Category: Backcountry Skiing

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Mount Becher Novice Ski Trip

March 30, 2025

~ submitted by Evan Martin

This winter, Evan W is stepping into the world of backcountry skiing with big ambitions—he’s eager to take on longer ski tours as his skills grow. While I’ve done my fair share of backcountry skiing, my experience has been limited to the mainland, making this my first year exploring the island’s terrain. Motivated by the opportunity to ski with Evan, I brought my gear over and planned a trip to Mount Becher, hoping to invite other Ramblers and share the experience while rebuilding the backcountry ski culture within the Ramblers. After our previous attempt to organize a trip to Mount Cokely fell flat, we were pleasantly surprised by the high level of interest this time. In the end, we had six people in the group, with a range of experience from first-timers to seasoned skiers, which made for an exciting and diverse adventure.

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Strata Mountain: Don’t Bother

–originally published by Matthew Lettington his blog: explorington.com

Getting up at 3:00 am isn’t my favourite way to spend a Sunday, but I do it week after week. I head outside, driven by my Island Alpine Quest, the goal of summiting more than 250 peaks. In doing so, I find myself hiking in some seldom-visited locations on Vancouver Island. Why do I do it? I’m the type of person who needs a goal to stay interested. There are factors that help smooth the rough early morning starts, like those fleeting moments of looking through old-growth forest or picking my way along a craggy ridge. But occasionally, the quest takes me to a place that I’ll never return – one worth skipping. Strata Mountain is in this category.

It’s not that the mountain is out of the way; after all, it’s in the heart of one of the most popular regions of Strathcona Park. And it’s not that it doesn’t have anything to offer; the high ridge tops out over 1400 metres, with an easy walking alpine ridge that has great views of many nearby peaks, including Mount Albert-Edward and Mount Adrian. But because the area is overused, and because there are many other nearby peaks that offer a more dramatic and aesthetic ascent, it’s just not worth the effort – except maybe as a side trip.

Nevertheless, it’s on the list, and Strata Mountain demanded my attention. On March 4th, 2018, I led a group of six Island Mountain Ramblers on a winter trip to the summit of Strata Mountain. It was a near-perfect day for the long trip across Forbidden Plateau, with clear skies that persisted through the morning, and a well-packed boot track that allowed for a quicker-than-normal pace.


Total Distance: 21 km
Starting Elevation: 1065 m
Maximum Elevation: 1445 m
Total Elevation Gain: 775 m
Total Time: 9 hours
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Albert Edward/Jutland Ski Trip

-submitted by Adrian Houle

March 17th, 2018: We headed out from Raven Lodge, Mount Washington ski resort around 8 am. We took the western route through paradise meadows to and across Lake Helen Mackenzie, between Mount Elma and Mount Brooks. We continued past Strata Mountain and several hours after leaving the parking lot we were at our chosen base camp on Circlet Lake.

Skinning towards the distant view of Albert Edward

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Mount Brenton: Another One from the Book

–submitted by Matthew Lettington, originally published on his blog

I imagine you might be asking yourself, Why the benign title? If you’re a regular reader, you’re familiar with my Island Alpine Quest: to summit all of the peaks listed in Philip Stone’s book Island Alpine (1999). The goal is lofty, and many of the peaks will require multiday adventures through some of the least-frequented areas on Vancouver Island (I’m looking at you, Mount Doom). But the sad reality is that not every peak is a stunning romp through the backcountry – my trip up Mount Brenton certainly wasn’t!

February 4th, 2018
Total Distance: 10.5 km
Starting Elevation: 707 m
Maximum Elevation: 1216 m
Total Elevation Gain: 508 m
Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes

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Mount Elliot: To Ski Or Not To Ski

–submitted by Matthew Lettington, originally published on explorington.com

When it comes to winter travel, I’ve always been motivated by finance over fancy; as such, I’ve found my adventures by boot or snowshoe. But in December 2016, I bought a used set of ski touring gear, which has opened up a variety of options for travel. Although I’m familiar with hiking and snowshoeing — can one really be anything other than a competent walker? — I’m only a novice skier. Any choice to take my skis rather than snowshoes means I might end up boot-packing my skis down crappy terrain. This was certainly the case on my November 19th attempt to summit Mount Elliot.

snowshoeing Mount Elliot

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Maitland Range Exploration: a day in the bush

–submitted Matthew Lettington, Read the full report on his blog

I often wonder how my blog posts are perceived by those who read them. While the website is a vanity site, it’s never been my intent to brag; rather, I’ve always been interested in sharing first-hand experiences gained in Vancouver Island’s diverse backcountry. However, over the past few months, I’ve come to realize that some folks must think I’m bragging. Not that every post celebrates some new summit, but more often than not this is the theme of my content. On September 10th, however, during a hike in the Maitland Range, I found everything but success.

Route with images

 

Total Distance: 8 km
Starting Elevation: 290 m
Maximum Elevation: 860 m
Total Elevation Gain: 651 m
Time: 6 h 15 m

 

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Our first failure at winter camping

–submitted by Matthew Lettington, Read the report on his blog

Dear Hemingway,

We just finished our first father-and-son camping trip, or at least our first attempt. You’re only three and a half years old, and we’ve already done a lot of overnight backcountry trips, but never one in snow, and never just the two of us. I was excited, and so were you. It was an ambitious undertaking: I would be on skis, pulling you in the sled. Our goal was to head out from Raven Lodge, and camp between Battleship Lake and Kwai Lake. Beyond that, I was willing to be flexible, because above all else I wanted you to have a great time.

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Mt. Hall – Coronation Mtn: Ski Traverse

–submitted by Rod Szasz

As part of a little micro-adventure to explore and document more alpine peaks closer to home and explore the ski-touring potential of the peaks, Matt Lettington and myself decided to ski traverse two 1350 metre peaks behind Ladysmith – Mt Coronation and Mt. Hall. I had summited both of these as running and day hiking destinations before – last year in March I led a snowshoe hike to the summit of Mt. Hall.

Ski traverse route with photos, GPS track

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Mt Elma: Beginner Skitour

–submitted by Matthew Lettington, Read the full report on his blog

On February 19th, we met at Ski Tak Hut in Courtenay to gather the final pieces of backcountry ski gear needed for our day on the mountain. Lisa and I watched the sky, hoping that the hard rain would let up – or at least, that it was snowing on the mountain. Our original plan was to ski Mount Becher, but the rain forced us to reconsider our options; we decided to take our chances with Mount Elma instead.

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