The “Goatshoe Traverse” (Anderson River Group)

July 22-23, 2025

Linking up the peaks in the Anderson River Group has been on my radar for a few years. It traverses a very unique area over many stunning granite domes. On this traverse we linked up 8 peaks in a clockwise loop: Reh, Gemse, Serna, Gamuza, Steinbok, Ibex, Chamois, and Anderson River Mountain. On the way up the FSR we met someone from the Seabird Island Band who talked to us a bit about the history of the area. He stated that the area had a long history with the local bands. People would come up here to live for 20 years, later returning to their village as a shaman. This definitely adds to the mystique of these striking peaks.

Approach

After a lazy “alpine start” leaving Vancouver at 0730 and getting chatty on the FSR, we were finally ready to start hiking at noon. We had driven most of the way to the washed out bridge on Anderson River FSR. We stopped a bit short as a logging crew was fixing up the road with an excavator. By the time we were back the next day, they had fixed it all the way to the washed out bridge. Hopefully they will fix the bridge next. I was a bit torn seeing the crew there. While I would love improved access, I really hope the heart of the valley isn’t the next piece slated for logging. It is such a beautiful and special place.

After crossing the bridge and balancing on another log to cross a second river, we headed east along the FSR. This first section of FSR is fast travel, and has grown in like a meadow with gorgeous wild flowers and berries. After about 5.5km you turn off onto a smaller logging road to the south, for a much more classic coastal alder bash. We followed this, crossing another creek and then making our way until we were North of Reh peak. From here, some fall line bushwhacking through lush second growth forest brings you to the North Ridge of Reh.

Reh Peak

The North Ridge of Reh goes at 5.2. I was here last year and detailed it in a TR as well. https://sandrosummits.com/2024/07/15/reh-peak/

That trip ended up being a scouting mission for this traverse, I was happy to do the North Ridge of Reh again. It is a beautiful ridge with great exposure and easy climbing, it could easily be a local classic with better access. Route finding is generally obvious except for when you arrive at a very rotten rock step below the summit. Here you can skip the choss by heading left onto an airy sidewalk. Descending the SW ridge is 2nd class with spectacular views.

Gemse Peak

We climbed the East Ridge at 5.5. We scrambled most of the route and pitched out one section. A rope provides limited protection for a leader, as all the cruxes are unprotectable kitty litter slabs. As a stand alone route, I would not recommend the East Ridge, but it was the most practical link up for our traverse. I remember climbing towards a flaky lip on the final slabs. I was thinking the edge of the flake would offer much more secure footing than the dirty lichen. Only to have the edge crumble like gravel under my feet, as I continued scampering upwards.

Descending the south ridge had much better quality rock and goes at 4th class. At one steep step in the descent I opted for a committing lunge into a tree to avoid some more exposed friction moves.

Serna Peak

The bushwhack from Gemse to Serna was cruiser. Arriving at the North Ridge we climbed up the toe of it before traversing right along a treed ridge. Following the treed ledge kept it to 3rd class. We arrived at the summit around 7pm after our late start. We were ecstatic to find a perfect pond in a lovely little heather meadow just below the summit. This made a perfect camp and saved us the trouble of melting snow at the next col.

After a fairly warm night and a kick of instant coffee, we downclimbed the SW ridge. We pieced together a 3rd class route over a couple rocky steps.

Gamuza Peak

Traversing Gamuza from east to west offered little technical difficulty. It was mostly hiking with the odd scramble move. Cloud rolled in as summitted Gamuza, blocking our views.

Steinbok Peak

Originally we were planning on heading up the South Ridge of Steinbok at 5.6, but with our heavy packs we opted to skip the 5th class cruxes to the west and scramble the peak. From the west side, Steinbok goes at 3rd/4th class. We downclimbed a partially different route on the west side. All the while we stared at Ibex ahead.

Ibex Peak

The Southeast Ridge of Ibex at 5.9, would be the crux of the traverse. Theres no easy bypass on this side of the peak. With our overnight packs and limited climbing gear, we expected a challenge. We started smearing up the beautiful friction slabs at the bottom until we got to the upper large treed ledge. Here we roped up.

Our pitched climbing involved a fair bit of faff. We had a single rack (and one extra 0.75), and a 60m half rope to save weight. We discussed on whether to climb on it doubled for more security or singled and risk cuts/poor friction in our devices. We ended up opting to climb on it doubled, but the short sub 30m pitches forced us into awkward and sometimes less than ideal belays. I would not do it again for this route (it has worked very well for me on other less sustained routes).

We also had opted to do very little research and the route and enjoy the adventure. Because of this we ended up on an awkward route through the roof cruxes. We followed discontinuous and dirty cracks into an insecure and blank pull around an arete. We both tensioned to swing around the arete and continue up the ridge crest. After this we popped onto a beautiful jam crack and then easy climbing all the way to the top.

All in all it was a fantastic and beautiful climb, despite being very aware of our compromises in gear and route selection. I would definitely recommend the southeast ridge as a stand alone climb.

We descended via the north ridge. Here two 30m rappels off of slung blocks made a quick descent to Ibex-Chamois Col. I would think this makes a better descent route for climbers of the Southeast ridge rather than rappelling their climb. It was a very easy descent.

Chamois Peak

There is a nice water source here just below the col between Ibex and Chamois. A spring of water from Chamois brings water to a lush little meadow here. The peak itself was very straightforward, mostly hiking with the odd step. An eager peak bagger may be tempted to rappel or downclimb over to Les Cornes, the twinning summit just next to Chamois. Down climbing to the col with Anderson River Mountain had a short and loose 3rd class section.

Anderson River Mountain

An ugly and chossy short 4th class step rises out of the Anderson-Chamois col. We followed the grey weathered rock up the nose here as it was the best quality. We climbed delicately, testing every foot and handhold. After this short step it is an easy hike to the summit.

Descent

We trended SW on a ridge from Anderson River Mountain. We selected this ridge because it looked to have the least tree cover out of our descent options. The upper half of the ridge was decent travel. But lower down, there was a lot of deadfall, loose rock steps, and bushes that slowed our travel. I was elated to finally have the FSR in view at the bottom. Once on the FSR travel was fairly fast north back to our car. It is a bit overgrown but you can duck under most of the alder. We arrived back at the car after a 14 hour day, excited to throw on our sandals and dig into the bag of chips I had stashed in the back.