The 10 most beautiful peaks in the Coast Mountains

[ScottPick]

Since this forum is slower than the US housing market I thought I'd post this mind-stimulating poll to get us through these dreary, rain-filled and mountainless days.

 

Name your top 10 list of the most beautiful, powerful, stunning and simply kick-ass peaks in the Coast Mountains. But here's the twist - you have to have had laid your own eyes on the peak. So don't work from a book or magazine or on-line picture. Rattle your "visual memory" and see what you come up with. I'm limiting my list to the mountains from Bella Coola south but if you have explored northwards and a peak is on your top 10 list, throw it in.

 

Here's my list:

 

1) Mt. Waddington

Have now been fortunate to see it from the ground 2x (Niuts and Pantheons) and 2x from the air, the second time being exceptionally close. From the northeast where it is most commonly seen it is not that attractive - a hump of ice with 3 summits, but when seen from the east and south/southwest it is a fantastic sight. And from due north (have to be over Hickson) it is also very spectacular. Its most dramatic flank is the SW one where it throws down dramatic walls capped by the spire-like main summit. Some pics from my collection:

 

 

 

 

 

2) Monarch Mountain

Have only seen it from a distance several times (from Niuts and Pantheons). I dream to see it up close. It looks wild from all angles, especially the northern side.

 

3) Mt. Queen Bess

Have seen it from the air and from near Whitesaddle Mtn. in the Nuits. Although from there it is only parlty visible it is a cray sight as evern from that distance its spire-like form is quite apparent. This peak is high on my hit list to photograph next summer.

 

 

4) Mt. Gilbert

Circled it several times a month ago from the air. Never seen it from the ground (few have!). The southern flank is beautiful granite - and tall - and surrounded by steep icefalls.

 

 

5) Combatant Mountain

Seen it from the land and air. Its northern side most commonly seen (Radiant glacier) is nice (all ice) but its S/SW side above the Wadd/Combatant col is simply the best rock wall I have ever seen.

 

 

6) Mt. Bell

Seen from the Nuits in 2006 and 2x from the air this year. A beautiful, high and nicely symetrical pyramid that if not so close to Geddes and Waddington would be far more famous.

 

7) Stiletto Needle

Only seen from the air. Is it BC's finest pinnacle of rock? Might just be!

 

8) Matterhorn Peak

Seen only from the Nusatsum Creek logging road out of Bella Coola. This area is one of the most rugged in all of the Coast Mountains.

 

9) Mt. Judge Howay

Seen lots of times. A singular, striking peak seen from almost everywhere in our part of the world. Hell I see it every day on my drive home from work. It looks like Vancouver's K2 to me and its so damn short! But it rises right out of sea level so its prominence is huge.

 

10)Nusatsum Mountain

This wild looking peak is prominent from the Bella Coola Valley, towering over 8,000 feet above with its summit being a small pointy spire.

 

Whew that was hard. So many peaks outside in SW BC are spectacular but really they do not compare to what is found in the "core" region in the wide arc around the Waddington Range.

 

What is your list?

 

 

 

 

[marc_leclerc]

1) Mt. Byamee and SE Ridge Towers

2) Mt. Waddington

3) Mt. Slesse and South Peak

4) Leda Peak

5) Crazy Peak

6) Canadian Border Peak

7) Yak Peak

8) Judge Howay

9) Mt. Geddes

10) Mt. Hardship

 

[G-spotter]

1) Mt. Byamee and SE Ridge Towers

2) Mt. Waddington

3) Mt. Slesse and South Peak

4) Leda Peak

5) Crazy Peak

6) Canadian Border Peak

7) Yak Peak

8) Judge Howay

9) Mt. Geddes

10) Mt. Hardship

 

three of those aren't even in the Coast Mountains

[marc_leclerc]

1) Mt. Byamee and SE Ridge Towers

2) Mt. Waddington

3) Mt. Slesse and South Peak

4) Leda Peak

5) Crazy Peak

6) Canadian Border Peak

7) Yak Peak

8) Judge Howay

9) Mt. Geddes

10) Mt. Hardship

 

three of those aren't even in the Coast Mountains

 

I think he meant Western B.C in general, obviously Yak C.B.P and Slesse are the three....

[G-spotter]

The Coast Mountains of BC are full of beautiful peaks, Limiting it to ten is hard.

 

First we have to ask: What makes a peak beautiful?

 

Look at the peaks around the globe universally recognized as beautiful. The Matterhorn, Assiniboine, Ama Dablam, Mount Fuji, Cerro Torre etc.

 

They are all dominant peaks that draw the eye. They don't have another peak just as high right next to them.

 

They are all pretty steep and pretty symmetrical - OK maybe Half Dome isn't and it's beautiful.

 

They are all inspiring - peaks you see and you want to climb.

 

So my list for top 10 in the Coast Mts.

 

1) Devils Thumb massif. Including the Cats Ears Spires and Witches Tits in that, otherwise Cats Ears by itself would also be in the top 4.

 

2) Wadd massif. From a distance it all looks like one peak, otherwise it wouldn't make my list. Seen from up close Wadd's not a very symmetrical or well-proportioned peak except from certain vantages, and having triple summits is a distraction.

 

3) The Apple River Spire. Not very big but pretty much my definition of a perfect mountain.

 

4) Needle Peaks. You see these things from 50, 60km away and go "What the hell is that? I want to climb that!"

 

5) Stiletto Needle. Same reason but it doesn't stand out from so far away.

 

6) Monarch. Not the shapliest mountain but so dominant in its location.

 

7) Desire Mountain. So well named. Hard to pick amongst the fringes of the Monarch, there are so many beautiful spires, but Desire has a cleanliness of form AND apparently really solid rock.

 

8) Hagwilget Peak. Oh shit yeah.

 

9) Silverthrone. Not all of the Coast Mts are these dreamy granite spires. Quite a bit is glaciated bumps or crumbly choss. Silverthrone manages to be both glaciated and volcanic and still beautiful.

 

10) I know I don't have the Judge, or Burkett Needle, anything from the Queen Bess or Chilko Lake areas. I was even thinking of putting Wahoo Tower on here. But I'm going to go with Black Tusk. It's so iconic.

 

 

[John_Scurlock]

a nod to Grenville, for much of the same as Silverthrone, tho not volcanic of course..

 

agree, a seemingly limitless number of possibilities come to mind, particularly when qualified as from a certain position or in a particular setting; Bell, Saugstad, Mist, Queen Bess to name a very few... & most of what has been mentioned covers only the southern CMs

 

& also most of these assume a particularly splendid character when seen in winter..

[G-spotter]

& most of what has been mentioned covers only the southern CMs

 

The problem with the Kitimat Ranges anyway, is that they were largely entirely overridden by Pleistocene glaciation, with no nunatak sticking out. This leads to long rounded ridges with steep sidewalls and a lack of really spectacular peaks that stick out above the general mass of rounded summits. The Boundary Ranges, Chilcotin Ranges, Lillooet Ranges and Pacific Ranges by and large do not have this same problem.

 

I would've liked to put Stanton, Pointer, Pagoda and Bute on my list as well.

 

John - the problem with winter is that all the snow sometimes disguises poor rock quality.

[jordop]

G-spotter said:

Bute

 

 Photo by Greg Jones:

Edited June 18, 2021 by jordop

[spotly]

I Googled "Apple River Spire" and couldn't come up with anything. Tell me more please

[G-spotter]

It's in Baldwin's "Mountains of the Coast" book. Look it up.

[Don_Serl]

whew! wish I'd responded before reading other's posts - hard to search the memory without stimulants, but better...

 

Waddington - huge, high, sprawling, steep, multi-charactered.

Monarch - high, isolated, challenging

Jacobsen - perfectly formed (east peak, from north)

Atna - superb snow aretes

Bute - what a fzcking amazing chunk of rock!

Queen Bess - the fang!

Razorback - awesome north face, visible from far and wide across the Chilcotin plateau to the north

Tatlow (Tsy'los) - wonderful symmetry; even more broadly visible from the Chilcotin

Merriam - the finest peak on Chilko Lake

Tisiphone - the epitome of glaciation

 

it'd be easy to do a completely separate top 10 for SW BC - it's awfully hard to leave Judge Howay off this list, for instance. and Roach. Currie. Garibaldi. Tantalus. Alpha. Ashlu. Urquhart. Joffre. Meager.

 

but tomorrow I'll feel differently, and the list will change...

 

cheers,

[marc_leclerc]

Bute

 

Butt ugly. Photo by Greg Jones:

 

I would love to walk up that snow arete in the middle of the pic! WOW!

[ScottPick]

Reading the responses jogged my mind and I'll add a "Runner-up list":

- Mt. Bute

- Pointer Peak

- Mt. Denman

- Beartooth Mtn.

- Klite Peak

- Mt. Good Hope

- Mt. Tantalus

- Mt. Stanton

- Mt. Raleigh

 

I have not seen them in person (bad weather while passing through Petersberg Alaska prevented it) but the Devils Thumb area needs to be at the very top of anyones' list. Also from the few pics I have seen on-line the Devil's Paw is crazy looking. And Fairweather is notable but I am not sure if this is still techincally the Coast Mountains?

[ScottPick]

Hagwilget Peak - googled it and oh ya have seen that one. Damn now I just remembered the near-by "7 sisters range" and these are something else - like a northern version of the Picket Range.

 

There's lots of kick-ass peaks in the Ecstall/Exchamiks (sp?) area to the SE of Prince Rupert. I remember seeing a John Clarke side show on this area many moons ago and oh boy it was scenic.

 

Apple River Spire. Good call. Flew over that one this summer but I didn't see the "famous" side of it. We flew over the east side and didn't realize until its too late that the "twisted/crooked spire" look is more on the SW side.

 

Seen the Needle Peaks from a LONG ways away so didn't really appreciate them. But I hear that they are well....needle like...which is like a good thing.

 

 

[ScottPick]

This is the Apple River Spire:

[John_Scurlock]

 

it'd be easy to do a completely separate top 10 for SW BC

 

but tomorrow I'll feel differently, and the list will change...

 

 

I have often reflected on the crossing of literally hundreds of km's of incredible alpine terrain to get to something that actually had a name... & also the realization (going into Bella Coola & looking out to the NW) that there was still another thousand km farther yet...

[AlpineK]

I don't think I could ever come up with 10 best.

 

Waddington, Combatant, and Queen Bess are all beautiful. Everything I saw skiing through the McBride range was beautiful.

 

I haven't spent nearly enough time in the Coast Range though.

 

A couple pics

 

Owls

 

Delilah

 

 

The display image I see every time I look at my computer is a view NW onto the Lillooet Icefield.