Vancouver Island 6000’ ers – Alpine Club of Canada Vancouver Island Section

There has long been interest in climbs of the highest peaks on Vancouver Island. Since the early days of our website, a list was posted of “Island Peaks Over 6000’.” The first person to complete ascents of all these peaks was Charles Turner in August 2004, with his climb of Rambler Junior (Bushwhacker Vol 32 issue 4).

Over the following years the list has been refined, partly due to updated height measurements from more recent surveys, and partly reflecting discussions about the definition of a summit for these purposes.

Lindsay Elms has been the key person in developing this list, and his rationale for what is and is not included is well described in his website Beyond Nootka. Today, the accepted ACC-VI list of Vancouver Island 6000’ ers is the 53 peaks shown below.

Rank	Peak	Metres	Feet
1	The Golden Hinde	2197	7208
2	Elkhorn Mountain	2166	7106
3	Victoria Peak	2163	7096
4	Mount Colonel Foster	2135	7005
5	Rambler Peak	2105	6906
6	Mount Albert Edward	2093	6867
7	Mount McBride	2081	6827
8	The Comb* (GR 017055#) 92F/12 High point 1 km north of the Golden Hinde	2069	6788
9	Kings Peak	2065	6775
10	Rees Ridge (Mount Celeste*)	2045	6709
11	Mount Filberg	2035	6676
12	The Red Pillar	2034	6673
13	Mount Cobb	2030	6660
14	The Behinde	2018	6621
15	Rambler Junior	2012	6601
16	Mount Harmston	2009	6591
17	Argus Mountain	1994	6542
18	Elkhorn South	1989	6526
19	Iceberg Peak	1987	6519
20	Alexandra Peak	1983	6506
21	El Piveto Mountain	1980	6496
22	Mount Regan	1975	6480
23	Warden Peak	1969	6460
24	Mount Rosseau	1968	6457
25	Comox Glacier	1963	6440
26	Mount Frink	1948	6391
27	Mount Haig Brown	1948	6391
28	Mount Septimus	1948	6391
29	Shepherds Ridge* (GR 219916#) 92F/11 Highest point on Shepherds Ridge	1945	6381
30	Peak 1931* (GR 253015#) 92F/11 High point .5 km south of Mount George V	1931	6335
31	Golden Hinde NW* (GR 013063#) 92F/12 High point 1 km northwest of The Comb	1922	6305
32	The Misthorns	1917	6289
33	Shepherds Horn* (GR 233905#) 92F/11 High point 1 km southeast of Shepherds Ridge	1917	6289
34	Peak 1909* (GR 251998#) 92F/11 High point 2.5 km south of Mount George V	1909	6263
35	Mount George V	1884	6181
36	Tzela Mountain* (GR 250912#) 92F/11 High point 2 km north of Tzela Lake	1884	6181
37	Margaret Peak* (GR 197828#) 92F/6 High peak southeast of the Misthorns	1870	6135
38	Mount Adrian	1869	6132
39	Mount Schoen	1862	6109
40	Sutton Peak	1862	6109
41	Rugged Mountain	1862	6109
42	Siokum Mountain* (GR251977#) 92F/11 High point 600m north of Ink Lake	1860	6102
43	Big Interior Mountain	1857	6092
44	Syd Watts Peak	1856	6089
45	Sid Williams Peak* (GR 209026#) 92F/11 High peak south of Syd Watts Peak	1849	6066
46	Nine Peaks	1847	6060
47	Crown Mountain	1846	6056
48	Mount Mitchell	1842	6.043
49	Slocomb Peak* (GR 944135#) 92F/12 High point between Elk Pass and Mount Colonel Foster	1840	6037
50	Augerpoint Mountain	1839	6033
51	Matchlee Mountain	1834	6018
52	Morrison Spire* (GR 075072#) 92F/12 High pointed spire above Marble Meadows	1830	6004
53	Jutland Mountain	1830	6004

The Charles Turner Vancouver Island 6000’ers Award

Charles Turner Garibaldi Traverse – April 2013. Photo by Catrin Brown

In 2018, the ACC-VI executive decided to launch the Charles Turner Vancouver Island 6000’ ers Award for presentation to members on their submission of a dated list of their successful ascents of each of the 53 peaks. Qualified members will be presented with a plaque.

The award honours the memory of Charles Turner, not only as the first VI 6000’ er, but also as a very active and well-respected member of the section over several decades. Charles tragically lost his life in a float-plane crash in August 2013. For tributes to Charles, see the special edition of the newsletter in September 2013 here and the memorial page Memorial page.

At the 2018 AGM, the award was presented retro-actively to those who had already completed climbs of all the 6000’ peaks.