Elfin Lakes: A Different Kind of Weekend
The Elfin Lakes Hut is often crowded, to the point where there are people sleeping on the floor, and one finds it difficult to sleep since people are constantly coming and going. All that is needed to avoid the crowds is a small timing change: instead of Saturday to Sunday, we made our weekend Sunday to Monday, and lo and behold, we had the hut almost to ourselves. Except for a surprisingly quiet group of teenagers from the older version of the scouts, who actually ended up sleeping in a roomy snow cave which they dug out the back of the hut. One of their guides slept under a shelter…
Brew Hut: Sunny Weekend at Brew
For many VOCers the Brew Hut is associated with snow storms, whiteouts, 17 hour journeys to find the hut, high winds and low visibility. This was my fourth trip to Brew Hut and in the previous times at least one, if not all, of the above was correct. But for last weekend the forecast showed only sun and blue skies and high temperatures for the season. So we thought we’d try our luck and for once we’d go to Brew when we can also see the views and enjoy the sunshine. It was my first big trip in the outdoors since I got injured in February. After several conversations with…
- Backcountry Skiing, British Columbia (and nearby), Hurley & Lillooet Valley, Sea to Sky, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Pemberton Icecap Traverse: From Superstition to Irony
This trip was seemingly ruled by superstition. It started with Ben’s curse. Ben had been trying to reach the Harrison Hut for many years. Invariably, he failed, often due to natural disasters. Of note were the landslide that closed the Sea to Sky Highway for almost a week in July 2008, and the massive lahar off Mt. Meager in August 2010, perhaps the largest recorded slide in Canadian History. Aside from that, there were apparently some other attempts foiled by bad weather. I had been warned by others, before this trip, that if we tried to approach the Harrison Hut with Ben, all hell would break loose. And it did!…
- Backcountry Skiing, British Columbia (and nearby), Sea to Sky, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Metal Dome: Testing Matt’s Mettle
This trip started on the left foot, at least for Matt. We parked by the dog sled tour operator’s hut, and one of the dogs peed on Matt’s backpack. It even wet his down jacket and gortex, yuck! After some vigorous rubbing with snow, it was deemed clean enough, and we set out. The description we had was confusing, but Matt had made a copy of the Google Earth Satellite image superimposed on top of the map, which was very helpful. The first 4km were along a jumble of logging roads, which we navigated while marveling at the blue sky and warm weather. We entered the forest and followed Matt’s…
Gin Peak: A Trip to the Land of Snowmobiles
The snowmobile zoomed right past Maya, passing literally a few meters behind her. I held my breath to avoid inhaling the black smoke, and almost put my fingers to my ears to protect them from the racket. In the distance I could see about a dozen other snowmobiles, milling around like bees in a flower bed. But they aren’t bees, and they weren’t in a flower bed. In fact, they were in a “non-motorized” zone and in addition in the Whistler watershed – the area that Whistler gets its water from. Understandably, the residents of Whistler aren’t interested in drinking water polluted by the inherent gas and oil leaks and…
- Backcountry Skiing, Birkenhead, British Columbia (and nearby), Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Phelix Hut: Spring Skiing and the Illusion of Summer
Last weekend we headed to the Phelix Hut. There is something nice about going back to a place that you’ve been to before, especially when there is so much to explore around it. Since the drive to the trail head is pretty long, and the way up is quite long as well I always prefer to go to Phelix for more than just a weekend. So we decided to stay till Monday, but to go down early enough so I could still make it to my Spanish class in Vancouver at 6:30pm. The first thing we noticed after we started skinning up was that it was unusually warm, and especially…
Red Heather: Avoiding the Ditch
I’ve been avoiding driving up the Diamond Head Road for a few years now, since it is often icy and very dangerous. Many people don’t realize this, and on a few occasions I’ve seen four or five cars in the ditch, and tow truck drivers are said to make thousands of dollars on a good weekend there. However, it’s a great day trip – it’s only an hour away, you can drive high, the access is quick, the views are spectacular and there’s reasonably good skiing, so I do like going there once or twice a year. After a not too early wake up, we drove up (with Mirella and…
- Backcountry Skiing, British Columbia (and nearby), Sea to Sky, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Mt. Sproatt: Sprouting Wings
Yellow icicle? I never thought of this, but most icicles are clear. This icicle was more of a frozen waterfall, and although I’m not an ice climber, the thought of climbing it got me a bit excited. What were the chances that we would find an icicle, let alone the correct yellow icicle? We had been looking out for this yellow icicle, since it was our path out of the forest and into the glorious sun. On Saturday I organized a VOC trip to Mt. Sproatt, near Whistler. Ten people showed up, two of them not members of the club. We followed the directions on the VOC wiki and parked…
Phelix Hut: J. R. R. Tolkien Lives On
The well known author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy supposedly died in 1973. However, in a small almost unknown corner of southwestern British Columbia, J. R. R. Tolkien lives on. I know this since I visited his snowy throne. Yes, with my comrades I scaled the steep ice walls of his castle, to stare face to face with the literary giant, and to view his kingdom, or failing that, at least his magnificent creations, notably: Gandalf, the white bearded wizard, his fearless and fast as lightning horse Shadowfax, and Aragorn, the tall warrior. Together, they make quite the bunch, or group of mountains, it depends…
- Backcountry Skiing, British Columbia (and nearby), Sea to Sky, Trip Reports, Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)
Telemagique Ridge: Blue Skies + Powder = Magic?
This weekend I organized an “intermediate friendly” trip to Telemagique Ridge. I chose this destination since I was hoping that the high access road would cut down our elevation gain to get to the good snow, especially important for a day trip in mid winter, when the days are short. We woke up “dark and early” and drove up the Sea to Sky. Speaking of the sky, it was clear, very clear. It was starting to look like stellar weather, better hurry up to get to the trailhead. I was feeling giddy, hyperactive, charged and ready to go. At the trailhead, it was quite chilly at -10c, cold enough to…
