Mt. Loki Solo

19 August 2020

Mt. Loki, 2771 m, is a prominent mountain in Central Kootenay Valley, near Kaslo, in British Columbia. According to Norse mythology, Loki is a "trickster god," a shape-shifter, luring everybody with his beauty, eluding by his proximity, while being quite harsh on those who approach him hastily. 

The idea of attempting Mt. Loki was first implanted in my mind by my friend and mentor - Staszek Smuga-Otto. Staszek, a retired engineer, writer, political and moral commentator, and, first of all, great lover of the mountains, has had explored the mountains around Kaslo for over twenty years. He has summited Mt. Loki three times so far. "Having his years," Staszek didn't decide to go with me this time. This left me with no choice but a solo attempt. According to Staszek, if you want to be taken seriously in Kaslo hiking community, doing Mt. Loki is a must! 

Visiting Kaslo for just a short while, I opted for a one day plan. I drove 35 km from Kaslo to Balfour Bay to catch the first ferry across Kootenay Lake at 6:30 am. From Kootenay Bay I drove north to Riondel and after the paved road ended, another 6 km on a country road to the beginning of Portman Road. This 9 km fire and logging road was a challenge in itself. My Murano (SUV) handled it not too bad, though with a few scratches from the bushes. I wouldn't recommend trying this road with a regular car - there are too many water made depressions that are hard to cross. 

Portman Road took longer than I anticipated. I was able to hit the trail only around 8:45 am. 

There was already one car parked close to the beginning of the trail, so it looked, assuredly for me, that there was a least one party ahead of me. 

The first hour is just a hike through the forest. I was impressed how well the trail was maintained by the volunteers from Kaslo Trailhead Association. It was a significant improvement comparing to our experiences on Roche Bonhomme, near Jasper, a few weeks ago (see the story). The second hour is hiking through beautiful alpine meadows.

Luckily for me, a part of my hike was within the shade, protecting me from the scorching sun, and thus allowing me not to use the water I was carrying with myself (2L). There are no sources of water along the trail.

In about 2 hours, a decent pace I believe, I reached Portman's Notch, the first point from which the massive summit of Mt. Loki, with all it sharp lines, can be seen. 

It is, in fact, a beautiful mountain, reminding me a bit of Kościelec, in Polish Tatra Mountains. However, when Koscielec can be hiked in about 2 hours, it took me 3 hours just to get to the bottom of Mt. Loki. 

The approach trail is partially covered with trees that offer decent protection from the sun. The trail in itself is beautiful, with Loki being in view most of the time. 

Loki seems to be protected by the army of dried-up trees. They seem to be his gandarms, perhaps a visible manifestation of the souls who tried to get to Loki too quickly and got burned. :-)

Around this point, as my predecessors, I left a depot - 1L of water and my bear spray that I didn't believe I would need in the upper part. 

It was time to scramble so I wanted to have as light backpack as possible. 

Though the scramble is mostly over solid rock (I personally hate loose screes), because of its steepness, and the necessity to use hands for balance, it is slow and tiresoming. I would rate it as at least moderate. 

I was already quite tired, when finally the true summit of Mt. Loki emerged from behind the False Summit. 

This commemorative plague is a testimony to the significance of Mt. Loki for the local hikers. Not quite sharp in this photo, and thus difficult to read, it says that Bill Hayward, who passed away a few years ago, "loved Mt. Loki." 

At 2 p.m., after 5:15 hours, I was finally on the summit. The party that was ahead of me already started their descent, so I had none to take a picture of mine. But there is always the possibility of a ... selfie!

Afraid of Loki's wrath, I resisted the temptation of getting a bottle of a "good wine" for adding a few names to the register. However, my friends were with me on Mt. Loki ... in spirit!

The view from Mt. Loki is impressive in all direction. Not to bore the reader I only give one picture toward West, with Kootenay Lake and the forest fire burning behind it. False Summit and Portman's Notch can be easily identified in this picture. 

Afraid of getting caught by darkness, I started my descent after about only 15 minutes on the summit. Going down, I encountered some white goats, surely the spirits trapped on the mountain by the merciless Loki. As it can be seen by the cairns on their right, the descent goes exactly through this kind of terrain. It is therefore slow, if you don't want to fall on your face and hurt yourself. In the end it took me 4 hours to get back to my car. I found hiking poles to be very helpful, though on many occasions I needed to put them aside to grab a rock. 

Though I normally seldom do it, thinking about my friend, Barbara, I took a few pictures of "the monuments of nature." (pol. "pomniki przyrody"). 

Going down, I checked out this exposed ridge, over which the original route to the summit was leading. 

I found it less intimidating than how it was remembered by Staszek. 

Loki's Arc of Triumph?

Back at Portman's Notch, I felt quite relieved having all the scrambling behind me. Still, going down, I used all my mantras, being mindful of what Loki can do to belligerent souls. 

Finally, around 6 pm, I was at my car and out of the rough squeeze of the mountain. I caught one of the late ferries from Kootenay Bay. Thanks to the "green tea" prepared for me by Staszek ...

... which I found "mildly stimulating," I didn't fall asleep while driving and I reached the safety of Kaslo around 10 pm. What a day! Beautiful, diversified trail! Excellent weather! 

For the record I give the readings of my GPS: 15.3 km, +1278 m, 9:18 hours (I encountered different readings about this trail). 

Thank you, Staszek, and thank you ... Loki!