Following a recce of the access roads to the Moriarty trail-head and a lot of discussion back and forth about the likelihood of gaining access to the Moriarty trail-head it was decided to switch locations and hike the Judges route on Arrowsmith.
Seven intrepid hikers met at Starbucks at 0630 to carpool and fuel up on caffeine before heading off to the mountains. Arriving on schedule at the Judges trail-head at 0800 we quickly geared up and wandered off up the mountain in what appeared to be improving weather……….more on that later.
For quite a while I have been itching to start leading climbing trips (on the south island) with the Island Mountain Ramblers. On Tuesday June 5th I didn’t get as many members out as I was hoping for, but my climbing partner Danton (Who I convinced to join the Ramblers) was excited to join me on the trip! Danton and I spent most of our time on Dirt Stamp Wall, which is my favourite wall at Glen Lake. We hopped on various climbs including Wax On, 8 Litre Buckets, Stop Waxing Off, and Just A Bit Of Crack. There was a sprinkling of rain which added to the excitement.
We had enough time and light to also practice escaping the belay (An important rescue technique for multipitch), ascending using prussiks, and Danton taught me about trad anchors.
All in all, a great time, and I will start organizing these trips more regularly so more Ramblers can enjoy climbing outdoors. Climb on!
Hike today was Maple Mountain (Cowichan Valley) summit to Ocean. Seven Ramblers who had signed up all canceled before and day of hike, but 7 members of the Outdoor Club and Cowichan came.
In the past three years, I’ve summited more than one hundred peaks on my list, and I’ve categorized them based on their type – which makes it easier to make recommendations to friends. When it comes to aesthetic ridge scrambles on Vancouver Island, Mount Abraham is among the best; for anyone interested in easy scrambles, I recommend giving this mountain a try.
On June 3rd we were turned back on our attempt to summit Mount Abraham because of poor visibility, weather, and a misunderstanding of the route description (read more here). But on June 10th, we came ready with a better understanding of the route and a burning desire to outrun the impending weather due in the afternoon.
Total Distance: 11.6 km
Starting Elevation: 784 m
Maximum Elevation: 1702 m
Total Elevation Gain: 1103 m
Total Time: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Our Westwood Ridges Ridge Ramble was hiked under mixed skies. The five adults and two children took our time exploring the picnic shelter, memorial garden and picking our way through the salal to the upper ridge.
Seven hikers set out at 9:30 am Sunday June 3rd from Burnt Bridge past Shawnigan Lake. The weather was calling for showers but we had none, which made for a nice hike.
It’s great having a regular group of friends to hike with. From week to week, the members of the group may change, but each person comes to be someone on whom I can rely. It’s more important that they are consistent and always improving than that they are the best at any given task. When the bush gets thick or the slopes get slick, looking over and seeing someone else suffering alongside me, or seeing them surmount a problem, inspires me to keep going. Of course, sometimes it’s the group that makes the tough choice to turn around, as we did on our June 3rd excursion to Mount Abraham.
about 100 metres from this spot you should see a ridge rising toward the summit of Mount Abraham
Yes, another adventure in the Genesis Range. Mount Abraham was the goal, and we arrived expecting a gruelling day of fighting bush, fording rivers, and grunting up steep slopes through blueberry, willow, and huckleberry. We were only half right.
May 27th was a good day for a hike. Seven of us started off at Charters Creek (Sooke) and headed up to Grassy Lake. The lake was beautiful, after a snack we headed up to Mary’s Peak. The views were beautiful. After a lunch break we came down, headed toward Grassy Lake again, then turned off and headed to Monument. Reaching Monument we came down the slippery trail from bikers and headed back to Charters Creek. Total km 16.5k and 752m elevation gain. Hike took just under 6 hours. A wonderful day, with wonderful people.
Eight of us gathered at the end of Arroyo Road just south of Ladysmith to make introductions and swap out flip-flops for boots before starting up the logging road at 09:00, right on time. The grind of logging road walking was offset by laughter and stories as we wandered along to the trail that leads up to the old cabin and on to Christie Falls, or in Mike’s words it’s “Christie Hill” for lack of water.
Another May long weekend has come and gone, and with it another “first of the summer” camping trip. I don’t put much stock into the idea of the shoulder season — it’s a myth made up by The Man — but this trip felt more like a summer getaway than any other of the season, except for the rain, fog, and snow up to our knees. But thank goodness that the shoulder season is over, right?
The trip started with a hoot an’ a holler. We anticipated a longish slog along a deactivated logging road, more of an alder farm complete with cross-ditches, but today we found that the former jungle has been replaced by a new logging road. We cheered the removal of this most dreaded obstacle, the one that would take the most amount of effort with the least amount of reward. Driving to the end of the logging road allowed us to park just meters from the old-growth, and probably saved us a few hours of travel in each direction. What a boon! We grabbed our gear and headed up into the dense West Coast forest.
Total Distance: 33 km
Starting Elevation: 844 meters
Maximum Elevation: 1645 meters
Total Elevation Gain: 3155 metres
