Mount Bob

January 10, 2021

1716m

Merritt, BC

Mt. Bob is rather a forested bump that locates right next to Highway 5 on the stretch between Merritt and Kamloops. There’s nothing worth noting other than the fact it’s officially named, but to me being officially named is more than enough of a reason to drive all the way there and bag it. The south side of this peak had undergone heavy logging all the way to the very summit so all I needed was to pick a road and plod to the top. I chose to bag this peak in addition to the nearby Mt. Mabel to make a two-peak outing. These two summits are close enough to offer a combo but to pull them off in winter still requires a long day (~23 km) of snowshoeing.

Mt. Mabel and Mt. Bob snowshoe route. GPX DL

The ascent of Mt. Mabel had taken longer than expected due to the challenges in the forest but Mt. Bob did not require thrashing in the forest. I was a bit low on motivation at this point and the GPS map suggested that I was still 4 km away from the summit, but such was not an excuse for me. Upon rejoining the logging road I immediately turned right onto more untracked powder and started the long plod towards Mabel/Bob pass. Unfortunately the weather closed in quickly once I reached the pass and I got snowed on the last 2 km of the plod up the SE Ridge towards the summit.

My track on Mt. Mabel’s cut-block with Mt. Bob behind

Back onto the logging road after finishing Mt. Mabel

Plodding ahead on the untracked logging road…

My shadow and the uninspiring Mt. Bob

The low-angled winter sun behind Mt. Mabel

Partway up SE Ridge of Mt. Bob, looking back at the double summits of Mt. Mabel

A bit of views looking east before weather completely closed in

Passing a gigantic antenna structure about 1 km from the summit of Mt. Bob

Me on the summit of Mt. Bob

It was quite cold and windy up there and I kept my MEC Storm Degree parka on for the whole descent back down the SE Ridge towards Mabel/Bob pass until the wind died down. The precipitation did not stop but also didn’t get much worse. At this point I was about 8 km from the truck and all left was a couple hour’s worth of monotonous plodding. I kept the music on for the whole hike-out to kill time. I eventually had to turn on the head-lamp at the last 1 km and my round trip time was just over 8.5 hours covering almost 23 km of distance.

A couple hours of this. Nothing magic. Just need a peakbagger’s patience

This picture sums up the last kilometer of the death march.

I thought about cooking a ramen dinner at the parking lot but the heavy precipitation forced me to immediately drive down to Merritt for a more proper (and comfortable) dinner in the A&W. The precipitation had fortunately stopped at this point. I checked the road condition and it seemed like there wasn’t any event nor delay. The drive up and over Coquihalla Pass was better than expected and I eventually got back home at around 10 pm.