Wedge Mountain - Wedge Couloir, May 2003
Paul Cookson, John Chapman, Dave Carpenter and I all set out to climb the majestic Wedge Mountain. Clearly visible from the north end of Whistler Village, and being the tallest peak (9,527 ft) in BC's Garibaldi Provincial Park, Wedge Mountain (in addition to Mt. Garibaldi itself), is the obvious peak in the area to bag. Similar to last year's climb of Mount Garibaldi, our trip to Wedge Mountain was delayed a week due an unfavorable weather forecast. A week later than originally planned, we found ourselves driving the Sea-to-Sky Highway under sunny skies. As always, the views of the Tantalus Range peaks north of Squamish were tantalizing. One of these days I'll go there and climb Alpha or Serratus or Tantalus...but not this time.
Paul pulled off the highway about six miles north of Whistler village. He crossed some railroad tracks, passed over the Green River and drove the Chevy Impala he had rented, up the 3 or 4 miles of logging road to the trailhead (left at a junction after crossing river and again right uphill at next fork). Again, just like the rough Brohm Ridge jeep road on Garibaldi, we passengers would have to step out of the car and help clear the water bars of potentially damaging rocks (flashbacks of a previous trip to Snowking Mountain come to mind) so that Paul could drive on to the next impediment. We made it to the trailhead with a minimum of scrapes and bumps, but hey...it's a rental, and for $30/weekend, a damn cheap one too! (more...)
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