Mount Cokely Winter Mountaineering

March 15, 2025

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

Well, at the very least, we can say it was a day in the mountains.

One common issue when planning a day of learning is that the weather doesn’t really care about your plans. While we had hoped for a multiday steep-angle adventure, the forecast had us adjusting our expectations, turning the trip into a single-day learning experience.

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Rappel Workshop

November 11, 2024

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

The weather must’ve scared a couple of other people away, but I had a great time with Roland on the cliffs.

While it was a little bit breezy, the rain didn’t show up until our last rappels. 

Nahmint Mountain

Nahmint Mountain has been on my bucket list for a long time, but there always seem to be bigger and more important mountains to tackle than this peak. The main issue is that the trip reports I’ve read discuss how long the trip is, and it’s difficult to find people who are interested in doing exceptionally long days. I’m happy to report that we used a route that got us back to the vehicle within eight hours.

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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!

Steamboat Mountain

–submitted by Dean Beaulac

~14.7km/1620m (+/-)
Steamboat Mtn falls inside the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks, A donation was made to the Tribal Park Guardians on the way through.

Up at stupid o’clock by all, had us all together and on foot for 6:30 am. An eager group of 6, we set out on what was planned to be a full day out. How quickly the gentle start of an easy spur trail to distract you fades away, leading to progressively tighter and tighter trail, until the forest consumes you completely and spits you out the other side! Up old creek beds, steep forest, around wasp nests, under logs, over logs, repeat and repeat again and eventually you’ll find yourself at a nice unnamed lake maybe halfway up. A chance to ditch some pack weight, refill water and have a quick snack.

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Splendor Mountain, member trip report.

–originally published by Eryn on her Facebook Account
What follows are Eryn’s words reporting her recent ascent of Splendor. Her final peak needed to complete her Lifetime Climbing Objective.
Splendor! How lovely. I headed into the backcountry for 5 days with Barry Hansen out of gold river, canoed across Matchlee Bay and up the Burman river until we could go no further, hiked logging roads for another 12ish km then unto the unforgiving bush filled with ground wasps and thick bush. People often ask me if i’m scared of wildlife such as bears and cougars, but really is those stinging tiny little *ssholes underfoot that truly terrify me. Within ten minutes of the end of the logging road Barry had stirred up a wasp nest and I suffered two stings, on my elbow (that turned into an arm with no elbow definition) and my butt (which resulted in half a brazilian butt lift.) The redeeming factor of the bush (and the subsequent bush on the next few days) was the overabundance of huckleberries and blueberries.

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Maquilla Peak washed down with Mount Alston

–submitted by Matthew Lettington
 
In order to make the most of our time on the mountain, I organized a trip to the north island that included visits to two mountains. Both mountains are worth visiting individually, but by combining them into one day trip, we were able to save some money on fuel.
 
Friday evening Jes and Matthew camped out at the Forest Rec site at Klaklakama Lake. Predawn came even worse than it sounded after a poor night’s sleep (I think too much coffee). It was a short drive to the end of Chuckham Road, and we were hiking to Maquilla by 6:15 am. We parked to 800m, so there was a little more than 1000m to the summit. 
We ventured off the road and up a ridge to an adjoining route that gains the peak via the south ridge. We moved quickly through the light to moderate bush. There was no boot track to guide us but we had great beta provided by another club member – thanks, Eyrn! 
Lower ridge for Maquilla
 

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