Mount Bill Nye (Tracy Peak)

BOU AVENUE
Mount Bill Nye (Tracy Peak)

On 2 July 2023, Eric Boiral, Leslie Pryslak, Zosia Zgolak and I climbed the highest summit of Mount Bill Nye near Fort Steele, British Columbia. Joining us were Eric's daughter, Charlotte, and her dog, Zoe. Similar to nearby Lakit Mountain, there is a lot of confusion regarding the official location of Mount Bill Nye's summit due to discrepancies between different maps and naming authorities. I have previously addressed this in my trip reports from other local mountains such as Teepee Mountain and Mount Baker, and the issue is also discussed in Bivouac.com which attributes the unofficial name, "Tracy Peak", to the highest summit. This name is derived from the officially-named creek which is fed from the basin just to the north of the summit. In any case, the route we used was similar to a GPS track published by Brandon Boulier in peakbagger.com.

Turn east onto Wasa Lake Park Drive from Highway 93/95, 5.5 kilometres south of the junction with Highway 95A or 18.0 kilometres north of the junction with Wardner Fort Steele Road. Drive 500 metres and turn right onto Lazy Lake Road. Drive 10.0 kilometres and veer right onto gravel Lewis Creek Road. Drive 5.4 kilometres and turn right. Drive 1.6 kilometres and keep right. Drive 2.1 kilometres and keep left. Drive 1.6 kilometres to the trailhead for Teepee Mountain and keep right. Drive 2.2 kilometres and keep right. Drive 5.6 kilometres to a scenic pullout in front of a locked gate (there are some grave markers just below the pullout). Park here. In dry conditions, the 18.5 kilometres total of gravel roads are suitable for 2WD vehicles, but high clearance always helps.

The locked gate surprised me a bit since previous ascensionists had been able to drive all the way into the basin. Undeterred, Charlotte, Eric, Leslie, Zosia, Zoe and I walked the remaining 3.6 kilometres of gravel road which would be easily doable on a bicycle. The maze of roads in the basin can be a bit confusing to navigate, but ultimately, we abandoned them and hiked through light bush to reach scree slopes along the northwest ridge of Tracy Peak. Ascending these scree slopes was easy at first, but as we climbed higher, the terrain became both steeper and looser. The worst were the eroded areas where we had to rely mostly on friction to keep ourselves from sliding out of control. Fortunately, we all managed to scramble onto the ridge crest without serious mishaps. Just when I thought we were past all difficulties though, we somehow got suckered into following a trail which traverses southward well below the ridge crest before petering out in a shallow gully. We were then forced into another steep grunt to regain the ridge crest, but thankfully, the terrain was not as loose here and provided much better footing. Upon regaining the ridge crest, we followed beaten paths up the summit block to finish our ascent.

Content with just tagging Tracy Peak, Charlotte, Eric, Leslie, Zosia, Zoe and I descended the summit block and followed the crest of the northwest ridge back to where we originally gained it. Admittedly, the eroded slopes here all looked rather intimidating to descend, but Eric and Leslie did not waste any time in starting down. The rest of us walked a little further along the ridge crest until we were pretty much forced to descend the last reasonable gully available. Charlotte, Zosia and I stuck close to each other as we descended in order to minimize rockfall while Zoe, being more sure-footed with her four legs, kept running up and down between the three of us. Our progress was painfully slow at first, but once we reached better quality scree lower down, we were able to pick up the pace more confidently. Amazingly, we all made it down in one piece, and after reuniting with Eric and Leslie, we all hiked back to the locked gate along the road without further grief.

A big thank you goes out to Eric for his impeccable driving to get us there and back safely.

	A locked gate prevents driving further into the basin north of Mount Bill Nye.
	Tracy Peak, the highest summit of Mount Bill Nye, is visible at centre.
	These scree slopes look innocuous enough from the bottom.
	This is looking back down into the basin from partway up the scree slopes.
	The terrain becomes steeper and treacherously looser as Zosia climbs higher.
	The group gains the northwest ridge of Tracy Peak.
	The group inadvertently follows a trail that dead-ends at the gully ahead.
	A beaten path runs up the summit block of Tracy Peak.
	Here is a look back at the top of Tracy Peak from the east end of the summit ridge.
	The view to the south is mostly dominated by Lakit Mountain (right), but also visible at distant left is Mount Fisher.
	In this view to the north, the most noticeable peak on the horizon is Teepee Mountain (left of centre).
	Sonny, Charlotte, Zoe, Zosia, Leslie and Eric relax on top of Tracy Peak (2654 metres), the highest summit of Mount Bill Nye.
	Zosia wanders out to the east end of the summit ridge.

How did we miss those two trails at left on the way up?

Leslie follows Eric down the northwest ridge.

	Charlotte follows Zosia looking for an easier place to drop off the ridge crest.
	Sonny commits to descending this gully full of very loose rocks. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Charlotte and Zosia cautiously muddle their way down the upper part of the descent gully.
	Charlotte is back on easier ground after descending the gully just left of centre.
	Here is a last look at Tracy Peak in the distance as Leslie shows off her pistol fingers while Sonny acts like Fonzie. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Total Distance: 11.7 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 7 hours 14 minutes Net Elevation Gain: 856 metres GPX Data