Last Updated: March 4, 2023



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Recent content updates are viewable under what's new.

Reports in the queue for posting are coming soon!

Upcoming reports & photos:

Oh my! Quite the backlog here. Busy with life and adding to the queue every chance I get...

  • Flute & Oboe - ski tour (March 2022)
  • Suicide Bluffs - snowshoe (April 2022)
  • Slalok Mountain - ski tour (April 2022)
  • Dam Mountain, Little Goat, Thunderbird Ridge - snowshoe (May 2022)
  • Leading Peak - hike/scramble (June 2022)
  • Camelshoof Mountain - hike (June 2022)
  • Askom Mountain - hike (June 2022)
  • Metal Dome - hike (July 2022)
  • Mount Sproatt - hike (July 2022)
  • Mission Ridge/Peak - hike (July 2022)
  • Harris Ridge & Nea Peak - hike (July 2022)
  • Three Brothers Mountain - hike (July 2022)
  • Zupjok, Llama & Alpaca Peaks - hike (July 2022)
  • Shulaps Mountain - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Mount Sheer & Ben More - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Cathedral Mountain - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Mount Penrose - hike/scramble (August 2022)
  • Caltha Peak - hike/scramble (September 2022)
  • Beauty Peak - hike (September 2022)
  • Markhor-Needle Traverse & Flatiron - hike/scramble (September 2022)
  • Conway Peak - hike (September 2022)
  • Green Mountain/Pk 2200 - hike/scramble (September 2022)
  • Mount Brew (Whistler) - hike (September 2022)
  • Mount Barbour - hike/scramble (October 2022)
  • Mount Gillespie - hike/scramble (October 2022)
  • Cougar Mountain - hike/scramble (October 2022)
  • Barn Bluff (Red Wing, MN) - hike (October 2022)
  • Mount Steele - hike/snowshoe (November 2022)
  • Hunter Lookout - hike (November 2022)
  • Belcarra Mountain - hike (November 2022)
  • Oyster Dome - hike (November 2022)
  • Mount Thom & Cilliwack Mountain/Hillkeep - hike (December 2022)
  • Frenchman Mountain (Las Vegas, NV) - hike (January 2023)
  • Rolley Peak/Lookout - hike (January 2023)
  • Round Mountain - ski tour (February 2023)
  • Blowdown Peak - ski tour (February 2023)
  • Silverdaisy Mountain - ski tour (March 2023)

*As of 03/07/2023


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Sunday, December 23, 2018

Cypress Peak - North Ridge, July 2018



Some 3.5 km north of Tricouni Peak is its slightly shorter neighbor Cypress Peak. Like Tricouni, Cypress lies within the Squamish-Cheakamus Divide, an area boasting several great scrambling routes that benefit from reasonably good access and relatively short approaches. I first visited the slopes around Cypress whilst cat & heli-boarding with Powder Mountain and vowed someday to return and bag the peak itself.

The North Ridge route which Dan and I climbed is an enjoyable outing with a minimally exposed 4th-class step being the only real difficulty. The approach entailed an hour's worth of walking along a forest road and a bit of overgrown climber's path to reach a basin and headwall below a small glacier. Easy snow and glacier travel lead to the blocky ridge crest just before where it pitches up from horizontal. Another party climbed the East Ridge on the same day as us, which got me thinking - combining the east and north ridges would probably make for an aesthetic traverse of the peak. Much glissading on the descent made for a speedy return to the car and we found ourselves back at the Howe Sound Brewery enjoying a quaff in no time!

Click here to view.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Helm Peak - South Ridge, July 2018



We ended up on this after abandoning a climb of Castle Towers, which itself was substituted in place of a couple days climbing in the Chehalis Range. That's right, we drove all the way to Chilliwack only to turn around in the pouring rain and drive back past North Vancouver from where we started and continue towards Whistler. The weather forecast seemed marginally better along the Sea-to-Sky corridor and we were determined to make something of the weekend. Alas, deteriorating weather and the appearance of a good dusting of fresh snow on the CT's summit block caused us to reconsider our plans a second time. What to do, what to do?

Helm Peak lies conveniently near where we were camped in Helm Meadows and seemed like a reasonable alternative all things considered. Turns out that the short summit scramble is a loose and exposed affair that I'd not necessarily recommend to anyone, other than perhaps those in a similar predicament to our own. After dispatching Helm, we continued over Gentian Ridge to the saddle at the head of Helm Glacier with Gentian Peak just beyond. We had time to burn and figured why not at least reconnoiter the route to CT for next time. Along the way we apparently hiked over another named summit, Fuscian Peak, which leaves out only Victorious from the trio of 3rd century Christian martyrs whose names grace the peaks here. Curious.

We returned via the Helm Glacier and traversed beneath Cinder Cone to intersect the trail back to Helm Meadows and the Cheakamus Lake Trailhead where we were parked. Now armed with a better sense of the local topography and what the approach entails, we retrieved our trailhead beer stash and made a toast to someday soon being "victorious" on top of the prized summit of Castle Towers!

Click here to view.
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