Living the best adventure life, since 1958
February 4, 2024
~ submitted by Pete Hrkac
Solid, consolidated snow made for easy travel. Traction was very useful for ascending and descending the steeper sections. Although we brought axes, we only used them once, briefly during the descent from Boston Ridge toward Mt. Becher.
It was a great loop, easy route-finding.
January 1st, 2024
~ submitted by Greg Deabler
Our New Year’s Day stroll up Becher was thoroughly enjoyed by seven Ramblers: It was +2 at the trailhead with slight traces of snow along the plowlines of the road up and no snow at the parking lot.
Given that there had been rain during the previous week and little fresh snow, we made the decision to leave the snowshoes behind and trust our microspikes. A good decision, the snow was hard and supportive all the way to the summit. No wind and and lots of fog as we ascended and came down served to negate most of the views but made for perfect hiking comfort conditions for the day.
A lingering lunch on top, a few photo shoots involving an igloo constructed by a group who had spent the night, as well as the resident and persistent whiskey jacks made for a nice stop. Headed down at a good pace and arrived back at the cars by 2:15 pm.
A great day with even better company!
July 8, 2023
~ submitted by Mary Hof
Boston Ridge returning by way of Mt. Becher was an awesome day. I have never done it before and my co-leader Leslie was there in full support whatever I needed.
July 5th, 2020
~ submitted by Bil Derby
With cooler temperatures and light drizzle in the forecast four of us gathered at the “old Forbidden Plateau Ski hill” trailhead under overcast skies. After a few minutes spent catching up and discussing the day’s plan we headed downhill, replete with the expected commentary about starting a hike downhill, to pick up the trail to Boston Creek.
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:
March 7th, 2020
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
The plan was to summit Mount Allan Brooks, but the weather had other ideas. On our start up the road to Raven Lodge, the snow on the road was so slippery that a long line of cars had formed not far from the lower chain up area—forget that noise! We detoured to Mount Becher, perhaps a bit far from our original destination, but the road was plowed and the snow just as fresh.
–submitted by Goody Niosi; originally published on goodynoisi.com
It’s hard to believe – but here it is, February 2 (Groundhog Day!) and I just went on my first snowshoe trip of the season.
It was late January. I’d been signed up for a winter snowshoe ascent of Mt Becher with the Island Mountain Ramblers for a while, but the weather had not been easy to predict of late. In the end, it had to be postponed for a week, but with a forecast of light snow and afternoon clearing, the trip was a go for Groundhog Day. Well, I’m no meteorologist, but that sounded good to me. I’ve only seen that movie about twelve times by now!
As our trip leader John was later heard to say “In Saskatoon, you know, we never really worried about the groundhog seeing his shadow. Six more weeks of winter didn’t sound too bad at all!” But I digress, despite the torrential rains of the previous Friday, it was time for us to gear up and head for the hills!
There were seven of us altogether: Fearless leader John, Mo, Karen, Sylvie, Goody, and I left Nanaimo at 730 am. We met Kristy on the mountain a little later on. As we drove up Highway 19, the sun and skies put on a bit of show, once we got north of Qualicum. I remember musing that it might just be the best light of the day, and that there had to be a storm behind it. Sure enough, when we reached the turnoff to Piercy Road, it had begun to snow lightly, and by the time we’d parked near the site of the old Forbidden Lodge, it was snowing harder and the wind had picked up considerably.
Continue reading “Mount Becher: ONE DAY INSIDE A SNOW GLOBE”
June 22, 2019
~ submitted by David Shadbolt
Three of the five people on this hike had never participated in a club trip before. Kerry drove from Nanaimo, Dave (Mitch) and I from Qualicum Beach, Sarah drove from Tahsis via Campbell River to pick up Elliott.
We started trudging up the unpleasant remnants of the ski resort around 10:30 and after a few brief pauses arrived at the top at 12:30 where we had lunch.
It grew more overcast during the ascent and clouds obscured the views at the top. We were surprised by the number of folks on the trip, particularly those families with small children. Many dogs also.
Descending the resort caused a few butts to unexpectedly kiss the earth. Would I do the hike again? No, except possibly in winter on snowshoes– should we have a good snow year.
~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.
