Centre Creek and Chilliwak Lake: When Skiing Becomes Cycling
May Long Weekend actually started as a skiing trip, or at least as the desire to do a skiing trip. We aimed for Mt. Jimmy Jimmy, but long parts of the trail were bushwhacking and carrying our skis on our backs didn’t make it any easier. It took us a while to reach snow, and even when we did it was full of holes and alder. It seemed like a less than ideal way to spend the long weekend. In the late afternoon we decided to switch plans. We went back down, which was much faster than going up, went back to the car and drove back to Vancouver. In…
Harrison Lake (East): First Live Cougar
On a sunny weekend in early May we left Vancouver with the bikes in the car, going east towards Harrison Lake. We had never been to the Harrison Lake area before, so we were excited to explore a new region. We left our car at the beginning of a logging road and hopped on our bikes. It was a scenic ride almost all the way, and the views of the lakes and mountains behind were amazing. After about six kilometers we passed an impressive waterfall on the side of the road. We rode down to a small campground right on the beach. The campground host was friendly, but when he…
Mt. Rohr: Mt. Rohr on Skis
It is always nice to go back to the same place in different seasons. When we hiked to Mt. Rohr in early September, the forest was colored by shades of green and the lakes were deep blue. We returned in early spring, this time with our skis. Everything around us was white, of course, including the lakes. Last winter was rough for backcountry skiing, and it was the first season that I actually got a bit into it. Unfortunately, most trips included low snow conditions, icy slopes and in several cases we had to carry our skis instead of using them. However, we heard that conditions in the Duffy Lake…
Silverdaisy Mtn: Winter’s Silver Lining
We headed to Manning Park for a ski touring day trip to Silverdaisy Mountain. This was a BCMC trip headed by Jos van der Burg, a dutch from Chilliwack who I had heard good things about. I picked up my three passengers (all girls) early in the morning, and we met the rest of the group in Chilliwack. I had felt the strong winds on the road already, every now and then a gust hit the car and tried to push it off the road. From there it was another hour to the trail head at Cayuse Flats, where we started skinning up the snowy Cayoose Creek FSR. A few…
Garibaldi Lake: Maya’s First Overnight Backcountry Skiing trip
Last weekend we did a two day backcountry skiing trip to Garibaldi Lake. It had been foggy for a few days in Vancouver with a forecast for continued fog. Just a bit higher than the city it was sunny with blue skies, which is what we had for the two days. When the temperature gets higher as you go up, it is called an inversion. Apparently on that weekend it was 6c in the city, and 18c on Mt.Seymour (a ski hill on the North Shore), at least 1000m higher! The road to the parking lot had not been plowed, so we parked on the side of the road and…
Mt. Albert Edward: Thanksgiving in the Mountains
On the long Thanksgiving weekend we headed to Vancouver Island to visit our friends Jan and Warrick. We took the ferry on Friday evening which left with a healthy delay which kept our friends waiting at the terminal. They live just outside of Duncan, about an hour away from the ferry terminal in Nanaimo. The next day we took a short morning tour of their 20 acre property, which has mostly lush forest on it and is adjacent to the river. They just finished building a tiny and basic cabin right on the water which they plan on sleeping in sometimes. After some deliberation, we decided on a three day…
Place Glacier and Mt. Gardiner: Steep Trail and a Snowy Ridge
The hike up to Place Glacier was very steep with little respite for most of the 1340m elevation gain. There was a nice waterfall on the way up and some limited views backwards. Close to the end of the day we had to scramble up some slabs which would have be tricky and perhaps dangerous when wet. We set up camp near a lake, at the foot of the Place Glacier, with our objective for the next day, Mt. Gardiner looming above. There were also two glaciology huts nearby which we took a look at but they weren’t too interesting. We had an early dinner and watched the mountains in…
Brandywine-Fee Loop: Steep Trail and a Snowy Ridge
Our car overheated on the way to the trailhead, and we had to stop and wait, and then drove a bit more before it overheated again. While we were thinking what to do a jeep stopped and a guy came out to ask if we needed any help. We ended up catching a ride with them, which was pretty good as with the four wheel drive they could go much higher and saved us an hour of hiking in the forest. After a short while we reached Brandywine Meadows, with some picturesque combinations of streams and flowers. Our route took us up talus slopes to a ridge that leads to…
Downton Creek and Mt. Rohr: A Stormy Labor Day Weekend
On the long Labour Day Weekend we set out for a three day trip to Downton Creek, about 4 hours away, on the Duffy Lake Road. The plan was to hike up to the alpine, make a base camp with our friends Yaron and Michelle and their kids (they were driving up later that day), and scramble and explore some of the nearby peaks. One of the draws of this area is the easy access to the alpine – a 2WD car can make it up to 1800m, and from there an hour of hiking gets you to the alpine. Anyway, we found the turnoff for the logging road easily…
Semaphore Lakes: Run Away Train
Last weekend we went on a two day hiking trip to the Semaphore Lakes area. The original plan was to go to Vancouver Island to visit our friends Jan and Warrick, but this didn’t work out, and they agreed to come over to the mainland instead. Our friend Michelle also joined us, freed from her two young kids for the first time in four years. We left Vancouver at 5am and made good time to Pemberton where we filled up gas at an exorbitant price. From there we drove another hour on logging roads high up into the mountains to Railroad Pass. Just as I stopped the car to check…
