Beaufort Range Snowshoe trip to Mount Irwin over Mount Hal

–text by Brian Fleming
–images by Brian, Jes Garceau and Matthew Lettington

Somewhere around 23km, 1510m elevation gain.

What a day. This one kicked my butt a bit. I went on this trip with the Island Mountain Ramblers. A few of the people from my first club trip were here again, so it was nice to have some familiar faces.

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Springtime in Tahsis: A snowshoe near Malaspina Peak

–submitted by Matthew Lettington; originally published on Explorington.com
Spring’s late-onset has done no great favour for mountaineering. A Cool April and May allowed late-season snow to add to an abundant snowpack, enabling cornices to persist beyond their normal range. Our quartet faced this when we set out to summit Malaspina Peak on May 22, 2022.

Our route

Malaspina Peak is one of the mountains that is low on most people’s radar. It’s way out there, and at an elevation of just around 1550 metres, most people don’t give it the time of day. But it’s on our list.

Alava-Bate Sanctuary

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Springer Peak

April 30, 2022

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington, photos by Jes Garceau

What a day in the mountains! The Prince of Wales range never ceases to offer top-notch hikes and scrambles! 

This was my third trip to the summit. I hosted it because members tell us that they are interested in learning mountaineering skills. This peak offers some great opportunities to practice various skills while providing relative safety. 

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Strata Mountain Snowshoe

February 26, 2022

~ submitted by Brian Flemming, photos by Brian Flemming and Matthew Lettington

I joined the Island Mountain Ramblers recently to branch out a bit, meet some new people, learn some new things and participate in some safe group activities and hopefully summit a few mountains I wouldn’t be able to do alone.

Today’s snowshoe was a good example of a hike that I wouldn’t have done alone because of the weather.

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Mt Elma Snowshoe

–Submitted by Ken Warren

January 8, 2022

After a flurry of early morning communications and a change in leader, five of us headed for Mt Elma on snowshoes from Raven Lodge. Although the parking lot was full, the trails were quiet. Fortunately someone had the same destination in mind and kindly broke trail for us. Conditions were ok with the temperature around minus 4, light snow, and light wind. The snow is quite deep and loose so it took some effort to get up to the summit ridge. Visibility was almost nil, but the windrifted snow and the mantled trees made the trip worthwhile.

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Helen Mackenzie Snowshoe Trip

March 14, 2020

~ submitted by Matthew Lettington

On Saturday, March 14, I led a small group on a snowshoe trip to Lake Helen Mackenzie. It was two families, me with my two children, and Jes with his son Trace.  It was Hemingway’s first-time wearing snowshoes to walk, even though the conditions didn’t require it. We had very sunny conditions but cold air that kept the snow very dry and the sky clear.

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Mount Becher Snowshoe

March 8th, 2020

~ submitted by John Young

Lucky or what?  My fifth time snowshoeing in the last 2 months and each time the trees have been adorned with snow! Some years, you might never get that, as the snow melts off or is pelted off with untimely rains.

This time, we had snow on the trees right from the parking lot, and although the skies were clear when we set out at 9:45, cloud moved in, limiting our view from the summit.

Ascending Wood Mountain:

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