Sep 12, 2020
Scrambled Mount Gillespie summit, 2018 m, 14.5 km return, 760 m net elevation gain, 1240 m cumulative elevation gain, 11 hours car to car. We drove Mamquam River FSR spur E100 and E112 almost to the end, parking at about 1300 m elevation just a couple hundred meters before the Pinecone trail head. The trail is visible with occasional trail marks until the alpine, where you have to do path finding. There are a lot of up and downs on the Pinecone trail with significant elevation gain on return. We descended to the pocket glacier on the slabs to the right to avoid walking on icy glacier around the tarn without ice crampons. The crux was gaining the Gillespie ridge from the Seed - Gillespie saddle, a steep Class 3 scramble with possible Class 4 moves to avoid loose rocks. The Mt. Gillespie ridge walk was scenic and relatively easy. The summit block looked sketchy from a distance, but turned out an easy scramble on obvious grassy steps and ledges. We spent almost an hour at the summit enjoying breathtaking panoramic views. We had GPS track from Livetrails leading onto a Pinecone (?) glacier and a north ridge, which we did not follow, as we assumed it was a winter route, and we did not carry ice crampons and ice axe. The north ridge approach looked like an easier Class 2 scramble from the summit. On the way down we met a hiker who ascended Mt. Gillespie summit via glacier and the north ridge and descended via the west ridge with us. Descending the crux was the most challenging part of the hike due to loose rocks/scree. There is an alternative path marked by a cairn on loose scree. I chose slabs, my husband chose loose scree, neither of us was happy, but we managed to pick a line to descend the crux without sliding. There is no good way down this ridge, so pick your poison/line and proceed with caution. The glacier route has a steep snow section (drop off from the saddle) at the beginning, which requires an ice axe/ice crampons to descend/ascend safely. Helmet is a good idea for this hike.
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