MOUNT LASCA 2390m 7841′
Located directly east of Nelson and south of Harrop. In 1993, a road and trail existed up Lasca Creek. Mill Lake Trail follows the road. The forest fire of 2003 reached just to the summit on the west side.
This has all changed – see Route 2 below and the Mill Lake post for more up-to-date access. Use the description from Mill Lake to climb Lasca.
Difficulty: E3
Elevation gain: 610m 2000′ from Harrop
Key Elevations: Harrop 5840′; Mill Lake 6300′; Summit 7841′
Distance: 13km one-way
Time: a very long day, 2 days best
Map: 82F/11 Kokanee Peak
Access: Mill Creek Trail.
Route: From Mill Lake, climb the bump on the ridge southwest of Mill Lake (head straight up and west from a dilapidated cabin to the col just north of the bump). Traverse the bump, using a game trail, and descend to a col to the SW (tarn).
A prominent couloir on the east face exits to the southeast ridge close to the summit; a twelve-hour day with 1,780 meters of altitude gain, a long slog. (III,2-3,s).
FRA Kim Kratky, Peter Tchir, 8/2005. There was a cairn with no record on the summit.
Route 2 (described by Curt Nixon – I could not tell how different it was from the above)
1.5 hours to Mill Lake. Several bridges out.
Circumnavigate the lake following a ribbon line to Gunsight Pass. From the pass, head west following a game trail staying on the skyline ridge above the lake. Follow the terrain, and lose elevation down to another pass. Keeping on the ridge, continue west using the north perimeter of the 2003 burn as a route to the ridge. They climbed Mt Less-ca, 40m shorter than Lasca but still an hour away.
MT. LASCA 2379 m., 7805’ by Kim Kratky
Map Kokanee Pk. 82F/11
August 26 On a drizzly Labour Day weekend of 2001, Fred Thiessen and I made the lengthy hike to Mill Lake in the Nelson Range. This gave me the idea that one could perhaps day trip Mt. Lasca via this route. So on a sunny late August morning this year, Peter Tchir and I started from the Mill Lake trailhead in Harrop at 7:20. Wearing the lightest of packs, we zoomed up to the lake in 3 hours. 45 min. (see Don’t Waste Your Time . . . for a jaundiced but creditable view of the trail).
After a 30 min. lunch break, we headed straight up and west from the dilapidated cabin to a col at 6850’. Our plans to traverse toward Lasca were thwarted by unpleasant bush, we instead followed a game trail over a 7150’ bump at 984-839, descended 300’ of open timber to a col to the southwest, and crossed burned slopes to the base of our peak where we found a picturesque tarn not shown on the map (GR 973-833). Grassy slopes led us into a prominent couloir on the east face, whence we exited to the southeast ridge not far from the summit. On top by 1:10 (5 hrs. 50 min. up; Howie Ridge would say, “That pup was farther away than I thought”), we inspected the cairn with no record and surveyed the extensive fire damage in Lasca and Midge creeks from the event of 2003. In fact, the burn reached right to our summit on the west side.
After savouring the fine weather for 40 min., we returned to Mill Lake via the ascent route in 90 min. Another snack to gird us for the knee-destroying trail descent, and we were away. En route, we met local scientists Evan MacKenzie and Martin Carver and their assistants who were doing stability assessments for the community forest. Finally, at 6:50 pm, we reached the parking lot. It was an 11 ½ hour day with 6500’ of elevation gain, about 28 km. of travel, and a 5-hour return from the summit. To paraphrase Hamie, “Glad I don’t have to do that again!
Kim Kratky