Hiking Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak near Pemberton
Contents
Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak Hike Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 8.40Km
Elevation Gain: 1,241m
Highest Elevation: 2,379m
Average Gradient: 29.55%
Effort/Reward Ratio: High / High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 9 – 10 Hours
– Moderate: 8 – 9 Hours
– Fast: 7 – 8 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: ~July to October
4×4 / High Clearance Required? Yes
Scrambling / Exposure: Minimal
Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 50°15’12.7″N 122°28’34.3″W
Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak Overview
Mount Duke is a lesser hiked summit located southeast of Joffre Lakes Park near Pemberton. There are a few different route options for summiting Mount Duke, and also seasonal options, with some parties preferring to summit during the winter while others prefer summer. The route described here is a summer route and requires driving up Twin One FSR. This route may also work in spring once the road is thawed out to this elevation, and in fact a snowpack may actually help to reduce bushwhacking. That being said, snow will bring other complexities as this route is very steep throughout and you may encounter cornices when gaining the ridge.
Other routes to Mount Duke include the Cerise Creek approach up and over Vantage Peak (much longer and a lot more elevation gain), the winter/spring route via Casper Creek FSR (much longer, far more technically challenging on steep, corniced snow), and it’s likely also possible to approach via the Van Horlick FSR (not much point in this route if the Twin One FSR is good). With that said, the Twin One FSR route is easily the most direct approach, but even then there are possible variations to the approach, with some parties going up via Twin One Lake, while the route described here goes up via an unnamed lake between Duke and Greifswald.
This entire hike follows no trail and includes some heinous bushwhacking for the first/last ~1 hour of the day. After the bushwhack the remainder of the route is open and straightforward, with little scrambling and nominal exposure. Duke is mostly just steep hiking, while Greifswald includes a short, minor scramble to the summit. Most people will consider Greifswald an optional bonus to the higher Duke, but since it’s right next door it’s an easy add on. The lake between the peaks offers some stunning views and would make for a nice campsite along the southern shore near the lake outflow.
Reaching the end of Twin One FSR requires 4×4 high clearance due to a bad stretch of rock crawling at ~1,050m where the road has been washed out. An SUV can likely reach this point, but probably won’t get past, in which case you will need to add ~5km and 200m of gain to the day. Dogs are welcome in this area, however the bushwhacking is so bad I’m not sure I would suggest bringing one.
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Is Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak worthwhile?
Mount Duke and Greifswald Peak offer some exceptional views from the summit, and the lake between the two is very scenic as well. The only drawback on this hike is the terrible bushwhacking to begin/end the day, but even so that’s the price you have to pay for a short approach like this. Suffice it to say, you will absolutely have this hike to yourself and once the bushwack is over you’ll have a tremendous day.
If you really hate bushwhacking, some parties may prefer to ascend via Vantage Peak, but it’s a much longer day. The winter/spring route from Caspar Creek FSR has been relatively popular as well, but this is significantly more involved, more complex and more likely to fail than the relatively non-technical approach described here.
How difficult is the hike to Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak?
I almost couldn’t believe it when I finished this hike to see that the entire thing was only 8.40km, but it’s no lie. The gradient is exceptionally steep at almost 30%, and the bushwhack each way will slow parties down immensely. Despite the short hike, we took a full 8 hours round trip for these peaks, so don’t be fooled into thinking you’re in for a short day. If you only care for Duke you can probably shave off a couple of hours at least as we were on the summit of Duke in just under 3 hours.
Technically speaking the biggest challenge, if it’s not already obvious, is the bushwhack. This is some of the nastiest bush I’ve been in. Thankfully it “only” lasts an hour each way, after which the remainder of the route is mostly just very steep. Getting up Duke is the easier part of the day, with little to no scrambling involved. Traversing the ridge over to Greifswald involves some finicky micro terrain, but little in the way of scrambling and no exposure. Greifswald looks tricky from a distance, but once you get near there is an obvious ramp leading up to the summit block. The final summit push does involve one or two scrambling steps but most parties should be fine with it. The final challenge of the day is the descent from the col to the lake. We didn’t know for sure if this would go, and once we got down the only route we could see was a very steep heather slope that required butt sliding while veggie belaying. Suffice to say I would not go up this way, but going down worked out okay, albeit “adventurous”.
Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak Route Information
This hike begins from the end of Twin One FSR off of the In-SHUCK-ch FSR. As noted this FSR gets rough at ~1,050m elevation where the road is washed out and filled with boulders. Capable off road vehicles will be able to rock crawl over these, but most vehicles will stop here. This will add ~5km and 200m gain to the stats above.
Roads end is at around 1,350m where you should find a faint, flagged trail leading into the bushes. This trail ultimately goes to Twin One Lake (a feasible alternative to ascending Duke), however you won’t be following it for long as it’s time to enter the bush! The bushwhacking starts at around 1,400m and is instantly dreadful. Thick, down sloping, waist high and at times thorny. You absolutely want to make sure you’re wearing long pants otherwise you will end the day with decimated shins from non-stop pushing through branches.
There is not much to say about the bushwhacking other than to soldier on and to know deep down it will be over soon. There may be brief moments of respite, but for the most part the entire time from 1,400m to 1,650m will be utterly miserable. Most parties should be done in an hour or so. Once you do break out of the bush you should see the general route towards the lake up ahead. You’ll now traverse across some boulders, pushing through some more (easier) bushes here and there, all the while continuing a very steep ascent towards the lake.
At around 1,880m you will reach the lake, at which point you may want to take a break. We had originally planned to go around the eastern shore of the lake on both the ascent and descent, however once we got there it looked as though you could make a direct ascent on Duke via its steep southern slopes. This would make things much easier/shorter, so we opted to go for it.
The ascent to the ridge of Duke is indeed steep but entirely non-technical. You initially climb heather slopes before they gradually transition to talus. There was an obvious weak point to the ridge where you could easily talus hop up to it, so we aimed for that. There are likely other ways up as well but we just chose the path of least resistance, and it worked out fine. You’ll gain the ridge slightly east of the summit, at which point it’s a short, simple scramble up to the summit with no exposure. From the summit the views are exceptional, particularly of the Joffre group, but also Snowspider, Marriott, Cayoosh and plenty more. You’ll also see Greifswald further along the ridge, and from here it might look a little daunting, but it’s a lot easier than it looks.
If you’re only going for Duke you can now descend back the way you came. If you’re adding Greifswald you’ll now work your way along the ridge connecting it with Duke. There is a lot of finicky micro terrain along this ridge that makes things a bit slow going, but for the most part it’s largely non-technical. Once you reach the col between the peaks it becomes much easier. As you begin the climb up Greifswald you should see an obvious ramp climbers right. From afar this ramp looks very steep but as you get nearer it’s actually simple and not even really scrambling. After climbing the ramp you’ll reach a plateau below the final summit push, where you’ll need to ascend a short, largely simple scramble to the summit. The very last move is a little tricky as there are limited holds, but it should be easy enough to figure out.
Once finished on the top you now descend back to the col between the peaks. At this point we opted to return back via the lake as we did not want to have to climb back up Duke in order to exit. Most of the descent is seamless, however just before the lake the terrain becomes cliffy and steep. The only route down that we saw involved a steep heather ramp that required butt sliding while grabbing clumps of heather to prevent sliding down. This worked okay but certainly wasn’t pleasant. I’m not sure you could ascend this route very easily. Once at the lake you can easily traverse across the eastern shore by boulder hopping, and eventually you’ll be back at the southern tip of the lake where you’ll rejoin the ascending route. From here, it’s merely a case of following your route down back through the bush. What a lovely way to end the day!
When should I hike Mount Duke & Greifswald Peak?
This is primarily a summer route as you want to be able to drive to the end of the road, which is high enough elevation that it won’t thaw out until the beginning of summer or at least late spring. I can’t speak to how the route would go in spring, but I’d be curious to know as a snowpack covering the bush would no doubt help immensely. My main reservation in spring would be gaining the ridge (cornices) and how tricky the travel along the ridge might be when snow covered. Greifswald in particular could be difficult in snow.
With that said, for a guaranteed success you will want to avoid any snow, which could mean going in August or September. July may also work but there could be lingering snow still, especially earlier in the month. Mosquitoes will also be terrible in July no doubt.
Top Tip
Make sure to wear long pants and possibly even gaiters for the bushwhack.
Other parties have ascended Duke via Twin One Lake, climbing to the col between Vantage and Duke. If Duke is your only goal (or Duke + Vantage) then this route may be preferred as I believe the bushwhacking is more approachable. This route wouldn’t be the best if you want to also get Greifswald.
