Hiking Mount Marriott in Pemberton
Contents
Mount Marriott Hike Information
Difficulty: Very Difficult
Distance: 14.50Km
Elevation Gain: 1,675m
Highest Elevation: 2,735m
Average Gradient: 23.10%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Very High / Very High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 9+ Hours
– Moderate: 7 – 9 Hours
– Fast: 6 – 7 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Spring/Summer
4×4 / High Clearance Required? Yes
Scrambling / Exposure: Consistently steep scrambling up a boulder field with little exposure.
Mount Marriott Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 50°28’25.5″N 122°34’55.4″W
Note: The above coordinates lead to the beginning of 8 Mile Forest Service Road. Once you reach this point, please review the AllTrails map to see where exactly to drive to on this FSR as Google Maps does not include the FSR in its database.
Disclaimer: Winter hiking (snowshoeing) involves significantly more risk than summer hiking. Hikers should be prepared with appropriate education, training and equipment for all possibilities, including but not limited to avalanches. A mistake such as going off trail, getting lost or injured can be far more dangerous in winter than summer. You are responsible for your own safety, and while I am happy to give my opinion on this website as to the avalanche risk of a specific hike, do not take this as fact and please do your own research. Everybody has different risk tolerances and mine might be different to yours.
Mount Marriott Overview
Mount Marriott is the second highest summit in the Cayoosh Range, situated just south of Birken and north east of Pemberton in British Columbia. At 2,735m elevation, Mount Marriott is one of the 50 highest peaks in southwest BC and is a popular scramble via the Marriott Basin thanks to its prominent feature in Matt Gunn’s Scrambles in SWBC.
There are a couple of approaches to summit Mount Marriott, with the most popular route starting from Duffey Lake Road, and an alternative route starting from an old logging road off of Pemberton Portage Road near Birken. The former is more of an elongated approach and has mixed reviews due to the endless boulder hopping to the summit, with the latter being a shorter but steeper grind to the top. Whichever approach you take you will be self-directing to the summit. This guide will be discussing the latter approach.
Mount Marriott is predominantly a summer ascent, with a significant amount of travel on boulder fields, however a spring ascent is not only possible but could also be favorable for those well equipped, with the giant boulders covered in smooth snow, making travel significantly easier. Obviously any travel on snow comes with other risks, especially on this grade slope, so only experienced and well equipped parties should attempt this outside of summer. I would not suggest a winter approach due to the sustained travel on avalanche terrain.
Thanks to its significant elevation, the views from Mount Marriott are practically endless, with staggering views of Cayoosh Mountain, Birkenhead Peak, Joffre Peak, Mount Matier, Mount Oleg, Nequatque Mountain and Mount Rohr to name a few.
Access to the trailhead requires an AWD if approaching from the Birken side, and the Duffey Lake Road approach benefits greatly from this as well, though you can feasibly begin the hike at the road itself with a 2WD, but that will make for a very long day.
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Is Mount Marriott worthwhile?
Summiting Mount Marriott is no mean feat, with a significant amount of elevation gain on an incredibly steep route. Thankfully the payoff after this gruelling ascent is incredible, with countless trophy peaks on full display as far as the eye can see. As of the time of writing this I’d have to say they’re some of the best views I’ve had from any summit, and the views along the way are pretty amazing as well. To be fair any summit that is 2,735m high is going to offer some incredible views!
How difficult is the hike to Mount Marriott?
Physically speaking Mount Marriott is very challenging. The first 4km or so are straightforward enough, just your typical BC logging road approach with a gradual gain of 400m, though it will certainly include some alder thrashing. Once you reach the base of a boulder field / avalanche path you’ll see a false summit of Mount Marriott to your left. This is where the grind starts (and never stops). Over just 2.5km you will now ascend 1,250m for an average gradient of 50%, by far the most consistently steep climb I’ve had at the time of writing, it feels never ending when you are doing it. At times it will get steep enough that the use of hands are required as you work your way through the boulder field.
Technically this is no walk in the park either. The logging road approach is deactivated and unmaintained, so nature has been reclaiming it over time. The first 2.5km or so are reasonably fine, but you will encounter some significant alder before you reach the base of the boulder field. In spring this wasn’t so bad but in the summer it could be quite challenging. After that most of the hike will be up a steep boulder field. It’ll start off reasonably fine as you follow a creek up and can likely stick to the grassy banks and treeline, but once you reach approximately 1,900m elevation it’s all boulders the entire time. This is why going in spring is beneficial as the boulders will be snow covered, making for smooth travel. That being said this is literally an avalanche path the entire way up, so traveling in snow comes with obvious risks as well. Also timing it wrong and ending up with insufficient snowpack on the boulder field will make it even more treacherous as you will end up post holing through the thin now layer between the boulders.
Mount Marriott Route Information
The trailhead for Mount Marriott (from this approach) is from 8 Mile Forest Service Road, just off Pemberton Portage Road. You will need at least an AWD with decent clearance to reach the trailhead, preferably a 4×4 with good clearance, as the road has several cross ditches. We parked at 1,100m elevation and you can’t really get any higher before having to stop as the FSR deteriorates drastically further on. Many vehicles stop sooner than this, which just means starting a bit further down the FSR.
The first 4km of this hike is a plod along the FSR, crossing a log bridge over Seven Mile Creek after around 500m. The FSR continues to climb at a gradual gradient and was in reasonably decent shape when we went. You’ll cross over several small creeks as you run parallel to the much larger Seven Mile Creek. After around 3km the old FSR ends and you’ll soon hit the alder fest. The next kilometer or so will be a bit of an alder bash, though it wasn’t so bad that we were significantly slowed, it’s just a pain to thrash through (especially on the return leg…).
At around the 3.5km mark you’ll reach the base of some boulders, but you’ll want to continue along the vague, alder ridden trail for another 500m or so until you reach an opening beneath the significant boulder field that you’ll be climbing. This area should be obvious as it’s the end of the alder bash and a large open area, with some nice views of Cayoosh Mountain and Birkenhead Peak. To your left will be a false summit of Mount Marriott that looks tantalisingly close. We made the mistake of thinking this was the summit but unfortunately it’s not even close to it. Knowing what is ahead I strongly suggest you take a break here and gather your bearings as this hike is about to go from simple to hellish really fast.
Looking up at the mountain you’ll notice an obvious & wide gap in the treeline (due to avalanches / boulder slides wiping out the trees). The trail keeps to the right of this gap, sticking close to the treeline on the right side, next to a creek. The gradient starts off fairly steep, but nothing on what’s higher up. Keeping close to the treeline it’s mostly just a steep, grassy hill. After around 400m of elevation gain you’ll reach the boulder field, which for us meant continuous snow, but in the summer will mean boulders from here on out.
Once you’re out of the treeline you should see that the ridgeline to your right, the southwest ridge of Mount Marriott, is the simplest approach to the summit, so you’ll want to make your way towards this ridge. The views will now be opening up rapidly, with incredible views to the west of Gates Peak, Cirque Peak & Mount Oleg, as well as Cayoosh Mountain to the south and Birkenhead Peak to the northwest.
Gaining the ridgeline will need some very steep steps that will possibly require the use of hands, but we managed just fine with our snowshoes on. Once you’re on the ridge the direction is pretty obvious towards the false summit, so just keep working your way along the ridge towards the summit.
As you gain elevation the views continue to open up, with more views to the south of the iconic Pemberton Valley peaks, namely Joffre Peak, Mount Matier and Slalok Mountain. The route now is entirely boulder hopping, avoiding any boulder traps along the way and taking care not to knock any refrigerators down the mountain. Ideally you should space out and not hike beneath others in your party just in case.
As we gained elevation the gradient continued to get steeper and steeper and we had to switch gear from snowshoes to crampons and ice axes, but depending on snow you might manage just boot packing. There is no trail to follow, naturally, but the route is obvious and it’s just a case of grinding it out and finding the right gaps between the boulders to allow you to continue to ascend. We had to zig zag up the mountain when it got too steep to go directly up, but this shouldn’t be an issue in the summer.
The climb will be absolutely relentless and due to the steep gradient it’s impossible to see where the actual summit is. The number of false summits on this mountain is quite astonishing. Just as we thought we were near the summit, another summit came into view a hundred meters higher. By the end it became increasingly frustrating, but there’s nothing to do except push on. Eventually, mercifully, the summit block will come into view. There’s nothing technical required in terms of gaining the summit, you’ll simply scramble up to a ridge just south of the true summit, then work your way along the ridge to the actual summit marked by a cairn. Just beyond the cairn will be an open summit with plenty of space to spread out.
The views are now 360 degrees, with all the views you had earlier plus astonishing views to the east of endless mountain ranges. You’ll also be able to see a variety of tarns and even Anderson Lake to the north, as well as the nearby Nequatque Mountain. We took a good long break at the summit as the clouds rolled in and out, but unfortunately we didn’t have a whole lot of sun and it eventually became pretty chilly at the top. After a lot of photos, some snacks and some rest, it was time to descend.
Unfortunately on hikes this steep the descent is just as tough as the ascent, with a lot of careful maneuvering down steep, bouldery slopes. In snow we had to be careful to avoid boulder traps, which was quite challenging, but towards the bottom we did benefit from being able to glissade several hundred vertical meters back down to the FSR.
Eventually you’ll be back at the FSR where you can look back at what you just climbed with pride. Unfortunately you still have a 4km FSR plod back to the trailhead, a bunch of which is annoying alder bashing which frankly feels like a slap in the face after such a testing hike.
When should I hike Mount Marriott?
First of all I’ll be clear and say this is not a winter hike, despite us doing this with snow on the ground. The entire ascent goes directly up an avalanche run the entire time. We hiked this in the spring (mid-May), when the snowpack is mostly stable and avalanche risk is low, and that’s likely the earliest you will want to do this hike. It will also make a good summer and early fall route, depending on how bad the alder is on the FSR. The alder wasn’t too debilitating in spring though I’m sure it’ll be more challenging in summer. The actual climb should be free of bush and should be a steep boulder scramble basically the whole way.
To summarize I’d suggest May – October as a good time to hike Mount Marriott, though it’s entirely dependent on snow conditions. If you want a snow free ascent, you’re likely going to have to wait until mid-July. At 2,735m elevation it can take a long time for the summit to be snow free.
Top Tip
If you are attempting this in spring like we did you are going to need to be fully prepared with all the appropriate winter gear. We took snowshoes, crampons (not microspikes), poles, ice axes, helmets, avalanche beacon, shovel & probe.
I’d only suggest a spring ascent if you are experienced and comfortable with extremely steep and sustained snow travel. We found by late morning the snow was isothermal and resulted in consistent post holing, especially on the descent. As such you will want to set off VERY early, as in start the hike at 6am or earlier.
Obviously you’ll need an offline map to navigate as this is not a marked hike in any way, though the route finding is pretty straightforward.
