Tolkien Mountains
- Jocelyn Timmermans
- Aug 12
- 6 min read
August 4-8, 2025 -- Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park
This was an intense four days of mountaneering and hiking. At times it came very close to pushing us beyond our limits. It was challenging in more ways than one. The rocky steep terrain, the cold often wet weather, route-finding and class 3+ scrambles that required utmost caution and team work. But other than one small injury and some bruises, we all pulled through and formed some strong bonds with our two tight groups, walking eachother through those extremely exposed sections when adrenaline was running high.
The Tolkien Mountains are 32km north of Pemberton. The peaks surrounding Long Lake where the Brian Waddington cabin and basecamp are located, are named after the characters in the Lord of the Rings movies. The highest, Tolkien Peak (2130m) is named after J. Tolkien, author of the Hobbits + Lord of the Rings novels. These books were read while waiting out stormy weather during the 1972 first ascents of these mountains.
Day 1: to basecamp
5.9 km / 526m gain / 1712m high
Clean, fresh and ready to go! Three vehicles and ten people met at Mile 1 Eating House in Pemberton for lunch at 11:30am. We were able to drive our 4x4s right to the trailhead on Phelix FSR. My pack and camera gear weighed 39 lbs.
There were about 20 hikers / scramblers descending on this BC holiday. By the end of the day I noticed they were all young people. By the end of the trip I knew why.
Our first views of Long Lake and Shadowfax Mt.
Mt. Weinhold (2250m), Mt. Taillefer (2340m) + Phelix Peak (2220m) -- east.
The Brian Waddington cabin was at the other west end of Long Lake. Gandolf Mt to the left.
Frodo Peak - center. We were about halfway along the north side of the lake, trying to decide where to camp.We learned from passing people that there was a crew of 18 UBC Varsity Outdoor Club members, working on renovating the cabin till midnight and beyond. We could clearly hear the power saw from where we were standing. So we backtracked to the east side of the lake by a nice stretch of beach while Cindy went to scout out the cabin area.
Owen had us gather for a "Pow wow". The problem was the lack of an outhouse. After conversing with Cindy via walkie-talkie, the decision was made to camp by the cabin and outhouse.
It turned out to be the better choice. The busy outdoor construction group had shrunk down to six. And the campsite to the south of the cabin was less boggy plus the barrier of trees and a fast flowing creek blocked most of the noise.
Ten people and ten tents. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. The friendly VOCers allowed us to hang our food bags on their line.
Day 2: Gandalf + Aragorn Peaks
Stats: 11.3 km / 949m gain / 2460m high / 5:35 hours MT
This proved to be our longest most challenging day.
8:00am departure time
Upper Lake -- south.
At the west end of Upper Lake.
Veering off to the right.
On the ridge we turned right, onto the slopes of Gandalf.
Looking back -- east.
Tolkien Peak to the left -- northwest.
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northwest
At this point we did not listen to AllTrails. After a deep gully, it wanted us to go straight up this rockwall with no sufficient hand or footholds. Sheri led us a bit beyond that point and then up.
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The summit block.
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Cindy, Jamie, me, Johnny, Carmen. Minus Sheri who'd gone back to help the other group find the correct route.
The first stretch descending from Gandalf's summit was treacherous. Huge gaps serparated gigantic boulders. The thinning edge of the ice was not to be trusted.
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south
This vertical drop needed extreme caution. Just below Cindy (at the bottom), you had to side step on an unstable slope to get back onto the rocks. There would be very little chance of survival if you lost your footing there.
The remainder of the way to Aragon's summit was easy going.
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Approaching Aragorn summit.
On the ridge, looking back at Gandalf.
At the summit of Aragorn.
Jamie, Sheri, Johnny, Cindy, Carmen & me
The lighter sandy dirt on the lowest part of the col between the two peaks, is where we descended.
This was the most dangerous part of the whole 4 days. An extremely steep grade, shifting dirt and loose rocks made it very challenging. Sheri did a great job of walking us through our moves. The strategy was to stay closer together because of falling rock. But we did end up getting more spaced at times, each one of us totally focused on where to get the next hand or foothold.
Most of us resorted to butt sliding which ended up ripping holes in our backpacks.
Looking back.
Cindy punctured her upper shin in two places. Her & Sheri just wrapped it up and carried on.
Looking back.
Back at camp I was wondering why these five were huddled together so closely on this rock. It's because Sonja lit her mosquito coil.
Day 3: Cabin Hill + Shadowfax Mtns
Stats for Cabin Hill: 3 km / 267m gain / 1938m high / 1:50 hours MT
Not ones to sit around the campsite, especially in colder wet weather, us women decided to do a short hike. This hike started south of the cabin.
My Garmin-66i forecast called for sun & clouds, no rain. That's not what happened.
The green groundcover was damp from a night of rain. And these very steep slopes had no footholds. So we did some slipping and sliding. On the descent I put my micro-spikes on.
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Our campsite.
After reconnecting with the rest of the group at basecamp, we ascended Shadowfax beside that grey gully in the forest to the left.
At the top of Cabin Hill, trying to stay low so you could still see Long Lake.
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Frodo peak to the right -- west.
Rocky Mountain Parnassia
We constantly had to balance on these logs about 4' above the creek to get back and forth to the outhouse and to our food.
We had a hasty lunch and then all of us headed for Shadowfax.
Cabin Hill to the left and Peregrine (2266m) in the distance to the right.
As soon as the sun came out it was hot. So we were constantly taking layers off & putting them back on throughout the afternoon. Peregrine & Frodo Mtns -- southwest
From the lake it was a bit tricky finding the correct route to the summit. We went too far to the north so had to backtrack across the steep slope before climbing straight up. But this slope had some nice terraced footholds.
Finally the clouds lifted enough to view both Gandalf & Aragron Peaks. The lowest part of the ridge is where we descended.
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Unfortunately, it started to pour when we reached this subpeak.
We were 88m below the true summit.
We decided it wasn't worth it or safe to scramble the last bit to the top. We found refuge from the wind and pelting rain by this rock.
In the cloud.
There were no signs in this park, only rock cairns to guide the way sometimes the wrong way). Some of the sections of trail that looked more like animals tracks or din't exist. A GPS was mandatory.
A cave!
Group shot: me, Redina, Jim, Jamie, Johnny, Carmen, Owen, Sonja, Sheri & Cindy
The trail in the gully was very steep, narrow and muddy.
The bottom stretch of meadow was more like marsh. Jamie sunk to her knee in the bog. Johnny did a back flip. By the end of this day most of our boots were soaking wet. Temperatures dropped down to 6C at night. By the latter half of this night, I couldn't keep quite warm enough.
Inside the cabin.
Day 4: Frodo Mt.
Stats: 7 km / 562m gain / 2201m high / 3:25 hours MT / 1088m descent
Putting those cold wet boots & socks on in the morning was brutal. But once we started moving, my feet warmed up.
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This time we climbed the slope west of the cabin.
On the ridge we got closeup views of Tolkien Mt. with its hanging lakes.
Approaching the summit.
Later after summiting Frodo, Cindy, Sheri & Owen continued along this ridge for another hour to summit Peregrine. The rest of us had decided to go back down, pack up and go home.
Long Lake -- east.
Group shot at the summit of Frodo.
Another steep dirt slope to descend from the ridge. But this one was more doable than the one between Gandalf & Aragron.
Views from the summit -- west.
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nort
Looking back at the slope we'd just ascended and Frodo Peak to the right -- west.
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At the east end of Upper Lake.
Yes we had less food to carry, but the bottoms of our tents were wet as well as some of our clothes. So the overall weight was probably similar to what we came up with. Sonja & Jamie were acting like turtles. We got home at 9:00pm.
Many thanks to Owen for organizing and coordinating this very adventurous trip.