Victoria Peak, Vancouver Island
 

Myself and 2 buddies drove to the trailhead on Sunday afternoon. This is about 45 km inland from Gold River. We set up camp, relaxed, and enjoyed the starry evening. We woke to rain on Monday morning, so took our time with breakfast and de-camping. The rain had pretty much stopped by the time we got moving at 8 am. The first bit of the trail is through logging slash, and then sub-alpine forest with blueberry underbrush. It is about a 20 minute uphill grunt to gain the ridge, then a pleasant alpine ridge hike for 2 and a half hours to get to the South Face of Victoria Peak. We couldn't see our destination because of fog and snow!!!
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We saw 5 ptarmigan and several grouse.
Upon reaching the base of the South face, we had to put on crampons and descend the small icefield, then make our way to the hidden gully, and up the ramp system to the "step".
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After the step, we lost the route in the fog and climbed to the wrong summit. Just about this time, the fog decided to lift and we could see a point about 100 meters to our left that looked to be about 1 meter higher than where we were sitting... OH NO!!! Between us and the summit was a narrow ridge with wild exposure on both sides, so we decided to rap down the way we had come up and try to find the right route, now that it was bright and sunny!
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It was a simple matter to pick up the route and in 10 minutes we were on the top... the right top!
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We now had a beautiful fall day to make our way back through the alpine to the trailhead... total time for the day... 9 hours even with our detour.
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I've left the best for last...
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For those of you unfamiliar with the Island, Victoria Peak is the third highest mountain at 2163 meters

Spectacular summit photos.

Peter

Looks like a great trip. Thanks.

I've often wondered what it was like up there, thanks for the report!

Nice bag. Victoria is a beautiful peak. Is the route a scramble or would you recommend roping up for any of the pitches?

C

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Is that a member of your party on the fang to the right of the person in the foreground?

Very moody shot.

Thanks for sharing.

Nice bag. Victoria is a beautiful peak. Is the route a scramble or would you recommend roping up for any of the pitches?

The "step" is considered low 5th class and is about 15 feet high. There was a lot of fresh webbing hanging down it, so we downclimbed it with the help of the webbing. The rest of the route is 3rd class scramble maybe touching into 4th class occasionally.

Is that a member of your party on the fang to the right of the person in the foreground?

That fang is all rock!

[8D]. Nice looking peak (when you can see it;).

Good climb in a bit scetchy conditions. Nice photography too. Thanks.

Some great shots! Looks like you had an awesome trip and thanks for sharing.

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I like how the rock seems to be expressing emotion by giving you the thumbs up! Great trip everyone. What's with the snow on the island?

Nice. Another one of Vancouver Island's best kept secrets. This place continue to amaze me.
As for the snow, it looks more like hoar frost. The white stuff will arrive soon though, very very soon.