Tag: Su Castle

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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!

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Monument Mountain to Grassy Lake

January 13th, 2024
~ submitted by Su Castle

The intended trail head (parking lot #2/Sooke Potholes) that would have us closer to our intended destination was locked (icy, windy, steep road); so we changed plans and started off from the Charters Creek trailhead.

Through -5 temps, clear skies, snow and ice underfoot; 4 humans and one dog tromped up Monument instead. We had a brisk pace with very short stops to stay warm.

Coming down off the hill towards the north, we caught icy winds in the face for a short time. We stopped to admire the frozen Grassy lake before returning down Grass Lake trail.

We wanted to include Devastation Hill, but the creek crossing was a little larger than we wanted to attempt.

Took us about 3 hours to hike 12.5 kms with 550 metre elevation gain.

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Ridge Rambler- Gowland Todd One way

–submitted by Su Castle

We left a vehicle at both trailheads and commenced the10km ridge hike at Caleb Pike, taking 3 hours with stops for photos and a detour to see both Cascade Falls and the extremely high tide at McKenzie Bight. While there was wind on the ridge, there was no rain! Elevation gain travelling in this direction was minimal, only 400m.

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Finlayson Arm 28k Route

September 1, 2023

~ submitted by Su Castle

We started at the Prospectors Trail in Goldstream and followed the route for the 28 km Finlayson Arm trail run route, at a hike pace.


Hike time was just under 8 hours, breaks about 40 min in total. Weather was fantastic.