Guinn's Pass

Approved

Guinn's Pass and Peak at GR237374

April 10, 2004
Guinn's Pass height: 2,405 m (7,888 ft.)
GR237374 height: 2,606 m (9,548 ft.)
Elevation gain: 845 m to Guinn's Pass; additional 180 m to GR237374
Ascent time to Guinn's Pass: 2:40
Ascent time to GR237374: approx. 20-30 minutes
Descent time: 2:10
Round-trip distance: approx. 18.8 km

Solo hiking and snowshoeing.

I probably could have picked a more scenic trip, given the great weather forecast in just about every area, and as I was making my way along mundane Galatea Trail, I began to regret my choice of Guinn's Pass. However, once at the pass, I was rewarded with some pretty terrific, wintery views and it turned out to be a good choice after all. The 2 kilometre glissade on decent, didn't hurt matters either.

As stated, the 4.5 km trek along Galatea Creek offered only a few moments of interest, including some good views of South Kidd, and debris from a rather large avalanche, going right across the trail. Upon reaching the Guinn's Pass trail I put on my snowshoes, as the snow was still very deep and there was no evidence that anyone had been up to the Pass recently. After a short hike around a wide turn, the Pass and its long ascent slope came into view. The ascent gully was obviously still covered in deep snow, but ascending it was relatively easy with snowshoes, although long and tiring. About halfway up, the view really started to improve, when The Fortress, Mount Galatea, and the striking unnamed peak to the west of the Pass became visible.

At the Pass, the view was great. Most impressive was the snow-covered southwest aspect of Mount Bogart - showing the entire scramble route and the long 11 km approach. The summit at GR237374 was only about 20-30 minutes away and was worth the extra effort to get there. The view at the summit was slightly better than that of the Pass. Commonwealth Peak, Pig's Tail, and Mount Birdwood could now be seen through the gap in-between The Fortress and Galatea and the summit and ascent route of South Kidd were clearly visible. Also, of note in the panorama were the Wedge, the spiky points of the Opal Range, and Fisher Peak. I contemplated continuing on to the summit of South Kidd (for about 2 seconds!), but lacked the energy and motivation.

For a very rapid descent, the best way to go is back to the Pass and then glissade down the entire ascent slope. I chose to take a more direct route, descending scree slopes towards a lower point of the ascent gully. In retrospect, returning to the Pass would have been easier, however, a large herd of bighorn sheep with their young were now blocking the route and I didn't want to disturb them. When I finally got back to the gully to do the lengthy glissade, I realized I had left my most important piece of equipment in the car....my Crazy Carpet! Fortunately, the terrain was steep enough for me to glissade down for a good kilometre, before the heat of the sun had softened the snow enough to stop the glissade. With my Crazy Carpet, I could have continued down to the bottom in no time (make sure you know how to use an ice axe if you are going to do this glissade). The remainder of the trip was uneventful. Overall, a fantastic day of weather and surprisingly good scenery (only when you are almost to the Pass, however!). This is a great time of the year to do the ascent. The potential 2 km glissade is a blast!