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Trip Report

After hiking Raspberry Ridge, Wietse and I decided we still had (just) enough energy to try for the summit of Gunnery Mountain and complete a 3 peak weekend. (We did Mount Burke the day before.)

Gunnery's slopes looked pretty much snow-free from the road so we dumped all extra gear including crampons and started heading up. The sun was warm and even though we were kind of tired we really enjoyed a nice steady climb - pretty much wind free on the lower slopes. Gunnery is only about 600m height gain so it didn't take long before we were topping out and heading towards the summit cairn.

We decided to take an alternate route down - as described by Gillean Dafferns 'Vol 2 - Hiking Trails'. This was probably not a really good choice, just because it was an unknown route and the day was getting late, but none-the-less we made it! The route was simple and we found a bit of trail to follow out between some steep cliffs. The walk back to the road was very pleasant and quite fast. A great little scramble for a day when you want more than 1 peak or just a small one!

Wietse heads up the lower slopes of Gunnery.

The slopes are dry and covered with growth lower down. No green leaves yet though!

There are a lot of dead trees on the way up - making for some fantastic photography opportunities.

The nasty weather to the west provides some good photo ops.

Another dead tree.

Looking down at the highway somewhere near the top.

Vern at the summit of Gunnery Mountain with Holy Cross in the background.

Holy Cross from the col between Gunnery and Holy Cross.

The trail on the way back down is rather pleasant.