September 30th, 2024. Brisco Range, BC.
Round Trip: 8 Hours, Elevation Gain: 1390m.
Mostly Hiking; Easy Scramble.
A fun return trip this past autumn to Diana Lake for the golden larches! Previously in 2022 Bri and I hiked up The Judge with a small team at the end of summer season and agreed it would be well worthwhile returning for larch season some day. The lodge owners shared some print photos with us that day of larch season and that had us sold on eventually returning. Plus, they mentioned that several of the nearby ridges were quite accessible, including the ridgeline north of the lake which they referred to as “Fossil Ridge” aptly named for the coral limestone specimens at the western end. Our traverse started at Whitetail Pass, traversing north then west, then briefly south before looping back to the lake.
We brought along our friends Mel and Neil for this outing, and were joined by our friend Anne who had been part of our team up The Judge in 2022. Using the same approach as The Judge, we hiked to Whitetail Pass which overlooks the adjacent Beaverfoot Valley, then hiked north to an unnamed highpoint before continuing the traverse westward. In doing so, we had a prolonged view over the Diana Lake valley taking in hours of larches. It was however quite a brisk headwind that day, teasing winter temperatures.
It’s worth noting that Whitetail Pass is a name I’ve pulled from Stefanie Mclellan and Corinna Strauss’ (2022) Hikes Around the Columbia Valley. This a great book full of recent beta and includes information for both ‘Fossil Ridge” and The Judge, though the authors do not use the informal name of ‘Fossil Ridge’ in their description. They too, describe traversing from east to west as we did.
Approximately half way across our westward traverse, shortly before the above photo, a perpendicular ridge traverses northward. We noted it for a future trip, the downclimb to obtain this ridgeline appeared to be an easy scramble, and the unnamed peak at the ridge’s other end appeared to be a decent height. As of writing this, I still have yet to learn of a local name for this highpoint and will certainly return in the future to explore it.
Anne and her friend parted ways with us at the western corner of the ridge, from there we continued along up the western highpoint for a great view of the Columbia Valley. We observed the next section of ridgeline continuing south and decided to continue along to the next highpoint. At first Mel waited in the saddle while Neil, Bri and I continued up this highpoint, which in turn was just the start of the flat highpoint we had originally set out for. The winds were getting increasingly cold, so at first just Neil and I scrambled over, topping out some five minutes after. Both our watches listed the height for this flat “summit” at 2590m (Google Earth listed a similar height when I pin dropped on the approximate spot). We spotted our descent line and decided it would be worthwhile convincing Bri and Mel to scramble up to where we had, so we doubled back to regroup and re-summit altogether. From there it took minimal convincing for the whole group to descend the direct line back to Diana Lake.
It appeared plausible to continue south parallel to Diana Lake but would likely involve some exposed route finding to ascend then next unnamed high point. I’m not sure if this high point is still part of ‘Fossil Ridge” or is rather a sub-peak of Mount Norman… I’ve since referred to is as Norman Peak North, or simply Norman North. Should I find out otherwise I will later revise this. This looming highpoint appeared to the highest point along Diana Lake, and even appears to be higher than Mount Norman’s summit proper.
In traversing the way we did, we completed our outing as a loop. Car to car it made for a 20km day clocking in at just shy of 8 hours round trip. Not only a stellar outing, but a great scouting mission as we’ve now noted several other alpine outings for future Diana Lake trips.
For Fossil Ridge, I highly recommend our loop, starting at Whitetail Pass and traversing west. Its likely feasible to obtain both Fossil Ridge and The Judge in a single outing, though I would recommend starting at the west end of Fossil if attempting both in the same day. Camping at Diana Lake Lodge would make this effort more achievable. Likewise, if attempting “Norman North”, I again would advise starting at the western end of Fossil Ridge. I hope to return here to attempt both “Norman North” and the unnamed northerly ridgeline we observed halfway across Fossil Ridge. In the meanwhile, I will look back on this larch season hike fondly!
Steep Sheep 