Big Sister (Faith) Peak - Out

by Nelu Goia
2 years ago
Near Alberta, CA

9 views

So happy to be able to say I can cross this one off the list. It’s pretty straightforward since you essentially just hike straight up to the peak. The route finding is essentially “should I be up on the ridge or down in the gully?!” And deciding which scramble path to take. First thing to note is that right at the start of the hike you have to cross the creekbed to gain the trail. The AllTrails map shows that you start climbers left of the creek and stay left the whole hike, but you actually park climbers right and cross immediately to gain the trail. The trail is easy to follow until the ridge. At the 1.1km mark there are three orange flagging tapes that lead you climbers right. I ended up following these flagging tapes into the gully and ascending the gully the whole way. But I’d actually recommend staying on the ridge until about 1.4km and then down climbing into the gully. There is some scrambling if you stay on the ridge until 1.4km, but it’s pretty easy scrambling and saves you a little pain of the scree gully. However the scree felt pretty solid on the way up so it wasn’t the worst ascent. Just not overly fun. Eventually the gully takes you back onto the ridge for some easy scrambling until the crux. The crux downclimb is actually really easy. Amazing hand and footholds. You can stand and evaluate your life choices at any point. Starting the crux is the only uncomfortable part. After that you head climbers left around the pinnacles. This is more uphill than I thought but the exposure isn’t bad. It’s about 2-3 meters before the exposed ledge so it’s easy to stay close to the pinnacle and avoid the ledge. After the two pinnacles, the AllTrails map says you can go left or right up to the summit. I took climbers right which is a scree slope up to the summit. I don’t recommend this. Stay climbers left for some easy scrambling up to the summit. Be warned the Big Sister hike is half hiking half scrambling. Scrambling is mostly class 3, some class 4. Minor route funding required. Helmets recommended. Poles felt unnecessary since I spent so much time using my hands to scramble, but might save your joints. Steep enough to be an effort, but not so steep that it’s scary.