BOOMERANG MOUNTAIN 2510m 8235′
Boomerang Mountain is above the south side of Enterprise Creek, and northwest of Tanal Lake.
Difficulty: D3
Elevation gain: 4735′
Key elevations: TH Heather Lake 4500′, Heather Lake 6260′; Summit 8235′
Distance:
Season: mid-July to mid September
Access: Good
Map: 82F/14 Slocan
Drive: Enterprise Creek
From Slocan City: 15.5 km (9.6 miles) north on Highway 6, turn right on Enterprise Creek Forest Service Road on the north bank of Enterprise Creek
From Silverton: 11.7 km (7.3 miles) south, turn left (east) onto the Enterprise Creek FSR.
0.0 Start east on Enterprise Ck Rd. Marked by a BC Parks sign: (KOKANEE GLACIER) ENTERPRISE CREEK 14. Pavement ends. At 7.9km, bear left.
12.2km Fork left onto the narrower road. Right crosses the creek.
12.3 km (7.6 miles) Park. The road continues but is overgrown and beautifully mossy. Road washed out at Kokanee Park boundary, a few hundred meters short of the Blue Grouse Basin trail that goes left up Paupo Creek.
Route:
0.0 Enterprise Creek Trail (initially an old road) continues on its north side
1.6 km (1 mile) and cross a bridge to the south side. Beyond Paupo Creek, the trail is mostly on the south side of Enterprise Creek.
1.7km Fork right onto Heather Lake Trail (overgrown).
1. North Face. From the Enterprise Creek Forest Service Road, cross the creek and backpack up an old mining road and up the Heather Lake trail south of Enterprise Creek. Camp at Heather Lake, northwest of Boomerang Mountain. There were ten people in the group.
Go around the lake and ascend a steep gully to directly below the summit, and ascend the north face, an evil-looking face The rock was not stable. The difficulty was not stated, but the rope was used.
FRA John Carter, Knut Langballe, Peter McIver, Bert Port, June 18, 1972.
Descend the north ridge (Route 2) with the group. See also Route 3.
1. North Ridge. The north ridge was ascended in a storm, with the same group as Route 2. The difficulty is not stated. The north ridge is the easiest of the two.
Ron Anderson, Ian Hamilton, Jill Langballe, Ross Reynolds, Howie Ridge, Gordon Stein, 18/6/1972. The
Descend by a steep gully.
2. West From the trail on Enterprise Creek (see introduction, access) near Boot Lake, bushwhack up the northern slopes to a meadow above Heather Lake. Ascend a snow gully to the west of the mountain, and scramble the west ridge to the top.
Descend by the north ridge to Heather Lake. The north ridge is the easiest route. There was a trail most of the way to Heather Lake, but it is probably overgrown (very old cairn on the trail on Enterprise Creek). (III,3,s).
FRA Bob Dean, Janice Isaac, Kim Kratky, 29/7/1973.
3. South Face. Ascend mainly rock slides from the trail on Enterprise Creek (see Route 3) onto the west ridge, and pass over the ridge to the south
Descend the north ridge, and then down meadows, rock slides and easy bush beside the creek east of the north ridge. (III,3).
FRA Bob Dean, Sue Port, Peter Tchir, Sept. 20, 1987.
4. South Face.
Drive: Take the Enterprise Creek Forest Service Road (consult the introduction to the group) for 11.9 km (7.4 miles) and turn right onto Timber Creek Road. Zero odometer.
0.0 Start on Timber Creek Rd.
0.3km Go left onto the older road.
1.2km Stay straight (spur to right).
4.0km Stay straight (spur to left).
5.4km Go left.
7.3km Bridge removed park.
Route: Follow the old logging road north, crossing two creeks along the way. After 0.5 km, the road divides. Take the north fork for 100 meters, and turn uphill (northeast) through the cutblock to the woods above (there is reasonable bushwhacking in the woods), to reach the basin below Boomerang (1.5 hours).
Climb a prominent crack-chimney going about one-third of the way up the south face, left to right (Class 4). The gully above is Class 2. The descent was by the same route. (II,4).
FRA Doug Brown, Sandra McGuinness, 4/7/2005.
Boomerang Mt., July 4 by Sandra McGuinness
Judging by the entries in the summit register (only one – a KMC party in 1999), it would seem that Boomerang Mountain, despite its proximity to good logging road access sees very few ascents. Quite a shame really, as it is one of the more interesting peaks of this cluster of four – Boomerang, Robert Smith, Nansen and Giegerich – lying west of Enterprise Pass.
On July 4, Doug Brown and I drove to about 1800 metres via logging roads in Timber Creek and parked at km 7.3, where a bridge had been pulled.
We followed the old logging road north crossing two creeks along the way. After about 0.5 km, the road divides, one fork carries on to the north, while the other switchbacks south. We took the north fork for about another 100 metres before turning uphill (NE) and hiking up through the cutblock to the woods above. In the woods, the bushwhacking was pretty reasonable and we reached the alpine basin below Boomerang Mountain in about 1½ hours. Here we got out our binoculars to pick out a route to the summit. On the lower part of the south face, a prominent crack/chimney runs about a third of the way up the face from climbers left to right. Above the crack, a gully travels pretty much directly up to the summit. This looked like a good route so we hiked up to the base, put on our helmets and started scrambling. The crack/chimney is the crux of the route and is an unexposed 4th class. Once out of the crack, we got into an easy class 2 gully which we followed up, curving slightly to climbers left at the top and popped out pretty much right at the summit cairn. 2½ hours with stops at the summit.
We returned the same way, the chimney/crack being considerably more entertaining to climb down than up and were back at the truck less than 2 hours after leaving the summit. Although we didn’t use one, some people might find a rope handy on this route.
Driving directions: Take Enterprise Creek Road for 11.9 km. Instead of continuing straight ahead to the Blue Grouse/Enterprise Creek trailhead, turn right onto Timber Creek Road. Reset odometer to 0 km. 0.3 km = go (L) onto the older road 1.2 km = stay straight, spur to (R) 4.0 km = stay straight, spur to (L) 5.4 km = go (L) 7.3 km = bridge removed, park here.
Sandra McGuinness