r/vancouverhiking • u/vanveenfromardis • Jul 02 '25
Trip Reports Canada Day in the Whitecap Alpine - July 1st, 2025
Breaking into the subalpine of McGillivray Pass
McGillivray Pass
McGillivray Pass
Descending, Whitecap visible on the horizon
Approaching the lower slopes of Whitecap
Nearing the summit of Whitecap, stunning views in all directions
Summit off Whitecap
Very close to the summit, only a couple hundred vert remaining
Lingering cornices, the head of Seton Lake is visible
Icons of SWBC: Matier, Slalok, Marriott
Descending
Wildflowers are blooming on all slopes
One of the many creek crossings
And old horseshoe
Finally back at McGillivray pass, Whitecap in the distance
Descending via the magnificant open high route
Whitecap Mountain is the 3rd tallest peak in the loosely defined area of South West BC. It is located South East of Gold Bridge, requiring at least 5.5 hours of driving to reach the trailhead off of Kingdom Lakes FSR, regardless of which route one takes.
We took the "high route" which ascends out of the Cadwallader Creek valley into the stunning McGillivray Pass. From there Whitecap itself finally becomes visible, and can be approached via a ~400m descent into the Connel Creek valley, before a massive 1100m climb from the valley bottom to the summit of Whitecap.
Conditions are absolutely perfect in the Whitecap alpine, with stunning wildflowers and verdant valley slopes. This is a big hike, and stats came in around 30km, 2500m gain, over almost exactly 11 hours.
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u/-PlayWithUsDanny- Jul 02 '25
Beautiful. I love the bendor range so much. It’s one of my favourite slices of this planet
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u/vanveenfromardis Jul 02 '25
This was my first time there and I was blown away. However, living in Vancouver it's quite the drive to get out there.
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u/-PlayWithUsDanny- Jul 02 '25
Yeah it’s a long drive but at least it’s beautiful pretty much the whole way. It’s a great area for camping and exploring. Just across bridge river from there is the southern end of the chilcotin ranges which is also a great area.
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u/Nomics Jul 03 '25
I've only been in winter but the lodge up there offers hiking too in the summer and is an amazing option for folks with $2.8k they don't mind dropping on having a superb location, totally away from everyone with everything taken care of.
I went for ski touring out of the lodge and it was superb. The options for hiking look just as good.
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u/vanveenfromardis Jul 03 '25
The scenery up there is simply unbelievable, for those who have the money and like the outdoors it would be very well spent.
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u/Mundane-Egg6175 Jul 02 '25
looks amazing. Did you guys camp there?
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u/vanveenfromardis Jul 02 '25
No, we just did it as a day hike, but I know a lot of people do break Whitecap up into two days. There are lots of water sources and good spots to camp.
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u/Mundane-Egg6175 Jul 02 '25
Oh okay. Unfortunately I can't find this trail on AllTrails app. Could you please send me the link?
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u/vanveenfromardis Jul 02 '25
I don't use AllTrails, and I'm not even sure if this peak is on it. I do a see a "trail" entry for McGillivray pass, but the fact that it only has two reviews, and the name is spelled wrong makes me think it may not be prudent to follow it.
If you use Gaia the route (and I'm intentionally calling it a route vs a trail) is on the base map layer. You may get a better sense of the rough route by reading the trip reports on Peakbagger, a number of which have associated GPX tracks.
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u/Infamous_Ad1745 Jul 02 '25
How were the FSR conditions?
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u/vanveenfromardis Jul 03 '25
The Hurley FSR was actually kinda' bad, I've only driven it a handful of times (twice in a 2WD Toyota Matrix for reference), and this was the worst condition that I've been on it in, but still doable for any SUV. East Hurley FSR was about the same, and Kingdom Lakes FSR was actually the best of the three.
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u/Sedixodap Jul 03 '25
I had a failed attempt at Whitecap back in 2009. Maybe it’s time to give it another shot.
How were the mosquitoes? How was the mud? Those two details and following the wrong trail and winding up way off route are all I really remember from my previous visit to the area.
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u/vanveenfromardis Jul 03 '25
The mosquitos were a bit better than expected. When you were moving they weren't a problem at all. I was expecting bad mud but it was totally fine. Critically, we took the high route up to McGillivray pass, not the low route which I've heard is a lot more swampy.
Conditions are pretty much perfect right now, could be a great time for another attempt.
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u/Pristine_Office_2773 Jul 05 '25
Just wait 2 weeks and you can do this same hike in Manning or in Whistler
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u/AtotheZed Jul 02 '25
"These are a few of my favourite things!!!"