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Mountain High: Purcells offer some of British Columbia's best hiking and most spectacular scenery
By JOEL CONNELLY 
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The Purcell Mountains of southeast British Columbia stand tall whenever anybody writes a book on classic rock climbs of North America or the greatest wilderness skiing in the world.
Still, like other great interior ranges of British Columbia, the Purcells have always been overshadowed by the neighboring Rocky Mountains, with their network of national parks and instantly recognizable scenes of Lake Louise or Banff.
"When I see a picture of some incredible place in a travel publication, and the Canadian tourism people don't have a clue as to where the shot was taken, that usually means it's the Purcells," joked Rick McGuire, a Seattle conservationist and frequent visitor to the range.
The Purcells are, however, beginning to gain recognition beyond the ranks of rock climbers who dream of doing the famous route up Bugaboo Spire pioneered 70 years ago by climber Conrad Kain -- or celebrity skiers such as Olympic champion skier Jean-Claude Killy and former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who come to the Bugaboos for helicopter skiing in winter.
An ordinary hiker can set out from Seattle early in the morning, and by nightfall camp at the north end of Kootenay Lake, ready for a trek up to Jumbo Pass' 11,000-foot peaks, or the glaciers and larch trees of Monica Meadows.
The west side of the Purcells are about a nine-hour drive from Seattle. Allow 15 or 16 hours to reach Invermere or Radium on the east side of the range.
Whatever its length, however, a trip into the Purcells is, for those used to organized mountain recreation, a three-decade trip back in time.
The Purcells are still wild mountains. Trails are often indistinct and rarely maintained. There is no ranger ticketing your car for not having a Forest Service pass, or inspecting to see if you have a reservation and permit to visit the backcountry.
This writer has on two Purcell visits spotted the brown rump of a grizzly bear, in each case (thankfully) moving away from me. Ursus horribilis moves at remarkable speed.
There are unusual hazards at all elevations. It is not wise to be caught in an exposed high place during one of the Purcells' late afternoon thunderstorms. At the White Creek and Dewar Creek trailheads, porcupines gnaw at tires and exposed innards of unprotected cars. The nearest mechanic is more than 40 miles away.
Trail bridges are rare. Lake of the Hanging Glacier is a premier attraction of the Purcells. In order to get there, however, hikers must ford Horsethief Creek, named for two 1880s cattle rustlers who were apprehended in its lower reaches, taken to Fort Steele and hanged. The wild torrent has killed people. It is best crossed at low water early in the morning.
The Purcells are still being fought over, in policy debates that mirror battles fought in the Cascades during the 1960s and 1970s. The B.C. govern-ment faces ongoing decisions on how much of the range to protect, and what priority it will give wilderness recreation.
In 1974, long before there was a green lobby in British Columbia, the ruling New Democratic Party created a 325,000-acre Purcell Wilderness Conservancy. Twenty years later, the conservancy was enlarged to more than a half-million acres and made into a provincial park. It protects prime grizzly habitat, as well as the historic Earl Grey Pass Centennial Trail, a spectacular multiday crossing of the range.
Just north of the park, however, the provincial government is considering whether to permit a ski resort below Jumbo Pass. It would eventually total 7,000 beds, bringing skiers from all over the world. The resort would include hotels, restaurants, convention facilities, ski runs, tennis courts, a luge course and an 18-hole golf facility.
"Grizzlies, not Gondolas" proclaims a bumper sticker put out by critics of the project. Jumbo Pass is a major east-west wildlife corridor, important to grizzly bears and other predators who roam over a vast amount of territory.
In a recent issue of Beautiful British Columbia magazine, editor Bryan McGill reflected on the resort battle: "It is an issue that any British Columbian can relate to, a microcosmic dilemma of what the whole province is facing -- wilderness versus development, conservation versus economic progress. Can these values be resolved in an enlightened way? Or will the wilderness and its wildlife continue to lose out to the pressures of population growth?"
Glacier-sculpted, U-shaped valleys of the Purcells are a stage for other conflicts. In a few places, such as the cedar and hemlock stands of Lockhart Creek, the valleys have been set aside as provincial parks. The long forested valley of Dutch Creek, forming the headwaters of the Columbia River, is protected and affords one of Canada's finest multiday horseback rides.
But north of Kootenay Lake, along tributaries of the Duncan River, the B.C. Forest Service is using logging practices seemingly borrowed from World War II tank commanders. The approach is to drive a logging road all the way to the headwaters of a valley, precluding its designation as a park or wilderness, and then to gradually cut down forests back out toward the mouth of the valley.
Next page: Famous destinations in the Purcells
· Friendly roots go deep in Proctor District
· Hikers fear plan to log Blanchard Mountain
· Outdoors Report: Trout action warming up with the weather
· Spring starter for the Issaquah Alps
· Gear Junkie: If things go awry, these light the way
· Past and present meet at Fort Vancouver
· Area Recreation Clubs
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