Category: Club

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Mount Benson Trail Project — Area Survey

On Saturday, March 30th a small group of Ramblers and guests took a few hours to hike the Mount Benson trail. Our goal was to survey the area that we are designated to work in, describe the type of work that needs to be done, and examine what the winter rage has wrought.

Happily, the snow has receded, revealing the ground and making it easy to see the work we still need to do. The work falls into four categories, requiring three different types of skills to complete.
On Saturday, March 30th a small group of Ramblers and guests took a few hours to hike the Mount Benson trail. Our goal was to survey the area that we are designated to work in, describe the type of work that needs to be done, and look at what the winter has wrought.

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Mt. Prevost

~ submitted by Mary Hof

March 23, 2019

Leading a hike is the easy part. Answering all the emails for weeks before, keeping track of the cancelations and additions, figuring out car-pooling, waivers forms, etc… are the hard things lol.

Fifteen hikers came out to the Mt Prevost Hike on March 23. We had 8 members and quite a few potential members. For me it is always a delight to lead, I enjoy meeting new people, and share our mountains with new people.

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Zeballos Peak Exploration

Submitted by Matthew Lettington; originally published on explorington.com

Sitting on the south side of Zeballos Lake rises a seldom-summited peak of the same name. It suffers from the ignominious problem of being a neighbour to the far more glamorous peaks of the Haihte Range; with an elevation of only 1540 metres, it’s a problem that won’t be outgrown by this report.

a hike to Zeballos Peak
Zeballos Peak, the south face

On March 17, 2019, I joined Phil and Ramsay on a summit attempt of Zeballos Peak. We were in high spirits as we started our hike. The south-facing slopes of the mountain were clear of snow to the end of the road, allowing us the luxury of heading straight into the slash without the additional work of grunting up a steep logging road (450 m).

Zeballos Peak Route

Total Distance: 6.8 km
Starting  Elevation: 450 m
Maximum Elevation: 1380 m
Total Elevation Gain: 941 m
Total Time: 7 Hours

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Gowlland Ramble

~ submitted by Mary Hof

March 10th, 2019

15 hikers came out March 10th for the Gowlland Tod Ramble Hike.

Half the hikers were Island Mountain Ramblers, others were from OCV, and Cowichan Hikers, all of which I am a member. It still amazing how much snow there still is on the hills, but we did see few flowers also coming out.

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Rappel Practice – Fleming Beach

~ submitted by Quinn Park

March 5th, 2019

With rock season rapidly approaching, we needed a quick refresher in rappelling before running full on into it.

Fleming beach offers great views, and we each got a few rappels in – It’s safe to say everyone was proficient and we all learned a thing or two from each other in terms of tips & tricks, and getting rappels to be safe, quick and efficient!

The sun was beginning to set as we were wrapping up, and with nightfall approaching (and everyone with their headlamp!) we even got a couple pitches each in.

a little dusk climbing practice

Bottom line is that it never hurts to review rappelling skills!

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Mt Becher Snowshoe

~submitted by Phil Dol

March 2, 2019

Five members met up at the Wood Mountain parking lot for a snowshoe to Mt Becher in the sunshine.

We departed at 9:45 am mostly following the summer route. There was only one other person on the trail whom we played leapfrog with up to the summit. We arrived at the summit around 12:30 pm where we experienced the rarity of no wind and clear views of the surrounding mountains all to ourselves.

After a short lunch break, we headed back along the same route, where we encountered several groups of people on snowshoes and backcountry skiers as well as their dogs. We arrived back to the vehicles at 3:00 pm.

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Mt. Benson – Feb. 24, 2019

–-SUBMITTED BY JOHN YOUNG; ORIGINALLY POSTED ON HIS PAGE

What a beautiful day!

On the summit with our adopted dog – he photobombed us!

We started off just after 9 a.m. under clear skies, with just a couple other vehicles in the parking lot. After crossing Witchcraft Lake, we headed up the far right trail to the waterfall, or what would be a waterfall in warmer temps. We crossed McGarrigle Creek and as there’d been more snow since I’d been up this way the previous Wednesday, we broke trail for the next 2 hours. With the fresh snow blanketing the ground and the trees, it was truly a winter wonderland! After we reached the old road, we made new tracks as far as Gordie’s Trail, and even then, no one had recently been that way. It wasn’t until we came to the junction with the other trails, Fossil and Rafe’s Way, that the snow was tracked. I had thought, that with the new snow, the way to the top wouldn’t be as slippery as it could be, but I was wrong! It was treacherous, and once we reached the summit we put on our traction devices, and for the descent we were glad we did! Three other people (and their dog) were on the summit when we arrived, and others soon joined us, and we saw several more as we went down. It took us just over 3 hours to ascend; 2 hours down. A wonderful outing with a great group!

Crossing Witchcraft Lake

A slippery trail on the bottom half

But after crossing the creek, we were soon wallowing in the snow

But some beautiful views and natural art

And wonderful snow!

A squirrel tried to break trail for us, but needs some work on that!

And we still broke trail on the old road

And even up the first part of Gordie’s Trail

It was slippery near the top

Approaching the summit

After basking in the sun, we slipped/slided our way down

And back to Witchcraft Lake

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Big Den Mountain: The Land of the Little Sticks

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

Mountains are changeable. From a technical perspective, a route may be an easy ascent in the winter season, and a heinous, bush-filled scramble in the summer. Or, of course, it’s possible that winter adds more treachery to a route that’s a simple scramble in the summer. It’s probably because of this duality that first ascents and first winter ascents are documented as different feats.

hiking to Big Den Mountian in Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island
Thtere’s always time to stop and admire the beasts

I’ll count Big Den Mountain among those peaks that become more complicated when the snow melts. In the winter, Big Den Mountain was an aesthetic, though steep, winter ascent with some adventure between beautiful, mature trees. But in the summer, the approach became a complicated bushy route with at least one unexpected scramble.

Total Distance: 7.2 km
Starting Elevation: 789 m
Maximum Elevation: 1419 m
Total Elevation Gain: 724 m
Total Time: 4 hours, 43 minutes and 34 seconds

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Mount Tzouhalem

~ submitted by Mary Hof

January 13, 2019

16 hikers, 2 were members of the Ramblers and 2 were interested in us. The rest were Cowichan hikers, and with the beautiful weather and the route I choose, many wanted to join in. The hike was only 10k but had many view spots and was a wonderful day to be out. Thanks to all who joined.