Wedgemount Lake: Mt. Cook, BC Version
On Saturday morning we drove just past Whistler to the trail head for Wedgemount Lake. The hike up to the lake is quite steep – 1200m in about 7km, but still takes only a few hours. It was foggy and gray in the morning, but around noon the sky cleared completely and we were treated to a beautiful day. On the way we enjoyed wild Huckleberries and Blueberries, but wished there were more of them. We finally made it up to the beautiful glacial lake, surrounded by rocky peaks and a snowy summit – Mt. Wedge, the namesake of the lake. There were quite a few people on the trail and at the hut on a hill overlooking the lake, but for some reason no one was camping right on the shore of the lake – the best camping spots. We had lunch by the lake and pitched our tent.
The forecast called for rain on Sunday, so we knew we had better take advantage of the afternoon to do something more, so we decided to scramble up to Mt. Cook. There is a small trail starting at the hut which peters out, but there are still many cairns to follow. The trail leads up green slopes and onto annoying scree. From there the route is obvious – up onto the wide summit ridge and along it to the summit. There were good views of the peaks around and an arm of the impressive Weart glacier. We had a snack on the summit and some photos, and had to head down as it was already 6:30.
We descended the final part just as darkness was setting in for good, picked up our food from the hut and dropped down to the lake to have dinner by our tent. We were surprised to see several lights up high on the glacier leading to Wedge. They belonged to a group that only got down at 9:30 and were thankful for our lights showing them the direction but didn’t seem too worried. At night it rained and in the morning it was gray and rainy. We slept in, logging an impressive eleven and a half hours of sleep. Eventually there was a break in the rain, we had breakfast, packed our stuff and rolled down the trail. The forest was gray and foggy lending a mysterious air to the hike down. The descent felt long and we were happy to be back at the car. Stopped at Squamish for fuel and Haagen Dazs and back home.
