Summary: This trip required a whitewater pack raft to cross Simon Creek (class 2-3 whitewater ferry) and the Whirlpool River (class 1 whitewater ferry). Many hours of dense bushwhacking up (and down) Ross Cox Creek valley. Above treeline mostly Class 1 scramble, except final 50 m is class 2 scrambling to summit.

On the south side of the Whirlpool River part way along the trail to Athabasca Pass lies an unnamed summit immediately southwest of Curl Peak and Divergence Peak that appears to have no previously recorded ascent. We attempted to reach the base of this peak to climb it in 2021, but the small pack raft we had brought to cross Simon Creek was not up to the task since Simon Creek is a torrent that prevents accessing this peak during summer months unless you bring a pack raft that allows one to ferry across class 2-3 whitewater. We tried again to climb this peak in 2022, bringing along a 2 person whitewater pack raft. Finding a place to land on the other side when ferrying across Simon Creek is a bit tricky since its banks are abrupt, have few eddies, and are guarded by tree branches in many places. We found a spot about 50m upstream of where Simon Creek flows into the Whirlpool River. Simon Creek prevents all foot traffic from crossing until September when the water is lower, so when we crossed in August we saw no evidence that anyone had been there this season. That includes trail maintenance crews, so west of Simon Creek the trail was unmaintained and had a tree fallen across it every 20-30 m. Continually clambering over this deadfall was annoying, but also made for slower going. We reached the gravel flats of the Whirlpool River and the confluence with Ross Cox creek after about 8 hours of hiking, plus time to scout and ferry Simon Creek. The next day we ferried across the Whirlpool River in our pack raft (class 1 whitewater) near the confluence with Ross Creek. We then bushwhacked up the east side of Ross Cox Creek, angling upward aiming for the east-west ridge that gains the summit ridge just south of the summit. The bush was extremely dense and covered in morning dew and rain from the previous night, requiring three hours of very slow, wet, miserable bushwhacking to reach treeline. Two hours of class 1 scrambling up broken rock led us to the small west face that steepens to class 2 scrambling for 50 m before we reached the summit after 5 hours of ascending. There was no cairn on the summit, so we placed a small one. We descended the same way we came, requiring about 3 hours to return to our raft on the south side of the Whirlpool River. Ferrying back across the river, we then retraced our steps out the Athabasca Pass trail to the trailhead.

Regarding naming this peak, given that this peak lies immediately west of Curl and Divergence Peaks, and that these two names contain vector calculus operators, it seems logical the present peak should be called Gradient Peak, after the other most common vector calculus operator.