Iago Mountain stands to the west of the Coquihalla Summit area.   It is really a horseshoe-shaped peak at the headwaters of the Anderson River and Boston Bar Creek.   The summit is at the northeast end of the horseshoe, overlooking the Coquihalla Highway to the south, but it is also surrounded by the peaks of the Summit area – Needle Peak, Zopkios Ridge, the Anderson Peaks. the Flatiron, Portia Peak, Bombtram Mountain, and the north-south ridge of peaks which includes Llama, Zupjok, Alpaca, and Bighorn Mountains.    Many of these peaks are steep and not very accessible, but Iago is one of the most accessible routes, a 12.3km return trip from the Zopkios Ridge rest area.

The trailhead is really a mountain access track in the forest behind the rest stop.   It leads to a cannon stanchion for avalanche control and then beyond, it follows a double track up toward a prominent hill overlooking the highway.   As the track climbs and approaches this hilltop, most snowshoers veer around the hill to a pass on the north side, avoiding some unnecessary elevation and distance.   The trail continues to climb as the forest thins.   Cresting over a rise, the summit of Iago can be seen 1.7km to the west.    The track continues along a ridge with the final section winding up a classic ridge route to the barren, windswept top.   Only a few trees can be found near the top and they are all stunted and misshapen in the exposed, long-winter location.   We arrived as snow-wind tornados swirled around us.  We huddled behind a tarp and in a treewell to eat lunch.   No sun and only glimpses to neighboring peaks this time.   I resolved to return on a sunny day.   We took about 2 hours and 15 minutes to go to the top, and that was breaking trail for the last 2km.    Going back down was well under 2 hours with lots of fun going straight down through the deep, heavy snow.   We really enjoyed the bottom section, a good trail that wound through giant trees.   Click an image for a lightbox view.

I was surprised by how good the Iago Summit is.  It’s not in the guidebooks, but it is almost a perfect snowshoeing route, especially now that 7 of us have stomped it in and back.

Note – We snowshoed Iago one more time, then hiked it once in summer.    Both posts are also on this website.