Mt Gimli South Ridge

Trip: Mt. Gimli - South Ridge, 8 Pitch 5.10A

Date: 8/10/2014

Trip Report:
Henrik and I were able to start a week long peak bagging trip off with a memorable climb up Mt. Gimli's imposing South ridge. We opted, due to our late arrival at the trail head, to sleep in the truck and simply day trip Gimli. With the alarms firing off @3:45 we found ourselves geared up and moving @4:30. The hike in is straight forward, and we soon found ourselves starring at the day's climbing objective: the imposing South Ridge of Mt. Gimli.


For those who arrive a little earlier there's a fantastic bivy/camp site minutes away from the start of the climb. At 6:15 we found ourselves gearing up at the col. Gimli does see traffic on the weekends, fortunately there was just one other party climbing the route. After meeting several of the local goats, we found ourselves behind a party of two.


At 7:30 we set sail on the route, Henrik lead the first pitch, which is definitely the hardest on the route. It's steep and deep right off the deck. Here I am making my way up the first pitch:



The climbing eases off on the second pitch, here I am on lead:



The are sections where the climbing gets airy and exposed- here's Henrik leaving the belay and starting the 3'rd pitch. Thanks to Gavi and co. as they allowed Henrik and I pass them!


The climbing on Gimli is great, the rock is good old solid granite, which means crack climbing. Here I am leading the 6'th pitch.



Atop the fourth pitch is an excellent/flat belay station...good spot to have lunch- Henrik captured the group of us after he set up an anchor atop the 5'th pitch: 


The route has been graded 5.8++, or simply 5.10A. The first pitch felt 5.9/5.10A, and high up there is a roof move on the 7'th pitch that is definitely 5.10. Here's Henrik dealing with the 10.A crux in style:


A look down at me belaying Henrik on the 7'th pitch:



Once past the roof, which is visible from the campsite, the route eases off to some degree...there's a few 5.7 moves here and there.



After 8 pitches of climbing we put the rope away and scrambled our way to Gimli's summit. After 6.5 hours of climbing glorious granite we found ourselves atop Mt. Gimli. A nice bonus with this route is the decent down the 3'rd class East ridge. After relaxing at the summit we cruised down the East ridge and found ourselves back at the col @ 4:00. The decent back to the parking lot is straight forward, around 5:30 we were at the parking lot and planning where we were going to drink beer later that night! Round trip was 13 hours- with one hour waiting at the base as the other party climbed the first pitch.




Gear Notes:
Full range of cams to #3, doubles from yellow metalious thru #2
Full set of walnuts 
Alpine slings: shoulder length x8, double shoulder x2, 2 screamers 
We used half/twin ropes, though you could use a single, as the route doesn't wander too much. Half ropes if you feel you might be bailing off! You know what you're in for on the first pitch
We climbed with a small lead pack and larger second pack, made the lead work a lot easier!
I remember placing more small and mid sized cams, I'd probably not double the #2 again...we had a couple link cams which were handy on most of the pitches.

Approach Notes:
Drive to Slocan B.C, a small town on the South side of Slocan Lake...take the logging roads to Valhalla Provincial Park (aprox 1 hour). Depending on time of year and seasonal snow pack boots may or may not be required- we wore approach shoes (they take up a lot less space in your pack than mountaineering boots).