Gap Mountain -- Sep 2, 2007

Elevation Gain: 780 meters (2558 feet)

Climbed by: me solo.

I climbed this one because Mark and I were supposed to do our Fortress-Gusty dynamic duo, but something happened and signals got crossed, and Mark wasn't ready.

Since I was up and ready to climb something, I decided to check Gap Mountain off my list.

Finding the mountain was no problem. Just drive down Highway 40 to Little Highwood day-use area. Walk down the old Valleyview Trail road, which is blocked off, til you get to the "twisty road" sign. Walk past it about 30 meters, and you'll see a trail taking off to the right.

I didn't find the trail til my walk back to the parking lot. It's probably lots easier than my route, which was through the bush. Head toward the col and slog up the hill, or follow the trail. The direct route is pretty steep, but takes care of a big chunk of your vertical in a hurry. I can't vouch for the trail-route, but I recall scoping it out jealously from the opposite side of the drainage. I'd stick to the trail next time, I think.

From the col there is an obvious trail that gets less obvious as it goes up. I doubt I was "on route" for much of my journey to the summit, but I had fun and managed to avoid, unintentionally, the "difficult" part, the exposed traverse. I think I might have climbed up to the right of it (Kane's description hints at this, and most people have probably done it that way, leaving an obvious trail which I blindly followed), though I did keep an eye out for said traverse, and never found it. I'd like to go back to see if I can find the difficult section someday.

Once you get to the top, there is a short but fun ridge to walk across. It looks worse in the photos than it actually is, but I *like* ridge walks, so you might want to take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Come down more or less the way you came up, or, if you like, you can follow the worn-in trail which is more obvious from above than below.