Snowshoe Peak

BOU AVENUE
Snowshoe Peak

Despite a stellar weather forecast for the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, recent snowfall in the Canadian Rockies prompted me to look elsewhere for a suitably sexy peak-bagging objective. After doing some research, I chose Snowshoe Peak in Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness because nearby webcams showed that there was probably significantly less snow there. The shortest ascent route is from the east via Leigh Lake, but this route entails some Class 4 scrambling. We opted to try a longer but technically easier route from the west via Snowshoe Lake as described in summitpost.org. While it is possible to do this route as a very long day trip, we decided to bring camping gear in order to make it a more relaxed overnight trip.

From Highway 56 (Bull River Road), turn east onto Forest Service Road (FSR) 410 (South Fork Bull River Road, 2WD gravel), 30.0 kilometres south of the junction with Highway 2 or 26.0 kilometres north of the junction with Highway 200. Drive 2.1 kilometres and keep right at a split. Drive another 1.4 kilometres and park in a small pullout on the south side of the road. The signed trailhead is on the north side of the road opposite the pullout.

After spending the previous night at a nearby highway rest area, Zosia Zgolak and I had a short and easy drive to the trailhead on the morning of 7 October 2023 and promptly set off along North Fork Bull River Trail #972. The trail runs briefly through forest (keep left at the junction with Trail #978) before merging with an old access road (FSR 2722) that used to be drivable before it was effectively cut off from FSR 410 by a major washout. The old access road ultimately ends, but the well-built Trail #972 continues for another 4.5 kilometres up the valley until a split at Verdun Creek. The right fork is the correct way to Snowshoe Lake, but the trail deteriorates significantly past the split. At this point, the trail is more of an overgrown beaten path with lots of annoying ups and downs. Hiking this section of trail was an exasperating thrash that felt wearisome and never-ending especially with a heavy pack. About 2.5 kilometres past the split, we arrived at the base of a headwall guarding the access to Snowshoe Lake. We somehow lost the trail here and briefly endured some unpleasant bushwhacking to get past the lower tangle of vegetation. We then scrambled up some uncomfortably tilted rock slabs, and confirming what the summitpost.org author said, this route would be highly questionable in snowy or wet conditions. Cairns at the top of the headwall led us depressingly into more forest, but we soon arrived at Snowshoe Lake where we proceeded to set up camp along the northeast shore.

	Zosia completes a self-registration at the start of the hike.
	Most of the approach along North Fork Bull River is like this.
	The vegetation begins to encroach on the trail further up the valley.
	The trail eventually deteriorates into an unmaintained beaten path with lots of inconvenient deadfall and annoying dips. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	A steep headwall guards the approach to Snowshoe Lake.
	At the base of the headwall, Sonny loses the trail and thrashes through some pretty heinous bush. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Partway up the headwall, Zosia scrambles up rock slabs which are much steeper than they appear here.
	Near the top of the headwall, the angle eases, but there is still a little bit of climbing left before the lake.
	Zosia arrives at Snowshoe Lake.

The hike to Snowshoe Lake had taken us much longer than I had anticipated (about 6.5 hours), and although I was already fatigued, I felt compelled to try and tag the summit of Snowshoe Peak that same afternoon so that we could have a more leisurely exit the next day. After securing our campsite, Zosia and I hiked to the east end of the lake and followed a creek upstream into a vast rocky basin. In my haste to organize this trip, I had forgotten to download an available GPS track for our route, and I had even neglected to bring a copy of the summitpost.org route description. Consequently, I was uncertain about where exactly to climb out of the basin onto the skyline ridge. We were faced with two possibilities--a ramp-like rubble slope or a larch-dotted bench. In the end, we chose the rubble slope because the larch-dotted bench looked like it harboured some impassable cliffs. This initially worked out well as we made good progress on the rubble, but as we climbed higher, the slope alarmingly became steeper and looser. As we ascended, we gravitated toward a gully feature that looked more promising from far below than up close. Sure enough, the rubble here was horrendously loose, and we quickly abandoned the gully to climber's left by scrambling over an exposed rock band which would have been tricky to down-climb. A little further up, we had one more challenging step to surmount before we finally gained the crest of Snowshoe Peak's west ridge. From there, we still had some route-finding challenges as we made our way up the ridge, but staying to climber's right of the crest worked well in keeping us in mostly Class 2 terrain. By the time we staggered onto the summit, the sun was already low on the horizon, and as such, we only stayed long enough to catch our breath, take a few quick photos, and sign the register before starting down.

	Zosia hikes into the basin above the lake. The best route to gain the ridge above is to follow the larches at centre.
	A herd of sheep scamper across the far side of the basin. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Zosia climbs up a rubble slope alongside some cliffs.
	Zosia tries to avoid some snow patches higher up the rubble slope.
	Zosia scrambles up a slightly exposed rock slab.
	Zosia gains the west ridge of Snowshoe Peak.
	Zosia avoids more technical terrain by keeping to climber's right while ascending the west ridge.
	Zosia and Sonny stand on the summit of Snowshoe Peak (2665 metres).
	Snowshoe Peak's shadow stretches far beyond Leigh Lake to the east.

Probably need to be on the "A-Team" to climb it!

The pointy mountain to the northwest has a peculiar name--A Peak.

Look at all them larches in the basin below!

To the northeast, the tops of Flavel Ridge (left of centre) and Bockman Peak (right) are still illuminated by the sun.

As we backtracked down the west ridge, Zosia and I were already contemplating an alternate descent route. Having already come up the undeniably difficult ramp-like rubble slope, I was fairly confident that the larch-dotted bench was the actual correct route. The only question was whether we would have enough light left to navigate through any potential difficulties. Past where we originally gained the ridge crest, we scrambled over a rock outcrop before dropping down through a forest of golden larches. Hiking was easy here since the slope was not too steep. Lower down, we ran into a big cliff band which might be considered the crux of this route. Fortunately, we could still see well enough to find a reasonable way down (Class 3 with some mild exposure). By the time it got dark enough for us to turn on our headlamps, we were already past all difficulties and only had to contend with all the tedious rubble in the rocky basin. Getting down to the lake took an inordinately long time, but we eventually hit the lakeshore trail and were back at our campsite shortly thereafter. Our round-trip time to the summit from camp was 5 hours and 45 minutes--again, far longer than I had anticipated. Regardless, we had no mishaps and made it back to camp safely in the dark. We subsequently had dinner before securing our food and retiring to our tent for a well-deserved long sleep.

The west ridge glows as the sun begins to set.

There's a calculated risk of getting cliffed out after darkness falls...

Zosia heads for the golden larches in hopes of finding an easier way off the ridge.

	Sonny hikes past a stand of golden larches on his way down. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Back in camp, Sonny tries to choke down a huge sandwich for dinner. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

On the morning of 8 October 2023, Zosia was up early as usual while I slept in until I was satisfactorily rested. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast beside Snowshoe Lake before striking camp and packing up. On our hike out, we managed to follow a steep but well-defined route all the way down the headwall and thus avoided the terrible bushwhack we had the previous day. The beaten path section from the headwall to Verdun Creek was a little more tolerable since I knew with each passing step that I would never pass this way again. When we regained Trail #972 at the split, we stopped for a short break before resuming our egress. Although we had no further issues, the remaining hike back to the trailhead still took us two and a quarter hours. Upon returning to the trailhead, we quickly threw our packs in the car and drove out to the highway rest area where we had slept two nights earlier. The rest area was a great place to air out our camping gear and refresh ourselves after a long hike.

	The next morning, Zosia eats breakfast beside Snowshoe Lake.
	Zosia carefully descends a crack along a steep slab of rock on the headwall.
	This is the cairn that Sonny missed the day before at the bottom of the headwall. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	A highway rest area is a great place to air out and re-organize camping gear. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Total Distance: 28.2 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 31 hours 14 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain: 1907 metres GPX Data

Once we were suitably refreshed, Zosia and I drove to J. Neils Memorial Park in the nearby city of Libby where we enjoyed a modest but satisfying Thanksgiving dinner followed by a delightful round of disc golf. We wrapped up the day by driving to Dunn Creek Flats Recreation Area near the Libby Dam to camp for the night.

	At J. Neils Memorial Park in Libby, Montana, Zosia prepares to eat a Thanksgiving dinner consisting of roasted and fried chicken, broccoli salad, popcorn, and pumpkin pie. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	This is the second time that Sonny and Zosia have played the disc golf course at J. Neils Memorial Park.
	Three wild turkeys run for their lives alongside Highway 37. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Sonny gives thumbs up to the free campsite at Dunn Creek Flats Recreation Area. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak