Trip Date: July 24-27, 2014

MID-SUMMER OUTING NO. 12:  CHEAM RANGE

Foley Peak & Welch Peak Climbing Trip

Williamson Lake
Welch–Foley Col
Foley Peak (7572’)
Welch Peak (7999’) attempt 

Trip Report Summary

Region: Canadian Cascades (British Columbia)

Sub-Region: Cheam Range

Area: Yale Land District

Starting & Ending Point: Williamson Creek Road pullout (Elev. 2500 feet)

Way Points: Williamson Lake Trailhead (road walk); Williamson Creek & Williamson Lake (trail hike & rock scramble)

Campsite: Williamson Lake (Elev. 5400 feet)

Sidetrip: Williamson Couloir & Welch–Foley Col (rock scramble & snow climb)

Summit: Foley Peak (snow climb & rock climb via Southeast Face—East Ridge)

Sidetrip: Williamson Couloir (rock scramble & snow climb)

Summit Attempt 1: Welch Peak (snow climb & rock scramble to South Ridge via South Ledges)

Summit Attempt 2: Welch Peak (snow climb & rock scramble to East Face via East Ridge)

Approximate Stats: 14 miles traveled; 9700 feet gained & lost.

Related Posts

Welch Peak via Lower Southeast Face—South Ridge – August 2015

Baby Munday Peak + Stewart Peak + Knight Peak – August 2018

Full Trip Report

For our twelfth annual Mid-Summer Climbing Trip, Eric, Jon, Todd, Adam, and I headed up to British Columbia for an adventure in the Cheam Range. Although not well known to most Washington climbers, the Cheam (pronounced “SHEM” or “SHAM” by the locals, and “CHEE-um” or “SHEE-am” by many others) Range contains several of the Cascade’s major peaks. It is also quite familiar to B.C. climbers due to its outstanding relief above the town of Chilliwack. Incidentally, you “P” hounds out there might be interested in knowing that Welch Peak (the highest Cheam summit) has over 4700 feet of prominence!

Day 1: Williamson Creek Road Pullout to Williamson Lake

After spending a drizzly morning on paved roads, we left the macadam behind at noon and proceeded easterly on the Chilliwack River Road. Near Mile 16, we turned onto the Foley Lake Road and bounced across huge potholes for another 7 miles or so. This road has numerous transverse drainage swales and requires a high-clearance 4×4 rig with aggressive tires. A steep hill at Elev. 2600 feet proved a bit too steep for Jon’s street-legal Highlander, and we spent 2 hours digging it out after it slid into a shallow creek. This prompted our decision to park and walk the remainder of the road.

We started walking in late afternoon and immediately took a wrong road spur that led across Williamson Creek. This error cost us another hour. The correct road spur switchbacks up the eastern side of Williamson Creek and then makes an obvious split at Elev 3750 feet. After mistakenly hoofing up the right fork here, we eventually discovered that the Williamson Lake Trail (a fisherman’s/climber’s path, really) leaves from the left fork. For navigational purposes, this trail can be described in four segments:

• Segment 1 veers right from the road end (parking lot) and follows an overgrown road for several hundred yards. Just before crossing Williamson Creek, look for a faint bootpath that turns off to the right and winds through dense brush. It crosses two branches of the creek and heads toward a tongue of dense forest at 3900 feet.
• Segment 2 follows a steep but well-defined path up through the forest tongue, ending about Elev. 4600 feet.
• Segment 3 contours rightward (northward) across forest and wildflower slopes for ½ mile until underneath the bowl of Williamson Lake, ending at Elev. 4700 feet.
• Segment 4 follows a rutted path straight uphill, passing over a few Class 3 outcrops along the way. It ends on a heather ridge (Elev. 5400 feet) overlooking Williamson Lake.

Having lost many hours due to driving and route-finding problems, it was 8:40pm when we finally reached the still-frozen lake. We made camp on a broad heather bench next to the shore. The weather was cold, windy, cloudy, and foggy. All in all, it had not been an auspicious beginning to our trip.

Day 2: Foley Peak Summit Climb

We awoke to a cloudy sky with blue patches and a promise of clearing. Our goal for the day was Foley Peak. We headed up a large snow couloir leading to the Welch-Foley Col at 6800 feet. From the col, our first view of Foley Peak gave us chills; the summit was an unexpectedly steep horn jutting into the clouds! How were we going to climb that??

We climbed up snow and rock to a saddle between Foley’s main summit and a 7300-foot southwest peak (false summit), then descended snow to reach the base of the East Ridge. We roped up for a 200-foot Class 3-4 slot that ended on the ridge crest, then we scrambled up the narrow and exposed crest to the summit (4.4 hours from camp). The route was quite fun and thrilling—one of the best ridge scrambles we’ve done!

We descended by following the East Ridge farther down until able to downclimb a Class 2-3 gully/ramp system. On our way back to camp, we booted up the 7300-foot false summit for a better view of Foley Peak. Unfortunately, nearby Welch Peak never came out of the clouds.

Back at the Welch-Foley Col, we stopped for a last look at evening sun rays illuminating Foley Peak. Even in the warm sunlight, it looked pretty intimidating.

By the time we reached camp at Williamson Lake, the cloud cover had almost completely dissipated, leaving us with incredible views of the Canadian Chilliwack Mountains and Can-Am Border peaks. Only then did it hit me that the Cheam Range offers what might be the best possible vantage for these amazing north faces.

Day 3: Welch Peak Climbing Attempts

Following a clear, starry night, we awoke to a blue, cloudless sky. Our plan for  today was to tease out a route up Welch Peak, which is higher and bulkier than Foley Peak. We headed back up the snow couloir until below the col, then traversed out to the left on snow slopes and rock ledges. We eventually reached the South Ridge just below a rocky step, which looked to be a bit too technical for our mindset and gear arsenal. Back to the couloir we went.

Next, Jon and I tried scrambling up the East Ridge of Welch Peak and made it to a notch about 600 feet below the summit. Again, the terrain ahead looked a bit more committing than we were prepared for, so we ended our attempt here.

Our high position on Welch Peak did give us a nice view of nearby Foley Peak and of distant Silvertip Mountain directly behind it. We also got an unusual look straight up Depot Creek into the heart of the American Chilliwack peaks.

After returning to camp, we were greeted by three friendly climbers from White Rock, B.C. They sat under a large canopy pitched on a heather ridge and had spent all afternoon watching our progress (or lack thereof) on Welch Peak. We enjoyed their boisterous Canuck humor, and we stayed up chatting until midnight. Obviously, they shared our proclivity for “country-club starts” and “alpine finishes.”

Day 4: Williamson Lake to Williamson Creek Road Pullout

We packed up, wished the White Rock trio good luck on their Welch Peak attempt, and then headed down the trail. Knowing the correct route now, it took us only 1.1 hours to reach the trailhead and road-end (where the Canucks were parked) and only 1.8 hours total to reach our vehicle. We’ll certainly be more efficient on our next attempt in the Cheam Range!

Route Map & Profile

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Photo Gallery

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