Last week we turned back on Mount Shark because of the threat of a thunderstorm (no trip report). We wanted to try again but I was put off by the bushwhacking and navigational problems using the book approach. I figured there must be a better way. We would find it, but only on the descent. Since it avoids Watridge Lake, it's shorter and incurs little elevation loss. It also adds some scrambling. Also unlike Kane's approach, there's is only light bushwhacking – short trees you can see over – so you can keep your route in sight. There's no chance of getting lost in the trees!

We cycled up the main trail for 1.3 km before turning left onto a logging road that looks like a wide, grassy corridor. After the road does an "S" bend, it straightens out and Mount Shark lies ahead. We managed another two kilometres before stopping at an old weather station. The road degrades after this point so we set off on foot.

As we hiked up the road, I was dismayed how rapidly and utterly it degenerates. In some places, logs, streams, and vegetation hindered our progress. At one point, when we were adjacent to an open rocky drainage, I was tempted to bushwhack to it. Instead we pushed on, in hopes of avoiding any bushwhacking by ascending a drainage that I had seen on Google Earth. That turned out to be a mistake and we had a miserable time bushwhacking to the treeline. However, that rocky drainage remained on my mind and we would use it on the descent.

After emerging onto the open slopes we ascended left of the ridge. When we were able to, we crossed over the ridge. I would have liked to continue up the slabby ridge, but because of the strong winds, we decided to drop below the slabs and make our way to the col that splits the ridge of the mountain.

Mount Shark shows its teeth if you stay close to the ridge. The scrambling is sometimes difficult and exposed but routefinding is simplified because of the well-worked trails. Yet avoiding the difficult sections to do a moderate scramble requires psychic routefinding. It's not easy to discern when you'll next encounter difficulties or the best way to avoid them. We stayed close to the ridge, which would have been enjoyable save for the wind. Just before the summit we had to downclimb a chimney.

From the summit, we retraced our steps back to the treeline. I didn't want to go through the bushwhacking hell we had done on our ascent, so from the treeline, we worked our way east around the end of the mountain. We angled down but stayed near the treeline. This led us to the rocky drainage. We had no difficulty descending the drainage although we did have to traverse high to avoid some slabs at one point.

Download path for Google Earth