On August 6, Katie Beringer and I made the first ascent of a previously unnamed peak adjacent to Mt. Nyland (2,816m) and the Horn (2,907m) in the Tsini Tsini Valley, near Bella Coola. Other major peaks in the area are Mt. Stupendous (2,686m) to the north and Mt. Melikan (2,034m) to the east. We’ve decided to call this one Tsini Tsini Peak (2,646m, 52.30776, -126.19538), as all other summits in the area lack indigenous names.

With friends helicopter-sightseeing in the area, we were able to get dropped off at the eastern saddle of the northeast ridge of the peak. After a short scramble, we roped up and began the first of 12 pitches up the ridge. Our route more or less wandered up the right side of the ridge until near the top, where vertical, lichenous climbing forced us to deviate onto harder but cleaner rock to the left, which brought us to a shoulder just below the summit. A final pitch of 5.7/5.8 climbing took us to the top, where our friends were able to pluck us off in the heli and give us cold beers and a short flight to the valley bottom.

We called our route Twirly Birds. We placed seven bolts (all as anchors) and found multiple pitches of great climbing on solid rock. The crux was a short 5.10 section on the tenth pitch. 

The ascent took six hours, taking us to a panorama of stunning views of the Tsini Tsini Valley, the Matterhorn zone (the local name for the region in which the Tsini Tsini Valley lies), and the Monarch Icefields to the south. It really couldn't have been a more perfect adventure.

           —Andrew Councell, Canada