This whole stretch also involved more up-and-down than expected, such that by the time we made to just before the last bump we only had half an hour’s time left. We then backtracked and down-climbed onto the south side of the ridge crest and traversed some exposed ledges. We came to a dead-end with no obvious bypass and there’s where Holly pulled out the beta. After descending the NW Ridge we had to plod up and over a “jagged towers” section that none of us had done a lot of research about. The ridge was fun, but a bit more involved than expected.
We decided to make a loop traverse by going towards Horseman Hut area as per the scrambles book. I led us back across some ledges on the west side of a couple bumps to avoid unnecessary elevation regain. Without doing much lingering we quickly made our way back to the north shoulder of Blackcomb Peak.
Pattison and Tremor Mountain, the highest peaks on Spearhead Range Phalanx Mountain looks mysterious with the low clouds coming in and out Decker Mountain behind one of the Decker Lakes Holly and I on the summit of The Spearhead The very dry Spearhead Glacier is apparently a heli-ski paradise in winter Mt. Partial Summit Panorama from The Spearhead. This is looking towards Horseman Hut area from near Blackcomb/Spearhead col Holly posing in front of the two lakes near Decker Glacier Holly plodding up with Blackcomb Peak behind Holly nearing the summit of The Spearhead now Partial Summit Panorama from The Spearhead. The view was however, much better than from Blackcomb Peak. The last 50 vertical meters to the summit was a slog fest on talus field which was easy but not very enjoyable.
We stayed reasonably high on the ridge while traversing over those bumps but on the way back we stayed lower and bypassed some steps. There were a few minor bumps to traverse over and some class 2-3 scrambling was required. GPX DLįrom Blackcomb/Spearhead col we mostly just followed the connecting ridge to the SW flanks of The Spearhead. Blackcomb Peak (via Buttress), and The Spearhead loop. Earlier in the day we had taken the gondola up and climbed the “Blackcomb Buttress” on Blackcomb Peak which was an introductory level alpine climb. Regardless the season this peak can be easily combined with Blackcomb Peak to make a twofer and that’s exactly the plan between Holly and myself. The scramble is even written in Matt Gunn’s Scrambles in SW British Columbia. This summit can be easily done on skis or alternatively, in summer as a scramble. The Spearhead is the highest of the three summits immediately above Blackcomb Gondola in the Spearhead Range and because of the gondola this area is very accessible in both winter and summer.
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