An intense gigapixel view from the summit of Overseer Mountain (elev. 2,749m) near Pemberton, British Columbia.  It is the highest peak of the Pemberton Icefield area w/ a fantastic 360 degree view in all directions.  To the east, one can see distant Mt. Matier in Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, south towards Garibaldi Park including Mt. Currie, Mt. Weart, Wedge Mountain, Castle Towers Mountain, the Black Tusk, & the volcano Mt. Garibaldi.  To the south is the fantastic view of the icefield though much of the glaciers are still covered by snow having been a wet winter season.  Most of the glaciers have no name & are collectively part of the icefield.  Behind that is the Tantalus Range as well as other spired peaks like Ashlu & Tinniswood.  Looking southwest are more remote glaciated peaks that are part of Clendinning Provincial Park w/ sections of the Elaho River Valley visible below.  To the west are distant glimpses of the Compton Neve & the Lillooet Icecap, both are which are considerably larger than the Pemberton Icefield.  Even a glimpse of Fish Lake.  To the northwest is the Mt. Meager volcanic complex where the Capricorn Creek Landslide occurred on August 6, 2010, the largest landslide in recorded Canadian history.  The landslide choked off any easier access to Overseer from the west making old logging roads deactivated.  In recent years more roads have been built back in however they are gated.  Further north is Mt. Athelstan to which a large pumice mining operation lies at its base.  Further northeast are additional peaks that span the divide between the Lillooet River Valley & Gold Bridge.  The summit area of Overseer is relatively easy having to scramble over loose gravel & broken granite.

The Pemberton Icefield is the SMALLEST of several massive icefields that inundate the Pacific Ranges of British Columbia.  At 300 square kilometres in size, it is roughly 5x larger than the island of Manhattan.  There are many moraine scars visible showing just how much larger the icefield was when the Little Ice Age terminated around 1840.  Even in recent years the glaciers have been receding rapidly.  Many of the peaks particularly facing northwest are exceedingly remote & have perhaps seen only an ascent once in the past 100 years (if any at all).  One of my favorite mountaineers I've read up on was John Clarke, an avid mountaineer who made hundred of first ascents in this mountain range stretching clear up to Alaska.  Sun Peak to the south was renamed to Mt. John Clarke in his honor.

Overseer had been an objective of mine for several years & it was quite grueling reaching this location having taken a tedious approach from the Lillooet River bottom.  I made it last three days trekking in bear country (3 black bear encounters) & dealing w/ devils club, downsloped white-flowered rhododendron vines, & mats of biting flies.  An isolated grizzly population is found in the area though signs below prohibit shooting them.  Often many climbers will opt to reach this remote region via helicopter & will rope up to tag additional nearby summits.

Gigapixel panorama (2.145 gigapixels), 508 photos, 65500x32750 pixels

This panorama is dedicated in loving memory of my cousin Bryan Yee (1983-2020). 

Romans 8:18