Category: Activity

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Sadie Peak

July 20, 2024

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

Why not many things change in the Alpine over the years, the same cannot be said for cut blocks. When I did Sadie Peak the first time, I do remember the block being a little bit of a challenge, but this time it was  very bushy. 

We stuck to the route I used on my first trip to this mountain 10 years earlier. The first half mostly went as expected. We followed the original route pretty closely. The navigation and bush on the first quarter of the route was made even more challenging by the very warm weather. By the time we made it halfway along the route, we discovered a well booted in game trail. It was a welcome sight because it greatly sped up those portions of the trip. 

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Mackenzie Peak

July 27, 2024

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

McKenzie peak is the High Point to the McKenzie range. On my first attempt, I reached the summit block via the climbers trail built in the 70s by Island Mountain ramblers members. For this trip we went up by the Canoe Creek micro dam. The trails been flagged and blazed quite heavily. There’s lots of evidence of the dozens of climbers that have been visiting the range over the past few years. It made for a quick travel with little need for complex navigation.

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Peak 5040

August 3, 2024

~ submitted by Evan Martin

I met Christine, Dean, and Sarah at the start of Marion Creek FSR at 10:00. After quick introductions we proceeded to drive to the trail head. We took two vehicles – a small truck and an SUV – neither of which had any trouble on the FSR. It was in very good condition. We parked at the large pullout on the right hand side at the top of the hill near the 10km mark. After gathering our gear we proceed to walk another 400m up the road to the trail head. It was 10:30 by the time we left the trail head. Not quite the alpine start Dean was hoping for, but coming from Victoria I was happy to have a good night sleep.

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Mount Benson from the Southeast Approach

June 27, 2024

~ submitted by Ken Warren

Well the weather was better than forecast for our mountain adventure. Five of us headed up Benson from Morrell at a respectable speed.

By the time we got to the viewpoints the fog obscured our views. We ground on with only a few wrong turns and made the summit by noon. We sat around as the fog got thicker and the temperature dropped. Our wildlife sightings were limited to frogs  and grey jays.

We made good time on the descent and arrived at the parking lot tired, stiff, and quite happy.

 Thanks all for your company.

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Mount Cokely from the CPR Trail

June 20, 2024

~ submitted by Ken Warren

The weather was good. Mostly sunny with some clouds, but nice and cool.

I mean what can I say about Mount Cokely via the CPR Trail other than it’s longer and steeper every time I do it … oh, and there are killer views. Dean joined us for the first part of the hike before moving on ahead. Trail conditions were good until the snow on the final approach, and really the snow was aesthetically pleasing.

Three of us summited and lunched at the top and enjoyed the view – Arrowsmith is beautiful from Cokely.  The descent was uneventful. We all enjoyed the day.

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Mount McQuillan from China Creek Main

June 15, 2024

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

It was an excellent day in the mountains despite the weather’s best efforts to confuse us.

While we had dreams of much grander mountains, because of the crappy forecast, we decided to reroute and head over to Mount McQuillan. I’ve done this before from Father and son Lake, but this time we wanted to do it a little bit different. From previous research, I knew that there was an easier route from the north ridge. 

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SSI Hiking Fest – Two Summit Hike

June 7, 2024

~ submitted by Leslie Gardner

This was Day 2 of the Salt Spring Hiking Fest and one of two hikes that were offered that day. Nine of us set out from Burgoyne Bay with the goal of bagging two summits – Mount Sullivan, 3rd highest on Salt Spring at 609m, and Mount Bruce, the highest at 709m. We lucked out with the weather – warm and sunny throughout the day.

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Mountain Improv with Island Alpine Guides

June 1, 2024

~ submitted by Su Castle

7 of us met Jan Neuspiel, owner of Island Alpine Guides at the Comox Lake crags for our day of instruction.

He ensured we all got what the course promised to deliver at a follow-able pace. Additional knowledge was shared as response to our many questions! Jan was friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. We had a mix of theory and hands on practice. The instructor was able to deliver to the different levels of experience within the group.

Minimizing risk in the mountains was emphasized with many relevant examples and stories. Participants were actively involved and I think we all got what we wanted/needed from the course.  It was a lot of information and we were encouraged to practice and contact IAG with any questions in the future. So worthwhile!