Dickson Peak: Yet Another Stormy Labour Day Weekend!
Over the long weekend we headed to Dickson Peak with our friends Jan and Warrick Whitehead. We were looking for a destination with some solitude, and we certainly found it. The lengthy drive, around four hours from Vancouver, the long bumpy logging road (the Hurley) and the fact that this peak is not well known, must deter people.
At the Jewel Bridge trail head we had breakfast, and I made sure to tie up our left over cornflakes in a mesh bag hanging from the ceiling of the car – when we got back we found that the dreaded mice had managed to find their way in. We hiked up Roxey Creek on a rough logging road, crossing a few creeks and passing by a cabin. From the end of the road we cut through the trees a short distance and then came out into the subalpine – the access to the alpine is surprisingly easy.
We continued hiking up valley and put up our tents, just in time for a snow storm. Our trips with Jan and Warrick notoriously seem to attract this kind of weather in summer, and we jokingly blame each other for it. We cowered under a rock while cooking dinner and trying to warm up our hands.
The next day we decided to scramble Dickson Peak, the main reason we had come to this place after all. We scrambled up scree and up a steeper gully to a beautiful view of a glacier on the other side of the valley. After a snack break we headed up to the wide summit ridge, which led us easily to the summit. The views along the way were tremendous! Maya took her customary nap on the summit, while we looked at the many peaks and tried to identify them. We spotted Mt. Sloan, which we had incidentally climbed with Jan and Warrick the previous Labour Day Weekend, and had similarly stormy weather.
The weather had cleared just in time for a our summit day, but then of course it snowed again overnight. What can you do, in the mountains you can get snow at any time of year, and at least it makes the mountains look all the more beautiful.
We spotted some very porky marmots amongst the boulders on the way down. Hooray for x20 zoom cameras!
