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Saint Vincent Peak

 Saint Vincent Peak - 1122M

666M prominence

49.866089 -124.106386

March 30, 2025

4H 10M C2C, 4H Moving

812M Elevation Gain

This peak is definitely not at the top of anyone's list. I had never heard of anyone even making an attempt at it, but how hard could it be. Yet again I was unable to find a partner for other snow related activities, and I was dying to get out after multiple stagnant weekends of rain. This is one of the red dots on the Peakbagger app in the Qathet area that has been bothering me most. It also has 666M of prominence and it is not as shameful of a day out as it may appear at a glance. I sketched out a route on Gaia the night before and then the following morning I got a relatively early start. I had no idea how involved this outing would be, so I wanted to give myself ample time. I drove up Lois main from Canoe Route main, all the way to the end of the road. The road was freshly topped with crush as there is lots of hauling out of this area at the moment, so the drive in was quite pleasant. After the roads intersected to numerous cut blocks, I drove the truck to around 450M and parked as high as I could. This was already not where I had planned to start, but it was a good choice in the long run. The parking spot already started to show views across Jervis inlet. I left the truck, and immediately after crawling over a few downed trees I was making my way through fantastic old growth. The bush whack was non existent. Shortly after, a more mossy covered bluff area started to open up. I made my way up the wet moss being careful not to slip off of it, which was quite simple and made easy by grabbing some low lying brush. After a while of ascending the moss, I traversed right and down into a bit of a gulley where a small stream ran. I made my way up this gulley more or less following the stream, this led to the top of the gulley, where a Heli logging cut block sat. I got a bit side tracked when I got to this point, and dove into the cut block for a little while. It was at this point where snow started to appear. I quickly realized that I was moving slow as molasses in this terrain and could see the old growth forest, so I made my way back into the more pleasant terrain and kept plugging away. I kept working my way through more level terrain towards the steeper section that gave me the most curiosity when looking at maps yesterday. Before I arrived at said section though, a battle with some nasty thickets lie ahead. I don't believe this would have been as bad if it were summer time, but there was significantly more snow than I had anticipated. In the thickets, I had no snowshoes, I battled out post holing to my waist every other step. The snow was already soft to begin with and every tree well was so close together. It was seriously unpleasant, and I was getting soaked to the bone in my runners. I almost called it, but I decided that it would probably be worth the battle. Thankfully the pesky trees stopped after a while, and they took me to the base of a quite daunting head wall. There was no way I was ascending this wall without climbing gear. I started to make my way to the right of the wall to see if there was any way up on the East side, but the drop off continued. I had one final look to the left of the chunky wall and found a potential route up after crossing a rock slide. It looked reasonable. I put my helmet on, and stayed alert while pulling my way up the wet and snow covered rocks for a few more scrambly moves. The terrain then leveled out after this section, and I walked the snowy ridge to the summit. Occasionally an opening in the trees would lead to a clear view over Jervis Inlet, or a good view of the Knuckleheads on the other side. The summit was not the most obvious as there was trees blocking any views from the terrain immediately around it. I then made my way back to a spot with a decent view and had a bite to eat before making my way down. The crux on the downclimb was not as bad as I had remembered it being on the way up. The thickets were just as bad though. The rest of the way back consisted of following my track from the way up. I cut off the few detours and short stint in the cut block from the way up. I made it back down to the truck in an hour and 40 minutes. 

Mossy covered bluff



















Old growth in the stream gulley



















Fog over Jervis inlet in the morning















Far far down the same ridge, Diadem Mountain















Crawling through the thickets




















The steep wall I was not going to climb




















My way around the wall




















Big Knuckle to the North West




















On the summit ridge















Me on the summit















Views into Jervis Inlet















Hotham Sound










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