September just kept on providing beautiful weather so with the help of the Whistler gondola, I headed to Russet Lake via the Musical Bumps, planning to climb Overlord Mountain the next day before hiking back down to Whistler Village via the Fitzsimmons Creek trail.
For such a nice day, I was surprised when I didn't encounter a single other person from about 2km beyond the Roundhouse all the way to Russet Lake - solitude on the Musical Bumps is unexpected.
There has been a lot of construction since I was last up here in 2000: a new chair lift up Piccolo summit (Symphony Express), a few new HUGE signs, and a pole "fence" marking the boundary between the ski area and Garibaldi Park.
Himmelsbach Hut at Russet Lake.
Sunset on Fissile Peak at Russet Lake campground.
The next morning was clear and cold, and I left the warmth of my sleeping bag just before 8am on my way to climb Overlord Mountain. To avoid the glacier between Fissile and Whirlwind peaks you must ascend the long and steep west ridge of Whirlwind Peak. Access to the ridge can be challenging, but at this time of year there were two easy routes up.
Assessing the ridge; Cheakamus Glacier in the background.
The route up Whirlwind Peak is an easy scramble.
Whirlwind summit.
The climb from Russet Lake to Whirlwind summit was about 550m elevation gain in 1.25 hours.
The easy-moderate scrambling route from Whirlwind to Overlord was made a little more challenging by several centimetres of new snow (from earlier in the week), making sections of the ridge-route quite slippery. It took another 1.25 hours from Whirlwind to Overlord summit with additional elevation gain of 300m. The summit of Overlord Mountain is surrounded by glaciers in almost every direction so the view is spectacular 360 degrees!
Approaching Overlord summit.
Self-portrait on Overlord summit (2625m)
Pano view from Overlord Mountain: Castle Towers and Cheakamus Glacier (far left), Whirlwind Peak (just left of centre), Black Tusk (distant centre), Overlord Glacier (bottom right), Fissile Peak (right), Musical Bumps (far right).
Check out a short video from Russet Lake and the summit of Overlord Mountain.
Beautiful!
© BRAD 2008
