Guanaco Peak

October 15, 2015

2127m

Coquihalla Pass, BC

After successfully ascending Vicuna Peak, Vlad and I immediately focused on the nearby Guanaco Peak. This peak although marginally higher than Vicuna Peak, isn’t nearly as appealing to climbers as its neighbour. Getting to the summit is a mere plod from Vicuna/Guanaco col, but nonetheless it’s a great vantage point of the Coquihalla area and for peak-baggers like myself it makes perfect sense to combine the two together.

Vicuna Peak and Guanaco Peak scramble route. GPX DL

From Vicuna/Guanaco col it’s an “easy scramble” to the summit with some brief route-finding. There’s a path and a few cairns marking the route but there’s also plenty of opportunity to make the ascent harder. It didn’t take us long to arrive at the broad summit where we took a long break.

Guanaco Peak from the col

Guanaco Peak from the col

Hiking up some typical terrain

Hiking up some typical terrain

Looking back towards Vicuna Peak

Looking back towards Vicuna Peak

Almost there

Almost there

Partial summit panorama from Guanaco Peak. Click to view large size.

Partial summit panorama from Guanaco Peak. Click to view large size.

Partial summit panorama from Guanaco Peak. Click to view large size.

Partial summit panorama from Guanaco Peak. Click to view large size.

Vicuna Peak

Vicuna Peak

A closer look at Vicuna's summit block

A closer look at Vicuna’s summit block

Steinbok, Ibex and Chamois Peaks

Steinbok, Ibex and Chamois Peaks

Nak Peak and Yak Peak in the foreground. Coquihalla Mountain behind

Nak Peak and Yak Peak in the foreground. Coquihalla Mountain behind

Mt. Baker in the distance

Mt. Baker in the distance

The forested peak in the foreground is Zum Peak

The forested peak in the foreground is Zum Peak

July Mountain in the distance

July Mountain in the distance

Looking south-east towards Princeton and the Interior Plateau

Looking south-east towards Princeton and the Interior Plateau

Rolling hills

Rolling hills

Me on the summit of Guanaco Peak

Me on the summit of Guanaco Peak

On the descent we opted to make a short-cut rather than retracing all the way back down to Vicuna/Guanaco col. This proved to be a good choice and we got to explore an area with some giant staircases. Back onto the trail the rest of the descent was relatively uneventful except for some muddy post-holing on that swampy section.

Looking back towards Guanaco Peak

Looking back towards Guanaco Peak

Vlad hiking down

Vlad hiking down

Looking over the shoulder of Guanaco

Looking over the shoulder of Guanaco

Vlad descending some giant staircases

Vlad descending some giant staircases

And then, the natural staircases

And then, the natural staircases

Back onto the trail

Back onto the trail

One of the few creek crossings on the road

One of the few creek crossings on the road

The logging road walk at the end

The logging road walk at the end

Back to the Jeep our round trip time was about 6.5 hours which was as expected. Simon finished his trip about 1 hour earlier than us and he did get to explore Zum Peak as well as a bump further along the ridge. On the drive out the Jeep was making some weird noises near the front wheel but we couldn’t quite figure out the problem. Back onto the highway it was still making some noises but didn’t get worse. Overall it was a great introductory to the Coquihalla area and there’re many more nice-looking granite spires to come back for.