I have had the Eva, Parry, Bancroft loop on my list for some time and today I needed something close to home. It turned out to be a nice day with an alternate east ridge route up Mt. Eva.

Not enjoying uphill at the end of the day, I designed a loop that started from Fall River Reservoir. After sleeping in I was on my way up the trail at 9:30am. Parking just below the dam of Fall River Res, I started a bushwhack up the hill towards Chinn's Lake. I found a faded trail post near the dam but only found faint braided trails up the hill that ended abruptly after 50'. The creek from Chinn's Lake to Fall River is a big gouge in the hillside. I stayed to the east of it. After negotiating some minor deadfall I was quickly at Chinn's Lake.

I stayed on the north side of the lake and followed a descent trail that led to the upper parking lot between and to the north of Chinn's Lake and Sherwin Lake. I then continued on the north shore of Sherwin Lake to a boulder strewn stream and quickly lost the trail. Trailfinding was not my strong suit this day. I picked my way up to Slater Lake on an in-and-out trail and made my way to the north end of it.

From here the plan was to use the series of gullies that have been used before to gain the ridge, but they looked intimidating from this vantage. I should have had a closer look, but instead I decided to give up on the east ridge and just go up the valley to the (yawn) saddle between Eva and Witter/Flora for just a boring hike.

After calling my point of contact to inform of my new decision, I ascending above the lake and across the barely flowing southern arm of Fall River and up above a small band of boulders.

Once there, I had another look at the east ridge and my eyes immediately caught the line of willows practically pointing the way up to the ridge. It looked steep but manageable.

After annoying my point of contact with another call, I commenced to willow bash for about 150 feet, up the grassy ramp in the foreground, across a short scree gully to the grassy slope. Once headed up, the slope quickly steepened. It was the kind of place you don't want to fall, so I was careful of my balance with every step. The steepness does not relent after exiting past the willows and I had to take care of my foot placement there too, especially since there is a cliff band just below. It wasn't long before I was on the ridgeline and headed west.

After walking over a small rise, I quickly encountered a steep cliff.

The obstacle presented an inviting rocky gully to climber's left, but I didn't know how it topped out so I opted for the conservative choice to move around to the south side of the ridge. After a few hundred yards I found a class 2+ slope to ascend back to the ridgeline.

The steady cold NNW wind had me bundled up at this point, just before the last pitch to the summit of Eva. The last 350' to the summit was fun and offered light scrambling. Always check your holds, but theentire portion of the ridge that I ascended was really solid. Despite missing the originally intended gullies, this ridge is a lot of fun.

Once on the summit of Mt. Eva I snapped a few photos and headed to the rest of the days objectives.

The rest of the day above treeline was straightforward tundra hiking. I only found trails periodically, which surprised me. I tried to stay on rock as much as possible to avoid the abundant tundra plants.

I saw some out of the ordinary wildlife on Bancroft. At the saddle with Parry, a golden eagle flew over. It was the first I had ever seen. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo. Then 100' from the summit of Bancroft was a ladybug. I thought that was unusual for October. Then on the way down I saw a little brown ermine in a talus field.

The descent route took me down the gentle east ridge of Mt. Bancroft to a low saddle just above treeline. There is a gully that runs straight down into the trees. It steepens considerably towards the bottom. The forest below is thin and I found it easy to make it down to the dam of Fall River Reservoir and back to my vehicle. It was a nice day out with lots of sunshine and fall colors. This route makes for a nice loop.