~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Twelve members and guests made a quick loop around Lake Helen Makenzie and Battleship Lake.
Helen Mackenzie Battleship Lake Loop -Snowshoe
Mount Becher
–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.
Mount Becher: ONE DAY INSIDE A SNOW GLOBE
—SUBMITTED BY MICK BAILeY; ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON BCTREEHUNTER
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”
Mount Prevost
January 4, 2020
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
Our group of ten had a fantastic day on a leisurely trip up Mount Prevost. It was the kind of day that brought all the weathers: pouring rain on the drive in, cloudy on the way up, sunny upon reaching the summit but snowy as we departed, sunny back at the car, and then pouring rain on the drive out.
The Hordelski 2020 – Mount Benson
January 1st, 2020
~ submitted by Ken Warren
Twelve of us started up Benson on our annual new year’s day hike. We took the new trail from the parking lot. The weather forecast was not favourable, but it was dry if a bit windy.
Half way up another member met us and we continued through the area the club worked on last year. At the summit the sky was relatively clear and the wind died so we had some lunch and enjoyed the views. I remember well standing there in the wind and snow with Mike Hordelski only long enough to take a photograph. As the weather was good, the summit was quite busy with hikers, runners, and quadders.
We made our way down without incident along the increasingly busy trail. Another successful summit, a tip of the hat to Mike, and a good start to 2020. All the best for this year to all club members.
Katzenjammer 2020 (Mount Arrowsmith)
January 1st, 2020
~ submitted by John Young
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve summited Mt. Arrowsmith for the annual New Year’s Day expedition, but it must be at least 10. The first year I participated was in 2001, and I climbed it in my backcountry touring skiboots. They provided great support, but were heavy and of course cumbersome. But there was a lot of snow that year, right from the parking lot off Pass Main, and they were great for kicking steps.
Before leading this year’s climb I was apprenhensive:
- after a 6-week trip to Mexico I wasn’t in the best of shape. Could I handle it?
- of the 7 others in our group, I didn’t know 3. Would they all be okay?
- there have been three accidents in recent years on this climb, and I fretted about the conditions. Would it be icy and treacherous?
Thankfully, though, my fears were unfounded. Everyone did just fine, and it was probably the easiest winter climb I’ve had up Arrowsmith with good snow conditions, for the most part.
The trail was bare of snow until we’d hiked up for about 1/2 hour.
Upper Cowichan River
December 28, 2019
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
In an attempt to blow out the holiday duff, twelve members headed out for a hike that the club hasn’t hosted since 2011, the upper portion of the Cowichan River. It was well worth the adventure!
Mount Benson from Westwood
December 19, 2019
~ submitted by Bill Jackson
We met at the Arbot Rd parking area at the leisurely time of 9:30 and got back almost exactly 5 hrs later, with no rest breaks.
We followed the mix of trails and roads from the northwest end of the lake. Weather was just wet enough to justify rain clothes, and stayed pretty much the same on the way up. No distant views, but a couple of nice foggy scenes over the valley. There isn’t much snow on the ground right now. The same as it was a month or so ago; just starting at the junction before Te’tuxw’tun Trail.
Right at the summit a stiff cold wind limited time to a couple of quick cell pics and chased us back into the trees. Coming down was wetter and cooler than going up, so our total of rest breaks for the day was about 3 or 4 minutes standing for lunch.
A better day than staying home! And a good day for gear testing. 1) I need new rain clothes 2) the rest of my clothing worked well, not excessively cold when damp. Thanks for the pleasant company, Goody!
Wesley Ridge (Ridge Ramble)
~ submitted by Matthew Lettington
December 15, 2019
We pushed the limits of a B rating on our sunny, December trip along Wesley Ridge. We had an excellent day on the ridge. The leisurely pace helped with this as it allowed for in-depth conversation on a diverse range of topics.
The most challenging effort of the day was gaining the ridge. To ease the transition from sitting to hiking, we took our sweet time. Once we gained the hill, we found ourselves first walking in hoar frost, and eventually the lightest dusting of fresh snow. Though the first highpoint was mired in a fog that obscured any meaningful view, it didn’t last long. By the time we were halfway along our route, the cloud dissipated and the sun shone down.
Though it remained cold throughout the day, we kept ourselves warm by maintaining a consistent though relaxed pace to cover the 1000 meters of elevation gain and 14.4km.
So did we make it in under 6 hours? No, we needed an extra 15 minutes. We might have made the 6 hours mark but for the blowdown along the ridgetop and missteps at the very beginning of the day. I heard no complaints over the smiles on people’s faces as we finished up this Ridge Ramble!
Mount Richards
~ submitted by Mary Hof
December 14, 2019
It was a week of cancelations and additions – I always say organizing the hike is much harder than leading the hike. Really I didn’t know the exact number till I headed off Lol.
At 9:30 I had 11, and my cell phone wasn’t ringing so we left. It said a small amount of rain in the forecast but we got none, in fact we had sun for a little while.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the hike, with the scenery, lush greenery, mushrooms, forest, and a wonderful group. There is new logging which because I reccee it on Wednesday I was able to lead the group around some of it. We finished 4.5 hours later.
Thanks group for your pictures you shared with me.