MOUNT THOR 2940m 9646′
Hughes Peak, and Mounts Thor, Grady and Burnham (north to south) are seen from the ferry when nearing Galena Bay. Mount Thor is massive and of complex design. It appears pointed from this angle, but is really a ridge seen edge on. The summit is hidden from view from the northeast by ridges.
Map 82L/9 Gates Creek.
Drive: From Revelstoke, Hwy 23 goes south down the west side of the Columbia River to the Shelter Bay Ferry 50 km. The ferry goes to Galena Bay from 6 am to 2 am.
48.6km (1.4km north of the ferry) Turn west on a logging road that accesses the road systems on the west side of Upper Arrow Lake.
0.0 Start on the road that terminates at Coursier Lake – Dry Creek Road.
2.4 km. Turn right (north) on Dry Creek Rd, 90 degrees from Shelter Bay FSR, the main road that goes south down the west side of Arrow Lake.
4.5 km. Go left on Dry Ck Rd, go left of shacks. Stay on this main road.
8.8 km 5.5mi Go left, switchback taking the lower left fork up Longsworth Road for Odin Creek. (Straight goes to Coursier Lk).
17.9 km. Go left
19.5 km. New road to Pingston Lake, go right (sign).
19.6 km. Cross Pingston Creek Bridge. After 80m, turn right (west) up the south side of Thor Creek (high clearance vehicles) which has been logged and is in a state of devastation. (It starts south of the first road, south of the Pingston Creek bridge).
A point (7351 feet, 2241m) on the northeast ridge was occupied as a triangulation station in 1925, from a camp on the south ridge of Mount Hall (2228m; north of Mount Thor and just southeast of Coursier Lake. Map 82L/NE Revelstoke, B. C. 1979; IRBC 1963). A huge cairn was found below the southeast ridge at about the same altitude by Leon Blumer and Earle R. Whipple in the year 1985 (near the Escarpment Trail).
Access to Niflheim Cirque (Thor-Niflheim Cirque), North Side of Stegosaurus Ridge. As described above, take a right turn just beyond the Pingston Creek bridge, drive to the end of the road (high clearance)
Route: Backpack up a marked trail on the north side of South Thor Creek (the main branch of Thor Creek; difficult to cross). Cross South Thor Creek again on a log jam at the lower end of the lake. (Trail from road recut, 2015.)
Backpack up and slightly left through light (i.e., not seriously difficult) bush to contact orange tape markers. Soon after climbing an easy rock outcrop, the markers trend up and right, generally, toward the stream flowing from the Niflheim Cirque in light to medium bush. When a small cliff is seen, the markers lead around its base and the base of a bear den moraine with gigantic boulders. Continue with the markers, well above the stream and sometimes on steep hillside, to the gateway to the cirque, about 6 hours from the end of the road. Bring mosquito repellent. (This trail was recut in 2006.)
Late in the season, parties have traversed the lake shore to the waterfall coming from the cirque, and gone up the west side of the creek.
One may reach the glacial col on the northeast ridge from a camp on the east side of the creek in the Thor-Niflheim Cirque on the north side of Stegosaurus Ridge. Climb a 150-metre headwall to the left of the central waterfall and then a moraine to the glacial col of the northeast ridge.
Amund Groner, Dan Robertson, Patrick Triggs, August 5, 1984.
There is no route on the southeast ridge.
An alternate approach to Route 1 is from the east-southeast. Consult ‘The Escarpment Trail’, just before Mount Thor.
Escarpment Trail High above the north side of Odin Creek, the edge of the cliff is bare of soil and vegetation for more than a kilometre, and the scenery is magnificent. It is a hiking route and also gives access to Mount Thor, Route 1.
In 1985, Leon Blumer and the author descended the Escarpment after climbing Mount Thor. We approached approximately where the trail was later cut and were not the first to be there. The trail was cut by Leon Blumer and friends in 1993 but now is certainly overgrown.
TH – upper left of a big clearcut 1.6–2.0 km north of Odin Creek and 12.5 km south of the Pingston Creek bridge. Orange tape markers (and later blazes) start a bit left of the centre.
Route: The trail goes left, first below cliffs and then at the top of the clearcut on an old skid road, into the trees and then willows. Higher, a traverse up and left on a rock band free of trees has fine views and reaches the edge of the escarpment at about 1830m (6000 feet). The unmarked pathway on the escarpment begins a little above this point. At two or three places, the escarpment is cut by small joints or faults. Bushwhack in and out of these and regain the edge.
If a two-day backpacking trip is desired, camp near tree line below the east glacier. It is probably best to cross the meadows well below the glacier to avoid a short overhanging step in the southeast ridge. While climbable, the step would be very trying with a pack. Pass over the col in the northeast ridge (a little glacier travel) and descend into the cirque north of Stegosaurus Ridge (Niflheim Cirque) going down next to a waterfall, or one half km north of the fall, to the flat meadows at 1740 meters.
Take the trail out of the cirque, on the east side of the stream, and descend to the trail on the N side of South Thor Creek, and to the road on the S side of Thor Creek (Killeen Road).
It is best to carry a rope, an ice ax, a few long slings (for trees) and a little protection in case parts of the descent into the Niflheim Cirque become a bit technical, especially with heavy packs, and for the glacier.
1. East Glacier, Northeast Ridge.
Bushwhack into the basin north-northeast of the peak (see below) from the south side of Thor Creek, and ascend a rockslide to the glaciers above. Bivouac above tree line (now a long one-day climb). Climb to the ridge above and descend to the glacial col of the northeast ridge of Thor. Avoid the first short section of the ridge by climbing snow and ice to a notch, from either side. It is best to climb high on the snow southwest of the ridge and ascend a short gully to reach the ridge.
At the first step (notch), attain the ridge by climbing a short vertical wall on the north side (2 adjacent routes; 5.4). (It is Class 4 if suitable couloirs are chosen on the southwest side of the ridge.)
At the second step (on the north side of the ridge), climb it directly or outflank it by zigzag ledges.
The third step, close to the summit (at the junction of the NE and SE ridges) may be climbed, or avoided by a descending traverse on the south face (slabs, a vertical mile above Odin Creek) and reascending to the ridge (Class 3-4). One can rappel the third step on the descent. Ice, Glacier (III,5.4,s).
Graham Hollins, Chris Kopczynski, John Roskelly, David Parfitt, 7/8/1966.
From the road, an undrivable logging road provides access to Mount Thor, Route 1. Ascend into the big clear cut above, climb to its upper right-hand corner and traverse up and right into the bush. This reaches a large sickle-shaped rock slide that leads to the alpine zone. The approach is modern, better than the original or the Jones approach. The climb can be done in one long day.
David P. Jones approached from the northeast in 1968 and used the north ridge on the east side of the basin NNE of the summit. When part way up, traverse to the centre of the basin. The lower ridge has timber with little undergrowth.
2. West Ridge. See Mount Sigurd for the 1971 traverse.
3. Northwest Buttress or Ridge. The northwest ridge is well-defined and consists of buttresses and ridges.
Gain the north pocket glacier from the basin directly below the mountain. Starting from the eastern edge, ascend the glacier to the start of the northwest ridge. Climb through three small overhanging roofs. Two are Class 5.8 and the crux roof requires four pitons for aid. Several roped pitches up to Class 5.6 follow, and the final pitch below the summit is 5.7. There are about 15 technical pitches, 12 hours up. Glacier (IV,5.8,Al,s).
FRA 21/8/1986, Second RA John and William Petroske, 8/1971.
MOUNT THOR (West Summit) 2820m 9252′
This is 0.8 km west of Mount Thor. The west summit was traversed west to east in 1971. No data is available.
MOUNT ANDVARI 2760m 9055′
This wedge-shaped spire, the smallest of the spires, was traversed west to east in 1971 and is west of the west summit of Mount Thor.
The gold of Fafnir, who transformed himself into a dragon, was accursed and included the gold ring originally owned by the dwarf Andvari. Sigurd killed the dragon and took the accursed gold which tragically affected his life, and especially his love, Brynhild.
PATHWAY in the SKY by Earle R. Whipple
Mount Thor, in the Gold Range, is probably the most attractive summit visible from the Galena Bay ferry and rises an impressive 2500 meters above upper Arrow Lake. In 1985, Leon Blumer and I climbed its northeast ridge, but approached it in an unusual way by bushwhacking directly up the east slopes a bit north of Odin Creek. We made camp just below the timberline under the southeast ridge and reconnoitred the area a little in the late afternoon.
We were not the first here. A large, beautifully constructed, dome-shaped cairn was present a little higher under the southeast ridge, probably built by the survey crew under H.D. Dawson*(Peter W. Chapman, “Interview with H.D. Dawson, Lardeau Valley, 1920- 1931”, Victoria Archives Aural History Programme, Interview No. 3649, Tape No. 2 – p.20 of account). about 60 years before. Leon and Gordon Stanley had also been here, by the same route and found the path described below in 1984, but nothing had been said about it.
The next morning we climbed up the southeast ridge and crossed the lower part of the glacier to the northeast ridge. In such wilderness, one would expect to have the mountain to oneself, and so both of us were surprised when four figures appeared on the horizon above the col. The party included David Kennedy and passed us near the beginning of the ridge. Later, all of us sat on the summit together under a hazy sky and then returned to our camp.
The descent the next day was perhaps the most unusual experience that I have had in the Columbia Mountains. Neither of us had a taste for the undergrowth we had struggled through two days before, and instead we opted for the ridge. I was amazed to find the lower southeast ridge to be a veritable sidewalk. The slope of the rock on the edge of the escarpment has allowed the elements to wash away most or all the soil which has resulted in a wide strip of cleared pathway with the cliff on one side and the tangle of the forest on the other. Six or seven hundred meters below, Odin Creek flowed through the green hell of its valley and to the southwest Mount Odin rose above all, showing its handsome northeast glacier. South across Odin Creek stood the flat-topped tower northwest of Mooncastle Lake (on the other side) first climbed in 1984 by its northeast buttress. Farther south stood the ramparts of the north walls of Mounts Burnham and Grady. It was magnificent! The only impediments were two or three places where joints or small faults intersected the escarpment. Here we descended a few meters into the vales of the faults, bushwacking a short distance out of them to regain the edge. The pathway continued for about a kilometre until the ridge nosedived and we were forced to resume bushwacking to descend.
Ascent by this route is about 150 meters greater in altitude than by the approach via the road up Thor Creek, but no descent is required to reach the northeast ridge and col as is necessary from the northeast approach from Thor Creek. The route is dry and one should bring water.
If a leisurely backpacking trip is desired, camp near the timberline below the east glacier. It is probably best to cross the meadows well below the glacier to avoid a short overhanging step in the southeast ridge. While climbable, the section would be very trying with a pack. Pass over the col in the northeast ridge (a little glacier travel) and descend into the cirque north of Stegosaurus Ridge (Nifiheim cirque) going down next to a waterfall, or one half kilometre north of the fall, to the flat meadows at 1740 meters.
Take the newly-cut trail out of the cirque, on the east side of the stream, and descend to the trail on the north side of South Thor Creek, and thence to the road on the south side of Thor Creek (Killeen Road). There is a log bridge at the top edge of the clearcut.
On the east side of Mount Thor, the trail begins at the top of a big clearcut 1.6 – 2.0 kilometres north of Odin Creek and 2.1 – 2.5 kilometres south of the Pingston Creek bridge. With a high clearance vehicle, one can drive partway up the clearcut. Orange tape markers start a bit left of the centre, and the trail shortly goes horizontally left at the top of an open rock area, up through trees, and then willows. Higher, a traverse left on a rock band has fine views and reaches the edge of the escarpment at about 1830 meters. The unmarked pathway on the escarpment begins a little above this point.
The trail location and cutting were done by Leon Blumer and friends in 1993.
MT THOR By Kim Kratky
One of the best views from base camp at this year’s climbing camp was of the long east-west ridge that stretches from Kelly Pk. in the west to Mt.Thor in the east. A week of contemplation persuaded me to return again to the legendary bushwhacking of Thor Creek for a second attempt on Thor itself.
Back in July of 1986 Howie Ridge, Pete Wood, Janice Isaac and I had made a one-day attempt on the peak only to get snowed off before we got to the base of the mountain. That tantalizing glimpse of the bulk of Thor shrouded in fog and mist remained to tempt me over the next few years–that desire always tempered by remembrances of the painfully steep approach, and bushwhacking in slide alder, devil’s club, and rhododendron. However, this year Howie had been saying, “I really want to climb Thor again on the twentieth anniversary of the first year I climbed it.” Despite good intentions, it wasn’t until the weekend of September 7th and 8th that our schedules matched and we could mount an expedition.
The first goal was to get close enough to the mountain to climb it in a day, previous visits having soured us on the idea of dragging a heavy pack up to the alpine for a high camp. After one false start, we followed the route to Odin Cabins south of Coursier Lake (the same car approach as for this year’s climbing camp). Immediately after crossing Pingston Creek, we turned right or west onto Killeen Road and drove 3.5 km. to the effective end of the road. Since there was no water at this site, we returned to Pingston Creek for a car camp.
Saturday morning we were up about 4:30 to cook breakfast under a full moon. By the time we reached the end of Killeen Road and inspected two other vehicles parked there, it was 6:10, time to start.
We followed a skid road up and to the east till we reached a big, new clearcut that Earle Whipple had mentioned to me. We crossed the cut block to its upper right-hand corner and traversed up and right into the bush. Fortunately (or maybe it was by skill; not mine anyway), we soon reached the large sickle-shaped rock slide we had seen by moonlight the night before. For over an hour we ascended this slide of enormous boulders till we reached the lower edge of the alpine. “Amazing,” I thought, “we’ve made it without the bushwhacking that defines climbing in the Gold Range.” We next climbed over a prominent north-south ridge to the west and descended into the basin below the normal ascent route.
Writing this, I’m constantly reminded of how complex a mountain Thor is and how complicated it is just to describe the route to get to the base of the mountain itself.
Our next task was to reach the headwall south of our basin. By this time of year, much of the glacier was bare, so we roped up, put on crampons and crunched up to the eastern of two cols separated by rock. Now my mind brought back memories of our previous attempt as we descended some snow, traversed, ascended to another col, and picked our way down a rock face and ridge to reach a snowy col below the base of Thor.
It was at this time that Howie noted some gear stowed on the rocks hundreds of yards away. Soon we heard voices and realized another party was on the mountain, probably the owners of those trucks we had seen on the road. Hm-m-m, we didn’t think we would have to stand in line to climb Thor.
Nevertheless, we donned crampons again for a trudge up some hard snow to the base of the rock and started climbing. What followed was a very pleasant class four climb which we did comfortably in plastic boots without the use of rope for climbing or rappeling. We found that the climb of Thor is made up of three steps, none of which present any great difficulties. We began by scrambling up the ridge for 20-30′, then moved right or north for a short wall that I thought was the hardest part of the climb. Regaining the ridge, we travelled through a band of lighter-coloured rock, continuing until the ridge steepened and we made a detour to the left. At the second step, we traversed to the right and walked along ledges until we regained the ridge and descended about 40′. Here we met the other party which was from the ACC’s Calgary section who had hiked into Thor Creek for a week-long camp. From this point, we traversed left again, ascended the face (there are many possible routes), and regained the ridge.
Now, it was an easy scramble to the summit, which we reached at 2:30, 8 1/4 hours after starting. A look at the summit record showed that four or five parties had climbed Thor since the beginning of August; so much for the forbidding, inaccessible Gold Range. We also went through summit formalities by introducing ourselves to Chick Scott and his party of relatively inexperienced climbers and by taking group summit photos for them.
By this time I was beginning to feel the pain. The lack of water, my chocky bar resting like a slab of chalk in my throat, and a long descent spiced by the thought of getting benighted in the bush all gave me an anxious twinge. Well, better get moving.
The five-hour descent was straightforward and uneventful as we retraced our steps. Below the alpine section, we kept to the bush east of the rockslide, thinking that in our fatigued state, a misstep on the giant boulders would be disastrous. We reached the top of the skid road just as darkness fell and got back to the truck shortly after 8:00.
Although I was as tired as I have been for the last few years, I decided to drive back to Nelson. After all, it’s part of going on a trip with Howie to drive home after a strenuous day rather than camp. One disadvantage of this approach was that there was no place to get a meal after 9:00 between Nakusp and Nelson. The advantage was that, like a teenager, I learned to appreciate the virtues of Nelson’s 7-1l store at 1:30 am.
In summary, Thor was a 14-hour day for us. We travelled at a steady pace without too many breaks and were roped up only for glacier travel. My feeling is that the mountain is better to climb in July or August when there is more snow on the glacier and the days are longer. Whenever you go, it’s worth it.
As a final note, I would recommend reading Bob Dean’s account in the fall 1970 Karabiner of his climb of Thor with Howie. In those days just getting across Thor Creek could be an epic.
Kim Kratky