Phyllis’s Engine

September 6-8, 2026. Via SW Face (5.8)

The striking shape and spectacular rock quality of Phyllis’s Engine consistently draws climbers despite the long approach and meager height. It is an unmistakeable bump on the skyline when looking at the Sphinx Glacier from Garabaldi Lake. Lacking prominence it is really more a part of the ridgeline to Castle Towers, but nonetheless is a worthy objective in itself.

It wasn’t the first time I had made the trip out here, I had first attempted to climb the engine in 2022, and bailed largely due to time management and underestimating the approach. Regardless on whether you approach from Gentian Pass or Sphinx Burton I would recommend spending 2 nights to leave comfortable time for the glacier travel and climb.

I was stoked to be able to line up a redemption attempt on Phyllis’s with Phin, who was key in making this plan come together. After paddling across the lake and spending a night at the Burton Hut we started off towards Sphinx Glacier at sunrise. Here we made the mistake of following the side of the valley north of the river. I strongly recommend that one either paddles or fords the river to the south side of the valley when attempting this in summer. The north side of the valley is a dense alder thwack, while the south side offers easy travel.

Hiking up talus and slabs from the valley bottom you’ll pass by this striking little lake by the glacier filled with ice bergs. We noticed the cloud ceiling coming in rapidly as we approached the glacier. The glacier here is fairly mellow, but it was in quite poor shape at this time of year with thinly veiled snow bridges, we utilized a probe to make our way through.

Getting to the base of the rock route, we opted for the easiest way via the SW face. This route is 3 pitches of gorgeous hand jamming. It was cold and damp in the clouds, I was grateful for my jammies which helped keep my hands warm in the ice cold cracks. We swung leads, Phin taking the first lead. Overall the climbing was excellent, great rock, great exposure, and countless hand jams.

After perching on the precarious summit, we rappelled off the top bolted anchors. Between this and a tat station halfway down we made it back to the ground in two raps with our 70m rope.

Getting back to the glacier the visibility was much worse than before. Initially we had planned to traverse the glacier and link up the Bookworms and Sphinx with an overnight bivy. The mountains had other plans though. The whiteout vis, thin snow bridges, and light new dusting of snow, made it extremely difficult to read the glacier. We opted to hike back down and return to the hut, following our tracks back down the glacier.

Still a long day even with the Burton Hut approach. We returned by fording the creek and walking the south side of the valley which is almost completely bushwhack free. Without poles the final river crossing was exceptionally slippery. Phin went first opting for wet boots (he had spare shoes at the cabin), I tried next and very nearly went for a swim slipping around on the polished slimy rocks. Phin very graciously picked me up in the boat. The quick river shuttle was a nice finish to the day. We tucked in at the cabin, filling our bellies with ramen and freeze dried dinners.