Markhor Needle Traverse

On our hike back from Golden Ears, I mentioned to Slawomir that I had signed up for Farbod’s Markhor Needle Traverse trip with BCMC. He had done that trip and had loved it. Many people had signed up, so we had to split into two teams. Farbod would lead the first group and leave an hour before our group. Wayne and I would co-lead the second group.

Wayne picked me up from Langley at 7:30 am, and after one and a half hours of driving, we were at the parking lot. It was a beautiful day to hike, and the parking lot was packed. I believe the majority of the hikers were heading right on the trail to Needle Peak.

Are we on the trail?

We would go left from the parking lot and begin bushwhacking. A few of us had downloaded GPX tracks from a previous BCMC trip, and we tried to follow these tracks. Every few minutes we would check if we are on the track and change course accordingly.

After fifteen minutes or so, Lenka was stung by wasps on her neck and hands. Lenka had some water, and after a quick break, we continued hiking.

I thought we would come across a trail soon, but the bushwhacking went on for almost an hour. Soon we had an opening with beautiful views of Yak Peak.

Scramble to Markhor Peak

Once we were out of the forest, it was a relief. We followed the goat trail to the col.

Soon we were on the sandy col, looking at the ridge ahead to Markhor Peak. It was a relatively easy scramble up to the summit.

After two and a half hours, we were on Markhor Peak.

We had a panoramic view of the mountains, but the most impressive one was right in front of us – Needle Peak, our next objective. We could see most of the route we would be taking – down Markhor, over the two bumps and up the North East Ridge.

Scrambling Down Granite Slabs

Lenka, after having some food, was feeling much better. After a 20 minute break, we started making our way down Markhor Peak. Shortly, we came across a rap (rappel) anchor, but the team felt comfortable scrambling down.

At a couple of steep sections, I scooted my way down. The route below was not clear, but Wayne did a great job of figuring it out. It took us about half an hour to come down from Markhor Peak.

We had scrambled down slabs of granite with some shrubs dispersed over the mountain. Looking back at the face we scrambled down, I was impressed with what we had done.

The Crux – Au Cheval

Now we were heading to the first bump on the ridge. After an easy scramble, we were at the high point. The downward sloping ridge ahead of us – ‘Au Cheval’ was probably the most challenging part of the entire traverse. Here again, there was a rap anchor, but we decided to downclimb.

I went down first. I had watched several videos of people coming down this section. Some people just walked down, others scooted, and some rapped down. I sat down and slowly made my way down the edge. Close to the end, I turned around and down climbed the last section.

The rest of the group followed, and Wayne helped a couple of them find their footing as they down climbed to the base of the exposed ridge.

It took about 20 minutes for all of us to get down. The scramble up the second intermediate summit was relatively more difficult than the first one.

Once on top, we had a clear view of our route to the summit of Needle Peak. I was still in awe of this route.

North East Ridge of Needle Peak

After a quick break, we made our way up the ridge. There were some sections with exposure, but overall it was an easy scramble with two moderate sections.

Finally, after five hours of hiking and scrambling, we were on the summit of Needle Peak.

We had a spectacular view of the mountains all around us.

We sat down for lunch just off the summit. A couple of them had recently started climbing, but still had managed to do this scramble with some high exposure. I was really impressed with the group effort.

After a 30 minute break, we started our hike down.

There were a couple of sections that required down climbing, but everything felt easier than what we had done earlier.

Soon, we were on a wide trail, and it was an easy hike down from here to the parking lot.

I had been watching videos and reading trip reports about this scramble and was quite excited. It didn’t disappoint. Markhor Needle Traverse is one of the best scrambles I have done. I will leave you with a cool video shot by Yeti Films of this scramble.

Resources:

Trip Reports: Alpine Baking | Club Tread | Coast Backcountry

British Columbia Mountaineering Club – Trip Posting (has GPX file)

Coquihalla Summit Recreation Area – BC Parks Website

If you are in Lower Mainland, check out British Columbia Mountaineering Club for trips and courses.

Disclosure: I am a member of BCMC. I am not affiliated with any of the above individuals or organizations.

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