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Monday, November 18, 2024
Ben Lomond - West Ridge, September 2023
A granitic wonderland dotted with numerous pools, lakes and peaklets, the Mountain Lake area is an underappreciated gem of the Sea-to-Sky south of Squamish. Second visit, this time to bag the mighty Ben Lomond which eluded me previously. Okay, at under 5500 feet, "mighty" is a bit of an overstatement, and it isn't to be confused with the famous Ben Lomond in Scotland, but it is nonetheless an aesthetic looking peak that makes for a very worthwhile scramble. At least that's what I said to myself the last time I was in the area standing atop the tallest of the Mountain Lake Group, Mount Sheer. From that perspective, Ben Lomond appears as a prominent horn rising from the Seymour River headwaters, the river valley extending southward from directly behind the peak. I made a half-hearted attempt at it the morning after climbing Sheer, but a combination of excessive heat and a relentless mosquito onslaught had me calling it off upon reaching the summit of nearby Ben More. My motivation sapped; I returned to the trailhead unsure of whether I'd ever bother coming back for another go.
Fast forward a year and one month, and there I was once again sweating my arse off on the ~11-kilometer pedal up Furry Creek FSR just to reach the trailhead. Fortunately, this time I didn't have the additional burden of an overnight pack! True, as a member of the BCMC I could have obtained a key for the gate at the start of the FSR and drive to the trailhead, but where's the fun in that? No sir, just a 35+ km bike n' hike day trip was on the menu this time! For something different, I opted for the alternate start via Britannia Creek FSR as opposed to the usual one from the end of Seaview Road in Furry Creek. Go ahead and ignore the no trespassing signs as they are pointless and spare yourself the extra vertical by going this way as well! Started up the trail after stashing the bike, making my way towards scenic Wind Lake. Contoured alongside the west shore before turning up and right to gain the slabby north shoulder of Ben More, whereupon I could finally see my objective.
Rounding the corner, I descended a bit and traversed to a small talus slope. Crossed that, then up to the crest of the ridge connecting "Bens" More and Lomond. From here on out it was just a matter of navigating micro-terrain up and down over several bumps and small steps to reach the final summit block. Working left here, I proceeded into the alcove beneath the peak's North Face before turning right and scrambling along ledges to regain the ridge crest. Then a short hike from here to reach the summit 5 hours and 15 minutes after first hopping on the bike. Yeehaw! You know what's coming next: a synopsis of the view, which as expected did not suck! NW towards Sheer and the Sky Pilot Group, north over Red Mountain with Garibaldi in the distance, NE/ENE towards Mamquam, Seed and Gillespie, east looking over Loch Lomond and Bagpipe Peak with Meslilloet Mountain in distance, S/SW from Cathedral to Brunswick, and finally west looking towards Sedgewick and company. Not bad at all for such a wee little pile of rocks, eh? And rest assured, having paid my dues in blood (the mozzies, duh), sweat and tears(?), I can now confidently say that I won't be returning anytime soon.
About 6 kilometres as the crow flies northwest of local giant Mount Outram and directly north of the infamous Hope Slide, stands MacLeod Peak. It is joined by a couple other "seven-thousanders" Mount Hatfield and Mount Manson forming a scenic cirque at the headwaters of Eleven Mile Creek. The second tallest of the three, MacLeod boasts a short but enjoyable rock scramble on decent rock up its SE/E Ridge, an off-trail approach without too much brush, and good FSR access for some 8 kilometers after leaving the highway. Its 7135-foot west summit (MacLeod W1) is prominently visible from the highway east of Hope at about where Highway 3 and Highway 5 diverge. It's an attractive horn from this perspective, enough at least for me to be lured into exploring this overlooked corner of the BC Cascades. Curiously, while the west summit reportedly stands about 3 feet lower than the named summit, CalTopo shows the west summit to be slightly higher. Other topographical maps disagree, so I guess it's still inconclusive which is taller. Either way, Kevin and I called it good at the named summit, which seems to be what most parties do, so there's that.
As mentioned, the FSR to where we parked is in reasonably good shape by South Coast standards at least. That said, there are numerous cross ditches which become progressively bigger the farther one drives, so a 4x4 of some sort is recommended. We couldn't drive to the end of the road mind you, as the ditches after ~8 km were too big and deep even for my truck. No matter though, as it's not much of a walk to the obvious cutblock we crossed to access the lower SE Ridge. We then dove into forest for a bit aiming for a talus gully to the right of the cliffs directly ahead. Some inconsequential brush both before and after the gully, mostly blueberry bushes, before reaching the crest. Continuing up, we took a meandering path weaving along either side of the ridge avoiding minor obstacles and whatnot before reaching open terrain above. Had our first unobstructed view of the scramble portion of the route from here - an aesthetic buttress of grayish rock cast against the deep blue sky. This is what we came here for!
Started up the rock, enjoying the fun scrambling, mostly 3rd-class with opportunities for more if you go looking for it. Sticking to the crest as much as possible seemed to offer the most excitement, with a short semi-exposed slab pitch on the lower third being the highlight for me. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the ridge abruptly terminates into a large sloping plateau. The true summit now was just a short walk across and up the final knob away. Kevin and I relaxed up there for a good while admiring the views - Tulameen to the northeast; Hatfield, Outram, Dewdney and Snass to the east; Silvertip, Rideout and Payne to the south; southwest towards Slesse and Rexford with Baker in the distance; and finally, WSW past Grant towards the Cheam Range peaks. Good stuff! The west summit looked interesting and tantalizingly close at hand, but we were satisfied with MacLeod proper and so didn't bother. Returned the way we came for a whopping 5-hour day round-trip (3 hrs to summit).
Hopped on the Blackcomb Gondola for the second time this summer courtesy of my Epic Pass. I was keen on a lift-served scramble of some sort, something I'd not been up before and doable as an easy day trip. Just beyond Decker Mountain, Mount Trorey fit the bill quite nicely. Studying the topo's, I the views were certain to be incredible, and despite it being much more popular in the winter, at least one report suggested that it makes for a great warm season scramble as well. Furthermore, the approach seemed like a breeze, with a good network of trails to Blackcomb Lake and beyond past lower Disease Ridge. The formal trail ends in the basin below Decker's west slopes, whereupon the way continues over the next rib onto some talus then traverses a wide tundra slope before turning into the next basin between Decker and Trorey. More talus now, descending into said basin for a bit before working back up the other side to finally gain a saddle on the ridge that connects the two peaks. Whatever glacier that once existed here has long since vanished leaving behind a couple dirty ice patches and a tarn or two.
The view changes dramatically once reaching the saddle, with a heavily fractured Trorey Glacier cradled in the large cirque on the north side of the ridge. This complements the already stunning vista looking south towards the mighty Overlord and Cheakamus glaciers. Easy walking along the ridge, aiming for a prominent gully on Trorey's NW Ridge/Face. Some fun hands-on scrambling up blocky rock for the finish, reaching the large summit area shortly thereafter. Views galore as predicted - to the NW towards Decker, Blackcomb, Spearhead and Phalanx; Wedge and James Turner to the north; east towards the Spearhead Traverse peaks of Pattison, Tremor, Shudder and others; south towards Fitzsimmons and company, Castle Towers and Mamquam; and finally E to SE overlooking Whistler with the Cayley/Fee volcanic complex, peaks and glaciers on the Ashlu-Elaho Divide, and of course the unmistakable Tantalus Range. Hot Damn! That's some bang for the buck right there!
Was reluctant to leave that glorious perch, but alas I had an appointment with the gondola which I didn't want to miss! Bid the summit raven adieu and started back down, finding my way back to the manicured trails of Blackcomb and finally the gondi station without issue. Hadn't been out that far past Blackcomb since the Spearhead Traverse back in April 2004; clearly a revisit was long overdue!
Snowspider Mountain - Northeast Ridge, September 2023
I'd written this one off, considering the peak's worsening access via the Van Horlick FSR since Gunn's Scrambles book was first published back in 2005. I believe a bridge or two had been pulled or washed out and thus never gave it much thought. More recently, I considered an alternate approach via Twin One FSR (from the east) following reports of renewed logging activity up thataway. Laughably, no sooner did I begin looking into it, reports of a new washout on that road began circulating and so the peak was once again stricken from my tick list. Just wasn't trophy enough of an objective for me to bother with the extra km's of road walking, I guess. The relative lack of reports in recent years would suggest that others were of a similar opinion. Whatever the case, all this suddenly changed following a late August 2023 social post describing a successful climb of Snowspider via the original Van Horlick approach. Turns out that new logging roads had been pushed further up into the valley directly below the peak complete with repairs to the damaged and/or deactivated bridges. To Andrew and me, this was a drop everything and git er' done while the gettin's good kinda moment!
As Andrew has places to be the following evening, we drove up the eve prior, calling it a night at the large gravel pullout off Duffey Lake Road next to the bridge over Cayoosh Creek (y'all know the one). Moving again shortly after first light, turning onto the FSR a couple clicks from where we'd camped and proceeded up valley on a well-graded gravel road. Followed the main branch for about 13.5 km before taking a right onto the Snowspider East Spur. This we followed to near its end, directly below a large brushy slope bound by a forested rib at left and the NNW-tending shoulder at right. A strip of exposed boulders descends from high on this slope well into the valley below and provides welcome respite from the impenetrable bush that guards the alpine. Setting our sights on this feature, we dove into forest off the side of the road and descended to the valley bottom. Fairly easy going without much bushwhacking, across a minor meadow before starting up towards the lower boulders we could see immediately above us. Just as I was beginning to think to myself what a piece of cake the approach was, we entered some of the heaviest bush imaginable and spent the next while painstakingly thrashing up the mountain. It wasn't a particularly long stretch, just gruelling and slow going. By the time we reached the boulders, we were soaking wet both from sweat and the morning dew, and our arms were nicely scratched up from thorn bushes we waded through.
With the worst now behind us, we proceeded up the talus, eventually veering off to the right to gain a bench low on the NE Ridge. On to the wide crest shortly thereafter with the summit now in view directly ahead. Easy travel on the ridge, mostly over grass and heather with some minor ups n' downs and a couple small headwall sections to scramble through. Higher up, the terrain transitions to talus and polished slabs as we proceeded into an amphitheater-like feature now on the left side of a prominent tower. Turned right near the top here and scrambled up a brownish dike comprised of friable rock before continuing to the edge of a small glacier. Crampons on and ice axes out for the short bit of snow and ice to a notch at left, whereupon we ditched the glacier gear for the final scramble up the summit block. Fairly easy going up this, with a step of steeper rock requiring extra care before finally reaching the large summit area.
Excellent 360-degree views from up top, including the seldom seen SE side of the Joffre Group, Vantage Peak and Twin One Lake. Also, good views looking to the SE in the direction of the upper Stein area as well as the Saint Jacobs/Gideon area to the east. Pretty stoked to be up here on top of a peak we both for various reasons had doubts of ever making it up! Didn't linger for too long on account of Andrew's dinner obligations, and so returned the way came, foregoing the rotten dike pitch for an equally unpleasant descent down a loose gully. Then finally back down the dreaded bushwhack section before regaining the road for the short walk back to where we were parked. About 8 hours round-trip and a very reasonable day trip all things considered. Access is/was the best it's been in years, so if this one's on your radar best get on it sooner rather than later!
Armchair Traverse - Mount Cook to Mount Weart, August 2023
The Armchair Traverse is a Whistler-area classic that connects Mount Cook and Mount Weart via the rugged and at times airy ridge that lies between the two. The unusual name likely stems from the Armchair Glacier that is cradled in the south facing Cook-Weart Cirque. Typically climbed NW to SE starting from Wedgemount Lake, the route crosses over the summit of Cook followed by a series of saddles and towers before reaching its culmination on top of Weart. One's journey however is far from over though, as there's a tedious and potentially treacherous descent from Weart back to Wedgemount Lake to contend with. More on that later. Technically speaking, the climbing should never exceed 3rd class and possibly some 4th, with the option for bypassing portions of the exposed crest by traversing loose gullies on the south and west sides. Wes and I elected to stick to the crest as much as possible, bypassing it just once shortly after the first large saddle beyond Cook. The ridge narrows and steepens considerably at this point, requiring one to pull on large, unstable blocks which I quickly deemed not worth the risk. That aside, the rock quality on the ridge is generally quite good with fun movement and of course awesome position!
As it makes for a rather big day round trip from the parking lot, we elected to hike to camp the afternoon prior, then complete the climb and return to the car the following day. No issues getting camping permits, presumably because it was a weekday. Also, quite smoky that afternoon from all the forest fires burning around us both near and far. This was my third time up to Wedgemount Lake, following previous trips to Wedge Mountain (2003) and Mount Weart (2018). Nevertheless, I still found myself awestruck by the impressive view of the lake basin when first cresting the bluffs above Wedgemount Creek Valley. As overrun as the place is, it is still an undisputed gem of the South Coast! Pitched our tents on the sandy flats by the lake and went about our usual camp routine prior to turning in for the night.
We awoke to thick fog the next morning and set out for Cook hopeful that it would burn off. Up the trail towards the hut/shelter we had passed the day prior before following a path at right that led into the gloom above. A vast talus slope eventually saw us to a broad shoulder, whereupon we finally broke out into glorious sunshine. Adorned with a large cairn, Cook's summit isn't much to get excited about as it amounts to little more than a rounded bump on the northern terminus of the Cook-Weart Ridge AKA "Armchair Ridge". The view, however, is spectacular with large cascading glaciers on either side of a sharp, jagged crest. Continuing past Cook, we descended to a large saddle before starting up a large tower and enjoying our first hands-on scrambling of the day, with much more to come. Skipped the unstable blocks I mentioned earlier by traversing right into a loose gully, then upwards before exiting the opposite side and regaining the ridge. Up and over this tower, encountering what one might consider the crux on the descent from here. Exposure wasn't bad and there are probably easier ways around if you go looking (I was just having too much fun to bother).
Up again from the next saddle, the ridge soon eases back and continues due south to reveal an exhilarating, if not intimidating view of the finale via Weart's North Ridge. Classic foreshortening over distance here, as the climbing turns out to be nowhere as steep as it appears from afar. That said, by staying on the crest as we did, you will encounter a couple funky moves with significant exposure. It did seem possible to avoid these spots again by traversing below to the right but note that it looked loose and ultimately not very fun. Made it to Weart summit in time to enjoy a stunning vista overlooking the mighty Weart Glacier to the east, whereas the Armchair Glacier Cirque to the west was completely engulfed in cloud. The contrast was quite an interesting sight to behold! Even the mighty Wedge Mountain with its tumbling icefall revealed itself to us if only for a minute or two! Alas, the day was far from over and we had a long, tiring descent ahead of us, and so down the SE Ridge we go. Endless talus tedium, particularly into the large basin below Weart's South Face before crossing the remnant of a much larger glacier that once spanned said basin from end to end. And then down the next headwall, this time over unstable refrigerator-sized blocks that threatened to crush us more that once as we were hiking down. This was all snow or partly glaciated when I was last through here in July 2018, making for much easier and safer travel. Many of us know the unpleasantness often left behind by a retreating glacier and suffice it to say this was every bit of that and then some!
Made it through thankfully avoiding any "Aron Ralston" moments, reaching easier terrain with a pair of lakes laid out before us. Yes, I said "pair" as there's now a decent sized one uphill of the main lake named Tupper Lake where, as of my previous visit, the Wedgemount Glacier snout terminated. I was shocked to see that in the 6 years since, the glacier has receded dramatically and now terminates on top of a cliff well above Tupper Lake! And to think that back in the 1990's the glacier reached Wedgemount Lake! The amount of ice lost in that relatively short period of time is depressing and worse yet, appears to be accelerating. Current trends certainly don't bode well for where the snout may end up 6 years (or more) from now. There ain't no denying that we live on a changing planet, folks.
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