Mt. Gimli / South Ridge – Vol.01

approaching to Gimli South Ridge climbing route

This is a part of my two-week climbing trip. You can find multiple blog posts from this trip.
Please search for “2020rocktrip” in my blog search.

July 4th, we left Banbury Green RV Park in Skaha to go to Valhalla Provincial Park. It was our final destination on this climbing trip.

We took HWY 97 northbound via Kelowna and Vernon, because we needed to go to MEC in Kelowna to buy some mountaineering gears. It is closer to use HWY 3 to get to Valhalla Provincial Park. It would be an hour difference between these two HWYs.

We left Skaha at 7:00am, so that we can stop at some scenic spot and cafes. I like coffees and usually try to find local cafes on any trips.

We found this lovely cafe, The Bright Jenny in Kelowna. Its backyard was comfortable space. After we finished shopping at MEC, we left Kelowna around 11:00am. We turned east at Vernon onto HWY6. Two hours and a half driving got us to a ferry dock at Needles. It is a free ride to the other side of Upper Arrow Lake and only about 15 minutes ferry ride. Then an hour and a half driving got us to Slocan.

Slocan is a mountain town located at the south end of Slocan lake. It is a small town and not much to do except enjoying the lake. I suggest to get your food or any necessary stuff before getting Slocan.

Accesses to Gimli trailhead starts from the village of Slocan. Take Little Slocan FSR towards southwest and turn right onto Bannock Burn FSR, then follow blue Valhalla Park signs. Bannock Burn FSR gets steeper and has deep holes and waterbars, so make sure your vehicle is high clearance. The trailhead parking is at 1700m elevation, and you can see Mount Gimli.

We parked our vehicle near the last switchback before the parking, so we could put a tent and get ready for next day.

We wanted to spend more days at Skaha bluffs, but weather has changed. July 5th was our only chance to climb Mount Gimli South Ridge during our two weeks trip, so we decided to climb Gimli in one day starting from the parking lot. We originally planned to stay at Gimli base camp for a couple of days, so we can climb other routes and do some hiking. Not this time, Unfortunately…

Approach to the base of Gimli South Ridge is about 4km on a well traveled trail with 750m elevation gain. The Climbing route is 300m. As some of us were their first time for alpine climbing, we decided to start early.

We woke up at 2:15AM and got coffee ready immediately. We taped our hands here, so we can leave unnecessary gears to save our pack weight. Then we started by 3:15AM. The first half of the trail is in an old growth forest, and it eventually opened up. It got steep before getting to sub alpine, and the view got better.

I got to stop multiple times to snap some photos. It was too beautiful to ignore them. Beautiful alpine mountains in our front and burning sky in the back. Thsese views worth the 2:00AM alarm.

We came above tree line by 5:00AM. There were some snow patches and wet section, but it was not too bad. The Gimli base camp is very close from here. It was about 30 minutes to the camp. We stopped for washroom and checked the campsite. There were 5 to 7 tents and also some mountain goats were sleeping as well.