Elevation Gain: 1,843m
Distance: 21.9km
Total Time: 9 hours 45 minutes
Date: January 24th, 2026
Ever on the quest to find obscure summits, Mount Thirsk first came on to my radar after some ascents around Robertson Peak a few years back. Bivouac showed that it might possibly have been climbed by surveyors, but there weren’t any confirmed reports. It’s likely that all summits in the West Harrison group have been climbed, but not improbable that some remain. Thirsk was one of those summits with no beta to be found and as far as I could find no recorded ascents. The name Thirsk was not adapted until 1980. The 1980 Stave River 92 G/9 Map shows a horizontal control point directly on Thirsk and puts the put the height at 6797 feet. The next edition published in 2000 finally shows a height of 2072m, but still no official name on the summit. Finally, the latest edition, published in 2010 shows the official name on the summit.
A search for Tipella, Mount Thirsk, Peak 6797 and Peak 2072 revealed nothing across all alpine journals, but these things can be tucked away in geological surveys or often in this area have no documentation at all. Nonetheless, it’s worth the effort to go check it out! There’s one big problem to solve though. Battle the bush in the summer or climb on snow through endless sections of avalanche terrain. A quick look on the map shows that Thirsk is virtually one big avalanche chute on all sides. The west face offers the safest option on that front, but you have to cross numerous slide paths to get to it and then the ridge is an unknown.
As it were, we were getting blessed (or cursed) by a weeks plus long high pressure system that had consolidated the snow pack into the most bomber mid-winter snow pack I’ve seen yet. A number of reports were coming out about nearby Robertson and that’s when I thought Thirsk might be worth checking out. Steven was looking for partners and he mentioned a few interesting ideas but we eventually settled on a single day trip to Thirsk. That’s signing up for a lifetimes worth of FSR driving, but it seemed worth it.
We packed everything we’d need for a snow climb and maybe some technical or exposed sections. That meant a few pickets, some slings and a rope. Our plan was either the south east face or if conditions allowed up the north east face. The west side looked the safest and easiest, but we weren’t sure if the ridge would be mixed climbing and the peaks can be quite rugged in this area.
I met Steven at 3am in North Vancouver and 4.5 hours later we had reached a parking lot on Tipella Creek FSR. Three other vehicles were there already, all going for Robertson no doubt. We started the long plod down the road and 7+ km later we veered off the tracks and towards the cirque between Robertson and Thirsk. On the way in we had a good look at the north east face and it looked like discontinuous snow in bluff infested terrain. We figured we’ll try our look on the south east side instead.
The first mystery now was how to gain the lake. It looked bluffy all around, but we knew the second ascent of Robertson had no issues gaining it in the summer. We found a few options, but picked the right most side where some steep snow lead to a short section of water fall ice where a bench of WI1 gave passage to the forest above. At the lake we had our first good look at the route we’d mapped out. Initially, the gully we wanted to use looked out. Two sections of rock split the continuous snow gully and it might involve some mixed climbing. Some options on steep snow out right look okay so we’d have to go explore.
Our route started up the guts of a massive avalanche path and ample debris at the base proved that you need perfect conditions to take this line. As we climbed higher it quickly became apparent that those exposed rock sections were at most 3rd class rock. In fact the higher we got the less steep and daunting things appeared over all. By the time we cleared the rocks it was starting to look like this might be more of a hike than we though.
We traversed several hundred meters in a diagonal line up the west face generally staying on benches. Two major slides had to be crossed and then we reached the tame north east shoulder below the summit. From there we climbed up low angle snow where one short steep section took us to the top. As I crested on to the summit I saw an assemblage of rocks that only a human could produce. No surprises, but perhaps a summit register might reveal more of the mystery. I searched up and down, but none was found. There’s not yet a scientific method for dating cairns, so it could have been a survey party or a mystery climber later down the line. Hopefully someone can come forward with more details as I always love finding out the history of these places.
After a brief snack break we returned along our descent line and reached the lake in short order. A little bit of tricky down climbing on the ice fall later and we were back in open forest and eventually the road. As we returned along the beaten path, I had the location of one particular tree on the top of my mind. We had passed it on the way in and now with some sunlight left I absolutely had to check it out in more detail. Steven entertained my brief break on the road and I marvelled at its size. This was probably the biggest Douglas Fir I’d seen in all of my time in south west bc. It measured at least 2m across and who knows how tall. Further up the hill another giant Douglas Fir stood proudly and across the road a cedar of similar size rose above us. There must have been something about this particular area as this was no doubt a grove of giants.
Given the lacklustre nature of our ascent, these trees proved to be a real highlight and worth every step we took to get out there. Keen to return before dark, we left the big trees behind and pushed on down the road. We reached the car just after sunset without headlamps.
Thirsk was a fun adventure despite it not being as challenging as it first looked. I’d save those bomber snow pack days for something more interesting now that the mystery of the ascent has been put to rest.