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Smuts Pass 

  • March 29, 2002
  • Elevation gain: 408 m
  • Ascent time: 4 hours
  • Descent time: 2 hours
  • 11km round trip

Snowshoeing with Mark.

We started out at 9:00 am - around 0 degrees C, sunny, extremely deep snow throughout. We took a wrong trail and ended up at Commonwealth Lake. We cut down a creek that led us to Commonwealth Creek and back on track. Clouds started to roll in and the sky was overcast for the rest of the day. 4 hours to the pass; the final 45 minutes was quite steep. At the Smuts/Birdwood col the weather was quite severe - high wind, blowing snow, extreme cold. Mount Smuts was quite spectacular although the cloud cover detracted from it a little and from the surrounding peaks (Birdwood, Commonwealth, The Fist). 2 hours return; we were both completely exhausted by the time we got back to the car. A very interesting and worthwhile day.

     
Heading towards the pass; The Fist is in the foreground and Mount Smuts is behind; Smuts pass is to the left of Mount Smuts
     

      
The clouds start to roll in; Mount Smuts is behind

 

    
The weather worsens; high winds, blowing snow, and severe cold made the final hour to the pass quite grueling

 

    
At Smuts Pass, with intimidating Mount Smuts behind

 

Smuts Pass attempt  

  • December 31, 2002
  • Round-trip distance: approx. 12 km
  • Round-trip time: approx. 7 hours

Snowshoeing with Stuart.

I wanted to return to Smuts Pass to check out the ascents of Smuts and Birdwood and to see the scenery we missed on our previous trip last March, because of heavy, low-lying clouds and severe weather.

 

We still haven't figured out how, but we took a wrong turn right at the beginning of the trip and ended up wasting at least an hour in the bush trying to find the trail. Eventually we did get back on track (still only a short distance form the car) and continued towards the pass in lightly falling snow.

 

As expected, the snow was very deep and motivation was low because increasing cloud made visibility poor. The clouds started to lift, however, and suddenly the weather was perfect. Birdwood, Commonwealth, and Smuts were stunning. Although my motivation to make the pass suddenly increased, the amount of remaining daylight hours was rapidly decreasing and 4.75 hours after leaving the car, we had to stop about 45 minutes to an hour short of our intended destination. A bitter failure as I'm sure the scenery up there would have been spectacular. Our return to the car took 2 hours and 10 minutes and I was dead tired at its conclusion. Overall, a good day.

No pictures for this trip

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