Remora Peak

July 12, 2021

2723m

Manatee Range, BC

Remora Peak is a small summit right next to Manatee Peak that boasts hardly any prominence but this peak does have a cool-looking north face and an impressive “north buttress”. To ascend this peak is an easy scramble from Remora/Manatee col via the east ridge. The rock quality in this group of peaks is not nearly as good as on Wahoo Tower further to the north and parties that came all the way to this remote area were likely on skis as part of some traverses. I did this as a simple add-on to the Wahoo Tower trip. This was already the 3rd day of the expedition. Jason and Rob decided to walk around Remora Peak to aim directly at the planned camp at the toe of Elaho Glacier while Ellie and I opted to take a high route over Remora/Manatee col, mostly because I needed to bag Manatee Peak in this trip.

Our routes on Wahoo Tower and Manatee Range group. GPX DL

Ellie and I roped up for the crossing of Manatee Glacier as it looked to be a serious one towards the high col. Even while crossing this main icefield we encountered a lot of small cracks. As we ascended higher towards Remora/Manatee col we easily weaved around some major crevasses on the lower slopes but the challenge was actually the top section that was not visible from our earlier camp. We stayed a bit too far on climber’s left and had to hop across a few cracks and probe like crazy because the snow was generally thin and not supportive. Overall I wouldn’t say this was a difficult navigation but we did have to focus 100% especially with just two people in the rope team. To gain the actual col we also had to scramble a section of very loose choss, which was unpleasant but not difficult.

Ellie down on Manatee Glacier now with Wahoo Tower behind

The impressive north buttress of Remora Peak. Wonder if it’s been climbed

Me leading across Manatee Glacier with Manatee Peak ahead.

Gaining the steep glacier towards Remora/Manatee col now

The original plan was for the two of us to scramble Manatee Peak together and Remora Peak was just an add-on, so Ellie decided to stay back to sort out the rope. I figured the ascent of Remora Peak wouldn’t take more than 20 minutes round trip from this col, so pressed on to tag the summit. There was some cool scrambling on limestone near the summit but otherwise it’s just a plod. And once back to the col we carried on towards Manatee Peak.