three huts in the Valkyr Range offering primarily ski touring in the winter but also hiking in the summer.
Valkyr Lodge. Elevation 2,208 m (7,250 ft.)
Hilda Hut Lodge. Elevation 1920 m (6,300 ft)
Lequereux Outpost. Elevation 2,200 m (7,000 ft).
North Access. From Burton, drive 45 minutes, go up the Stoney Creek FSR (SW of Burton) and hike 2.5 hours to Martin Glasheen’s lodge on the west side of Naumulten Mountain. Or follow the route for Naumulten Mt below.
Route: Climb Naumulten Mountain. Then follows an easy 3 km ridge walk (lose and gain 150m) to the summit of Mount Rollins.
There is a 100m descent and an ascent of 150m, with a 60m bump in the middle, for 2 km to Mount McBride The final ascent is steep and exposed scrambling.
From the ridge just south of Mount McBride, continue to Mount Prough and Hilda Peak. Because of bad weather, the descent was northeast to Burton Creek instead of Taite Creek (Burton Creek FSR washed out).
A separate group started at the south end of the traverse. After climbing Hilda Peak and Mount Prough, they exited Taite Creek FSR. A long one-day outing. This traverse can probably be done in seven hours.
KMC group led by Bill Sones, 12/8/2007. Mount Rollins and Mount Prough were the first recorded ascents.
VALKYR TRAVERSE August 11-12 by Bill Sones
The Valkyr mountain range is located in the western Valhallas and runs north-south. There is a hikable ridge about 10 km long joining the major peaks from Naumulten in the north to Hilda in the south. In 2003 the Glasheen family built a backcountry lodge on the west slope of Naumulten which made the logistics of doing this hike easier.
At 1:00 pm Aug 11, eleven of us met in Burton at the winter staging area for Valkyr Adventures. After meeting Martin Glasheen and his son Ryan, we were driven for about 45 min up Stony FSR to a trailhead for the hike into their lodge. This hike took about 2 ½ hours at a leisurely pace through scenic mostly alpine terrain. At this point, the trip made a radical departure from normal KMC fare. We were greeted at the lodge by Shelly Glasheen and shown our rooms, complete with sheets and towels (for the hot shower). Then hors d’oeuvres were served after which people relaxed in the lodge, hiked close by or played bocce. Supper got full marks for both quality and quantity and shortly after (encouraged by the looming 5:00 am wake-up call) people started heading for bed.
We left the lodge at 6:00 am the next morning, and, fueled by Shelly’s granola and eggs, most of us made it up the 900’ to Naumulten peak (8118’) by 6:45. From there it was an easy 3 km ridge walk (which included losing and then gaining 500’ elevation) to the summit of Rollins.
The next stage was the 2 km ridge to McBride (8300’). This involved a 300’ descent and a 500’ ascent with a 200’ bump in the middle. Occasional light scrambling was required and the final ascent was a bit steep and exposed. Two participants decided to avoid this ascent by going into the bowl with the intention of going around the east peak of McBride about 500’ below the summit and contouring around to join us on the ridge leading to Prough. While in the bowl they decided they would rather regain the ridge between the 2 peaks of McBride via a muddy, rock-strewn gully. All this took time and had me more than a little nervous. This leg made it obvious to me that there was a large disparity in pace among our group. By the time everyone had assembled on the ridge just south of Mcbride, around noon, the speedy ones had been waiting 2.5 hours and had even enjoyed a nap. Because of our slow pace and the uncertain weather (cool, cloudy, the odd snowflake and afternoon showers in the forecast), I decided that the keen and well-rested hikers (3 volunteered) should continue with our original route on the ridge system to Prough and Hilda while the rest of us would descend into Hilda bowl. Group splitting was possible because I was in radio contact with our subgroup (as well as the Glasheen family).
The speedy three summited Prough and then Hilda (8600’) by 2:30, a very impressive accomplishment considering the scrambling and effort involved. Congratulations Jen, Shannon and Caroline!
On their way down to the pickup point on Tait FSR they met Ryan Glasheen, who, after summiting Hilda himself, drove them back to the staging area, via a 2hr stop in Fauquier where they corrected their hamburger and beer deficiencies. Meanwhile, back in Hilda basin, our group’s revised plan to get to the Tait FSR pick-up point by skirting the east flank of Hilda at about 7000’ and then contouring around to the south (thus avoiding the time-consuming and exposed ridge route to the summit), was revised again. In the interests of time (getting slower) and safety (starting to rain) we decided to descend in a NE direction to the Burton Creek FSR where Martin agreed to pick us up (thank goodness for radios). Fortunately, Rudy was very familiar with this route as the trail was intermittent. We made it to the FSR by 5:00 and then had to walk 3-4 km to the vehicle as the road was washed out at km 15.
By 7:00 we were back at our vehicles in Burton and met the other 3 group members who had just arrived from Fauquier. Everyone agreed that it was an interesting and enjoyable day, although, as is often the case with large groups and ambitious agendas, it didn’t go quite according to plan.
Thanks to the following participants: Caroline Dahlen, Rudy Goerzen, Graham Jamin, Jen Kyler, Caroline LaFace, Kate Murphy, Shannon Naylor, Diane Paolini, Jill Watson, and Mary Woodward. Special thanks to the Glasheen family; Martin, Shelly and Ryan, for setting a new standard in hospitality and service.
Bill Sones