Hiking Pushki & Silent Hub Peak near Duffey Lake
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Pushki & Silent Hub Peak Hike Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 12.30Km
Elevation Gain: 1,220m
Highest Elevation: 2,542m
Average Gradient: 19.84%
Effort/Reward Ratio: High / Very High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 7 – 8 Hours
– Moderate: 6 – 7 Hours
– Fast: 5 – 6 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: ~July to October
4×4 / High Clearance Required? Optional
Scrambling / Exposure: Class 2
Pushki & Silent Hub Peak Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 50°22’31.5″N 122°20’19.4″W
Pushki & Silent Hub Peak Overview
Pushki and Silent Hub are a pair of peaks situated near Duffey Lake Road east of Pemberton and west of the more popular Gott and Gotcha Peak. There are a couple of ways to access these peaks, either from Van Horlick FSR to the west or Blowdown FSR to the east. The route described here will access from Van Horlick, which is likely the more straightforward way to these peaks.
The stats noted above assume hikers begin at the end of a spur road off of Van Horlick FSR, however most people will not be able to drive to the end of this spur due to a destroyed bridge at the beginning. Capable high clearance 4×4 vehicles can drive through the creek and continue on, but most parties will park at the creek (or on Van Horlick FSR) and hike this road. This will add 4.5km of hiking each way to the trailhead, with around 300m of gain added to the stats above.
From the trailhead there is a faint but obvious trail to Pushki Lake, at which point you will be on your own in terms of navigating the rest of this route. The hike up Pushki is straightforward, albeit steep hiking up mostly meadows, while the ridge over to Silent Hub is a little more involved but still largely simple boulder hiking. The final climb up never exceeds Class 2 scrambling with no exposure.
While this hike ended on Silent Hub, more ambitious parties can continue along the ridge to Tandem and even Outreach Peak, though splitting these over two trips may be preferred.
Due to the long FSR drive to reach this area this is generally a summer only option once the snowline has receded to these elevations. As such, the season generally runs from July to the beginning of October before the snow returns for the winter. As always in the Duffey/Pemberton zone, mosquitoes can be particularly bad in July and early August, so the peak window is late August to the end of September.
Dogs are welcome in the area, and camping is fine as well. Of course, this is grizzly territory, so plan accordingly.
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Are Pushki & Silent Hub Peak worthwhile?
This cluster of peaks around Pushki Lake offers some fantastic views into a region that is always a high reward trip. If you’ve hiked the likes of Gott / Gotcha and found them enjoyable, these are just as nice, if not even better as both of these peaks are a bit higher.
If you’re looking for a simpler outing, Pushki alone would fit the bill nicely, with the entire climb a very simple and scenic hike and very little rock or boulder involved. There is no scrambling at all on Pushki. Silent Hub is a bit more involved, with lots of travel on rock and boulders, both along the ridge and descending back to the lake, as well as some Class 2 scrambling up to the peak.
How difficult is the hike to Pushki & Silent Hub Peak?
The stats above assume you can drive to the trailhead, if not this hike will clock in at around 21km and 1,550m or so. All of the travel from Pushki Lake onwards is off trail and self navigated, and while Pushki was largely quite simple, Silent Hub was somewhat slow going and made for a longer outing than we had expected. You can always see how you’re feeling on Pushki and whether you want to continue.
There isn’t a lot that is technically challenging about this hike, as long as you’re comfortable self navigating in the backcountry. It is quite simple navigation, both up to Pushki and along the ridge to Silent Hub. Pushki has no scrambling at all, while Silent Hub involves a couple of steeper stretches towards the end, but they never go beyond Class 2 scrambling with no exposure.
Pushki & Silent Hub Peak Route Information
As noted, only particularly capable 4×4 high clearance vehicles will reach the trailhead due to the washed out bridge at the beginning of the spur off of Van Horlick FSR. Van Horlick itself is typically a well groomed FSR suitable for all vehicles, but due to the creek crossing at the beginning of the spur, only suitable vehicles will get past. Most parties will want to park at the point where the spur meets Van Horlick FSR, and if so you will be adding around 4.5km of hiking each way to reach the trailhead, and around 350m or so of elevation gain.
From the trailhead you should find a faint but obvious trail leading through some bushes to begin the hike. The first few hundred meters are a bit swampy and overgrown, but it’s always easy to navigate. After a few hundred meters of travel the rougher terrain gives way to a smoother forest, where the gradient steepens as you work your way towards the lake. The lake is only around 2km from the trailhead, so most parties will get there in half an hour or so.
From the lake, I would suggest tackling Pushki first, so you’ll need to turn your attention north (clockwise around the lake) towards the obvious meadow slope. You can’t actually see Pushki’s summit from the lake, but the general route is obvious, especially if you refer to your GPX. You’ll now twist through a few bushes before reaching a flatter plateau above the lake.
Travel is now seamless, with open meadow fields in every direction. Just make sure you’re generally following the correct direction and soldier on. The gradient rises rapidly as you begin working up the meadows, but it’s never so steep that a fall would be an issue. It’s really that perfect gradient for efficiency, as you’ll knock off elevation quickly. The views as you continue to climb are stunning, particularly looking back at Tandem and across the valley towards the glaciated Joffre Peak and Mount Matier.
There’s not a lot to worry about here but continue to climb. Soon you’ll crest the ridge where you’ll see the summit ahead, with the meadows giving way to rock. Thankfully the gradient mellows out as you near the summit, and travel is simple. You’ll now see the route along the ridge to Silent Hub, and the views below to the north of an unnamed lake will be a pleasant reward. Pushki’s summit is broad and offers stunning views in every direction. There’s a valley of smaller tarns below Windfall Peak (which you could easily connect to if you so desire), and the Gott/Gotcha/Nottgott peaks will also be on display.
Once finished on Pushki you can continue to Silent Hub by following the ridge over. This initially starts off as very mellow and pleasant ramble on simple terrain, but as you near a bump on the ridge things get a bit more involved. You can decide whether to go up and over this bump or sidehill across it, but either way the smooth travel now shifts into boulders and talus, with your pace generally slowing significantly.
Beyond the bump on the ridge you’ll now drop to a low point at ~2,300m before beginning the climb up to Silent Hub. The initial climb is steep and somewhat unstable, with scree and loose talus underfoot. It’s not particularly pleasant, but it’s fairly short lived and you’ll soon reach the summit block just ahead.
The summit block is pretty straightforward and you can go any which way you please, but either way it will likely involve Class 2 scrambling up larger boulders with no exposure. The views from Silent Hub are also very nice, especially looking back along the ridge to Pushki, but also looking down to Cirque Lake.
Once finished on SIlent Hub, to return to Pushki Lake you can now continue along the ridge towards Tandem Peak, before dropping down into the boulder filled valley and working your way back. We decided to do this before reaching another bump on the ridge as we wanted to avoid any additional elevation gain, but you could always continue beyond this bump to the Tandem-Silent Hub col. This would offer a mellower descent into the valley, but of course you need to pass an additional ridge bump to get there. Either way, once in the valley the route is obvious, head towards Pushki Lake however you want.
For us this involved a lot of boulder hopping before reaching the open meadows and then the unnamed tarns before the lake proper. Once at Pushki Lake you’ll likely want to go around it in a clockwise manner via the talus. If you go counter clockwise you will certainly encounter plenty of bush, and the embankments are steep enough that following the shore isn’t very feasible.
Once back at the northern end of Pushki Lake, you simply follow the trail back out to your vehicle.
When should I hike Pushki & Silent Hub Peak?
These peaks are realistically summer only hikes for the majority of visitors, which means July to early October. Theoretically you can likely do Pushki in spring as travel is largely simple and snow probably wouldn’t impede it all that much, but Silent Hub would be much more involved in snow, especially via the connecting ridge. Personally I would just stick to peak summer and avoid snow altogether on this one.
Top Tip
Driving through the creek at the start of the spur is only really suitable for particularly capable 4×4’s. While it does save around 4.5km of hiking each way on the spur road, in terms of time saved I would estimate it only saved around an hour as driving the spur wasn’t particularly fast. A bike may be useful for parties that plan to park at the creek at the start of the spur.
If you only want to get into the zone and see one peak, I would suggest Pushki. It’s a lot simpler, there’s minimal annoying boulder travel and the views are just as good as Silent Hub. On the flipside, more ambitious parties can readily add on Tandem and Outreach Peak.
