The Pantheon Range in Canada;
I do not know much about Greek mythology, but this Sub Range of the mighty Waddington massif certainly seems like one of those places where an international gathering of gods might have taken place. Kind of like the G-8 summit of ancient times...
Pantheon apparently is the temple of all goods and they all seem to have claimed a mountain summit in this area.
I love it, a bunch of gods from all over the great world religions decided to come together in this vast wilderness and stay.
The great god Byamee of the Australian Aboriginal Mythology is protected and preserved by the Nepali God Vishnu, since the Siva just up the valley is trying to destroy it all and make a fresh start.
A bit further to the west is where the big guns decided to get together. Mount Zeus, Thor and Manitou are certainly a powerful sight to see and the fact that a Normans God of War and Greece's Big Boss along with the Great Spirit of North America can all hang out in perfect harmony almost made me want to have another cup of coffee on Nirvana Pass.
What the world needs is apparently a bit more Pantheon Range.
We went there to find world class ski mountaineering and we did find it. I took about 10 to 12 hours to drive the 600 miles from Seattle to the Tatla Lake area. Tatla Lake is located in the eastern foothills of the BC Coast Mountains. Mike King from Whitesaddle Air flew us to Nirvana Pass. Nirvana Pass sits right at treeline and there is running water right near camp in the spring. We established a very comfortable base camp and did day tours in the area. The area is amazing, offers ample opportunities for aggressive ski mountaineering, steep skiing, glacier skiing and mellow tree skiing. Many of the significant peaks have been named, but many of the smaller - perfect ski peaks have not. A route description could sound like this. Go up the unnamed valley to the unnamed glacier until you find the no name couloir. This will lead to a zero name col. The unnamed bump is not far from there. Stand up there and be proud that you can identify 5 of the hundreds of peaks you can see.
In a nutshell we spent about 5 days in the area around Nirvana Pass and then moved our camp to a small glacier just south of the Septentrion Spires.
The area is somewhat reminiscent of the heart of North Cascades National Park, with glacier size, relief and absolute summit height being about the same. There just is a lot of it and the omni present Grizzly tracks certainly add to the wilderness appeal.
If you ever get a chance to go to the Pantheon Range, you should take the opportunity. It is world class.
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