What a beautiful mountain and scramble! LB/UB lower/upper bowls

View of the upper bowl to the Col

View of steep loose gully to the col

From the col the final slope to the summit

Last part to the top, see the small figures in red.

Summit of Mt Fisher

Scramble: Class 2 – Steep Hiking, Some Use of Hands, Some Exposure, Some Route Finding

Altitude: 2,846m (9,335 ft)

Elevation Gain: 1,600m (5,250 ft) some Forest Service Information says 1400m?

Ascent Time: 4 – 5 Hours

Best Season to Scramble: June to September

This climb is the scramble of all scrambles in the Cranbrook, Kimberly, Fort Steele area. Just looking at the peak you know it’s a great climb. Highly recommended.

It is best to camp the night before in the Kimberley Cranbrook area. We camped at the Kimberley Riverside Campground which is between Kimberley and Cranbrook and near Marysville on highway 95. Their website is www.kimberleycampground.com. From this location you would take highway 95 to the outskirts of Cranbrook then take highway 93 to the Fort Steele Historic Park. The road approaches Fort Steele from the south with Fisher Peak looming in the background. Just past the entrance to Fort Steele, in less than .5 km you make a right hand turn onto the Wardner-Fort Steele Road. Follow this for a little over 2 km and take a left onto the Mause Creek Road. Watch for signs along here directing you to Fisher Peak as there are a few intersecting roads along the Mause Creek Road which could cause some confusion. The Mause Creek road winds for approx 8 km up a rough rocky road to the signed trailhead. You need a high clearance vehicle and perhaps a 4x4 for the very last part of the road. We made it to within ½ km of the trailhead in a mini-van before we said that’s far enough. A creek running across the road had cut a fairly sizable gully in the road. To our surprise when we made it to the trailhead there were a number of low riding vehicles there but I can’t say if they still had mufflers or not.

You might want to stretch and warm up a bit at the trailhead because it is steep and unrelenting right away. From the trailhead you hike up to the first cirque then follow the trail up the left side of this cirque to gain the upper cirque. The upper cirque has a beautiful alpine setting with many large boulders and a bench believe it or not! A good place to have a snack and view the back of the upper cirque. The trail leads into the back of the upper cirque and you climb a steep slope on the left hand side of the cirque up to the col. See the route on the photo here. From this col you go slightly right then directly up the boulder slope picking the easiest way. Avoid circling around to the right side of the mountain from the col as this is not the best route even though there is a faint trail. This upper part of Fisher is like a teepee so your route will lead to the summit point. If you find yourself on a route which has exposure you are likely off-route and should retrace your steps and pick a better line. The last 15 minutes to the summit does have a couple of spots with some exposure but if you study them carefully and pick the best way you should be okay. The summit is very small but the views are fantastic. Return the same way.