Mount John Clarke

We visited this lovely granitic area via Sims Creek in August 2010. Road access was in 2WD condition, and trail head easy to find, just 30 meters back along the road from a small parking area just before the bridge over Sims Creek. The trail was steep but in good condition, route finding straight forward. Once at Bug Lake we headed west southwest following tape and cairns to the obvious ridge line. There is steep southeast facing gully at tree line, cross it around the 4600ft. contour line. Then head pretty much straight up, through sub alpine open slopes until the ridge crest proper is gained. Cairns are less obvious on this slope.

We climbed the Northeast ridge of John Clark Peak (formerly Sun Peak), minimal glacier travel and easy scrambling. There is a class 5 mossy rock step and scrambling of around 75 meters that you need to negotiate to get to the glacier, if you continue along the ridge crest. This more technical step can be avoided by dropping of the ridge to the north or the south 200 - 300 meters earlier.

Cheers