DEVIL’S DOME 2790m 9154′
The highest peak of the Devil’s Range is the most impressive one visible from the Drinnon Lake approach, and has no easy route.
1. South Face, Southeast Ridge. There is snow at the base of the south face.
Pitch 1. Start up a layback and a steep slippery crack (Class 5.0). After one rope length, move onto the southeast ridge on firm rock, above the notch in the southeast ridge.
Pitch 2. Ascend a corner with several wide cracks, and then go right onto a wide ledge (5.3).
Pitch 3. Ascend two sloping ledges, and move back onto the ridge. Then go up a chute (5.3).
Pitch 4. Go up thin climbing to a ledge (5.3).
Pitch 5. Go left to turn the smooth wall, then up (5.5).
Pitch 6. Steep. Scrambling leads to the summit. Four hours up.
Descend by three rappels and climbing down. Use angles, small angles, Leepers, thin blades, slings and chocks on the solid rock. Be careful of the black lichen, which is slippery when wet. (II,5.5,s,*). July 18, 1971.
2. Snow Couloir, South Face. Ascend the snow couloir between Devil’s Dome and False Devil Dome, to the left of the south face, to the notch at the top. Traverse right on a broken ledge system, and climb two pitches up a “gully-chimney” with very loose rock. At the top of the second pitch, ascend 5 metres up a crack under and around an overhang (Class 5.6). There is easier rock to scramble to the summit.
The route is well protected with chocks and runners. Descend by two rappels west of the route. Not recommended. (II,5.6,s).
3. South Face The route is in a crack system up the middle of the south face, which must be entered indirectly.
Pitch 1. Start from a large rectangular block, climb over a slight overhang (soft, rounded, yellow rock) into a dihedral using an awkward layback, and go up its right-hand wall. There are thin, breakable, blade-like flakes at the top (sling; Class 5.7). Then traverse up to the right into the crack system.
Pitch 2. Easy climbing on rock.
Pitch 3. The face is inset on this pitch, with a chimney on either side. Start in the right-hand chimney and do a delicate traverse to the left-hand one, to easier climbing and grassy ledges above. Belay 6 meters above the ledges.
Pitch 4. Very good climbing, to a narrow stance on a sloping slab below a prominent overhang. 50 meters.
Pitch 5. Climb the overhang using a crack and hole under it (very tight). A chockstone lodged at the lip of the overhang provides a hold. The next 3 meters are the crux (Class 5.8). Belay. There may be easier climbing to the right on the fourth pitch. 12 meters.
Pitch 6. Easy rock to the summit ridge. It is well protected by chocks and runners. (II,5.8,s,*), July 31, 1977. This route has been affected by rockfall near the bottom (much cleaning).
4. Northwest Face (Running with the Devil). There are two pitches, Class 5.9 and 85m long, done during the west-to-east traverse of the Devil’s Range.
FRA Nelson Rocha, Cam Shute, July 27, 2014.
DEVILS DOME Record of Summit Register by Kim Kratky
Compiled December 1988 by Kim Kratky from the original document.
Devil’s Dome, 9100′ highest peak in Devil’s Range
FIRST ASCENT–July 1971; Bob Dean and Howie Ridge; via south-east ridge from camp in Drinnon Pass; Kootenay Mtn. Club; (first attempted in 1970 but turned back 1/2 way up).
SECOND ASCENT–Sept. 3, 1973; Gordon Stein, Peter Wood, and Howie Ridge; via Route 1 from camp at lake South of the summit; interesting due to snow and ice; rappelled off in darkness; Kootenay Mountaineering Club.
THIRD ASCENT–June 24, 1974; Gary Bruce and Scott Rowed.
FOURTH ASCENT–July 11, 1975; Ian Hamilton, Bert Port, and Route 1 with harder variations on the south.
FIFTH ASCENT–August 15, 1975; Peter Wood (KMC) & Scott Rowed (KMC new member); by way of Route 1 with easier variations to the East; 3 1/2 hours from notch in East ridge + 2 hours from camp at Gwillim Lakes; cold, cloudy day with strong winds at times; dry!
SIXTH ASCENT–July 30, 1977; Peter Koedt, Jara Popelkova; via boulder pile gulley-chimney just south-east of the west ridge; literally a pile of shit; not hard but not recommendable; ca. 5.5 and 5.6 direct near top.
SEVENTH ASCENT–July 31, 1977; Peter Koedt, Jara Popelkova, Gunther Offermann, Elena Offermann; South Face; nice route; 5.7–5.8; 6 pitches.
EIGHTH ASCENT–August 1, 1982; Ian Hamilton, Dave Adams, and Peter Wood–KMC; 7:30 am–12:30 pm; from camp by lake via Route 1; hail and rain for 15 min. near the top of 2nd pitch; black lichen became unpleasantly greasy; clouds & thunder around while writing this; no lightning so far.
NINTH ASCENT–August 6, 1982; Jim Jones, Dan Offin; via the S.E. ridge; good for a few larfs; wristwatch stopped working on the way up so we “trashed it” on the summit; enclosed find remains.
TENTH ASCENT–August 1, 1983; Leo Jansma & Mike Brewster, KMC Hiking Camp ’83; via S.E. ridge; one good pitch; 3 1/2 hours from the snow below notch; welcome Valhalla Wilderness Park.
ELEVENTH ASCENT–July 1, 1985; Chris & Peter McIver; via SE ridge; sunny.
TWELFTH ASCENT–August 8, 1986; Cliff McCluskey, Tim Evans, Craig McCallum, John Cameron; via SE ridge & SE gulley; great day.
THIRTEENTH ASCENT–August 24, 1986; Jeff Eppler & Bob Walton; via SE ridge; “the 51st classic climb”; it’s snowing we gotta run!!
FOURTEENTH ASCENT–September 7, 1986; Paul Allen, Robyn Laytham, Liz Stanich, Rod Beauprie (our first tech. ascent–Liz & Rod); beautiful weather; grand vista; an enjoyable 5.6 climb.
FIFTEENTH ASCENT–August 9, 1987; Dick Erickson, Tom Dabrowski, Bob Popielarszyk, Jim Truitt, Lou Demaria, Inter-Mountain Alpine Club, Richland, Wash.; on a traverse of Devil’s Range; Big thunder & lightning to the north; will have to leave quick.
SIXTEENTH ASCENT–September 20, 1987; Peter McIver, Kim Kratky, Steve Horvath; via standard route; a fine, sunny autumn day.”
The final entry was added as part of the new summit record put in when the original was removed because of damage by rodents and water, on September 20, 1987.
Kim Kratky
DEVIL’S DOME Two Ascents
By Fred Thiessen and Delia Roberts
An easy one hour walk along the popular Gwillim Lakes trail takes one to Drinnon Lake. There, as one looks northward, the spectacular Devils Range comes into view. The dominant peak is Devil’s Dome with its canine tooth profile. Devil’s Dome is just right of centre with the Southeast Ridge climb following close to the right skyline. History
From a mountaineering exploration perspective, the Mulvey Group first attracted the KMC to the Valhallas as it was the easiest area to access. However, once logging provided additional inroads, the Devil’s Range, with its unclimbed peaks, attracted the adventurous. Howie Ridge and Bob Deane were two of those exploratory KMC members who in 1971 made the first ascent of Devil’s Dome. At that time, the road only went a short distance up Drinnon Creek. From there, a hefty bushwack brought their party of 4 to the pass just north of Drinnon Lake, where they camped. The next morning, they descended into Gwillim Creek, then ascended to the SE ridge of Devil’s Dome. Roping up and using pitons and slings for protection, Howie and Bob climbed the peak in about 3 hours. A combination of down climbing and rappelling had them at the base 3 hours later. From here, it was back to camp and the car.
To quote the article, “It was four very tired climbers who reached the jeep at 8:30 after 14-1/2 hours of nearly continuous hiking and climbing in rugged country completely lacking in trails.” Some of those pitons from the first ascent can still be seen when climbing today.
When the logging road was extended to where the current parking lot is located, the Devil’s Range popularity started to improve. A KMC Hiking Camp at Gwillim Lakes in 1975 increased awareness of the area. Then, in 1983, creation of Valhalla Park was the turning point in changing public use of the area. The rough trail built by KMC volunteers to Drinnon Lake, prior to Park creation, was improved by BC Parks in 1984 and extended to Gwillim Lakes. With a proper trail to Gwillim Lakes, the Devil’s Range and Devil’s Dome became much more accessible.
Unlike most peaks in the Valhalla’s, Devil’s Dome isn’t an easy scramble. The easiest route is a 3-pitch technical climb. Rappels are required to descend the technical sections. The remote location, high quality of the rock, lack of bolts or fixed belay/rappel stations and easy climbing grade make this an extremely attractive true alpine climb. Most parties make it a two-day outing. With one day to get to the lake at the base of the mountain, the next to climb the peak and return to the parking lot, it is a pleasant two-day backcountry mountaineering experience. Here are two accounts of my ascents on Devils Dome. One in 2001 and the other in 2019.
Early Days, Fred’s perspective.
Viv Bowers’ & Eric White’s sons Guy and Joel (at the time 15 and13 years) had been gym climbing for the previous year and wanted to climb a ‘real’ mountain to use their newfound skills. What better mountain than Devil’s Dome? The easiest route was a not too hard
technical climb with good rock and on our doorstep. On the Saturday of sunny Labour Day
weekend, we (Emilee, Viv, Eric, Guy, Joel and I) left the parking lot for our Devil’s Dome
adventure. The route to the lake at the base of Devil’s Dome involves leaving the trail at Wicca Lake, descending a boulder field into Gwillim Creek, then an hour or so of bushwhacking before reaching the subalpine and the campsite at the small tarn, south of the peak. For Joel, this was the hardest part of the weekend; the bush was over his head. It was his first going uphill bushwhacking experience and not the fun walk that had been advertised. Once at the lake, it was all good, great views and a pleasant late summer evening. The next morning, Viv & Emilee set off to Lucifer Peak while the boys went to Devil’s Dome. It took about an hour of steep alpine meadows and boulders to reach the notch at the base of the east ridge. Here, we roped up into 2 ropes of 2, with Guy and Joel belaying while Eric and I led. It went well; Guy and Joel were enjoying the climb, and it was well within their capabilities. At the end of the technical stretch, we left the ropes and scrambled to the top for lunch and waved at Viv & Emilee on Lucifer. We scrambled down to the top of technical part, which we descended by rappelling. This was the absolute highlight for Guy & Joel, 3-full length rappels on a real mountain. While Eric & I coiled ropes, the boys hurried back to camp to tell Mom about their accomplishments. The next morning, after a leisurely start, we left our idyllic campground.
Later in Life, as narrated by Delia
It was a beautiful late September morning, the air crisp and clear, perfect for a ‘walk’ with Fred. Mind you, I always take Fred’s suggestions for a ‘wee walk’ with a bit of scepticism. Having grunted along trying to keep up with Mr. Thiessen on many a mountain adventure, I knew there was sure to be some effort involved – but if Guy and Joel could do it as young teenagers, heck this should be easy, shouldn’t it?
The walk up to Drinnon Lake was lovely, the fall colours out in full glory and once through Drinnon Pass there were so many huckleberries you hardly needed to slow down to grab a handful as you passed by. Devil’s Dome had come into view, getting me more and more excited about the climb to come. With a great trail and no bugs, I figured that this might actually be the advertised pleasant walk.
Little did I know that just minutes later it would be time to head off into said chest high bushes. About 60 meters below the pass at Wicca Lake, we left the trail to bushwhack our way down small boulder fields and through bush to Gwillim Creek, and hence back up for more fun and games. It was only a ‘short’ 2.5 km and 330 m ascent, but some hour and 45 minutes later we arrived at the spectacular little Cauldron Lake, where we set up camp and admired the view of our objective.
The next morning dawned a little misty, but undaunted we headed up through a boulder field to the obvious gulley at the base of the southeast ridge of Devil’s Dome. By the time we racked up, the sun was out and a day of thoroughly enjoyable easy 5th class climbing (5.6) began. The first pitch followed a beautiful corner up to a good-sized ledge where the substantial collection of old slings confirmed that we were indeed on route. From there we followed the ridge crest for two more pitches on generally good rock (I only sent one large flake hurtling down towards Fred). Route finding was straightforward with plenty of good holds and solid gear placements. Pitch 3 topped out onto low angle slabs where I set up a comfortable belay and brought Fred up. As he reached me, he looked over at a large flake to our right and asked, “Is that your gear Delia?” Nestled beneath the flake were three brand new ultralight cams, representing nearly $400 of shiny new gear! So, we did what all climbers do when they find abandoned gear, took it with us – though we did speculate as to how it managed to get left behind.
After scrambling to the summit, we enjoyed a pleasant lunch and took in the incredible views of the surrounding Valhallas. All too soon, it was time to head down so we collected the old tat and set up new webbing for our rappel. Fred took the first descent on the next pitch, but about halfway down the wind whipped the tails of the rope out horizontally and he came to a stop – one strand of the rope was completely stuck and no amount of shaking, flipping or tugging could release it. After a moment or two of near panic as he could neither move up nor down, we devised a solution! Thanks to his handy prussic Fred was able to set up an anchor and tie himself in. Using the free end of the rope, he belayed me as I traversed out above where the rope was stuck and lowered down to find that the rope had completely tied itself off around a small rock outcrop. I freed the rope, and then enjoyed what was some of the best climbing of the day as I ascended back up to the rap station. We continued our descent without further mishap and stopped in at Cauldron Lake to retrieve our overnight gear. The bushwhack out was as much fun as it was on the way in, but a quick dip in Gwillim Creek helped to refresh two tired hikers.
Epilogue: A post to the TAWKROC Facebook page quickly located the grateful party who had accidentally left their roommate’s new cams at their last belay station. Given the late date in the year and the rather hefty effort required to get back into the climb, they were very happy to see the gear back in town!
Bushwhack to Cauldron Lake: 2.5 km, 120 m elevation loss followed by 330 m ascent. 1 hour 45 min from the trail.
Cauldron Lake to summit Devil’s Dome: 1.65 km, 600 m, 4 hours
Cauldron Lake to summit and out to parking lot: 10 km, 680 m ascent and 1200 m down, 8 hours.
Reference. KMC Newsletter Spring 2024. On-Belay column by David Lussier.
Authors. Fred Theissen and Delia Roberts
Fred’s experience and life long commitment to the mountain lifestyle cannot be overstated. Delia has dedicated numerous years of service to the club: she is also an avid climber and mountaineer. Their climbing stories about Devil’s Dome via the Southeast Ridge take place nearly 20 years apart.
