Timberline Tales

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A family snowshoe loop: Featuring another family!

–submitted by Matthew Lettington —read the report and see more photos on his blog

As parents, my wife Kim and I fall into all-too-familiar parent-child relationships with Hemingway and Octavia. My behaviour exemplifies the old platitude: When you love your kids, you want the best for them. You’ll go out of your way to make sure their lives are better than how you perceived your own to be. I take my children on backcountry adventures to give them formative experiences at a young age, experiences I don’t remember having when I was their age. Of course, believing that these adventures are making their lives better is a romantic notion; I wonder if Hemingway feels the same way.
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What’s your number?

Over the past month, I’ve had conversations, and exchanged emails, with many club members about the rating system we use to classify the trips on the club’s schedule. That’s the number you see beside the trip name on the schedule, and in the level of difficulty in the trip details (e.g. B1p2, C3p3). Many members are only looking at the first number, and using that to rate the trip, but this is a mistake.

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Boston Falls –Trip Cancelled!

–submitted by Matthew Lettington

It was late on Sunday morning that I made the call to cancel a long-planned trip to the Boston Falls lookout. I woke in the morning to find emails from participants that reported cancellations, people who wouldn’t drive through snow, and reports of 3″ of snow on the ground in Courtenay and Cambell River.

I thought carefully and weighed my options. In the end, the decision not to go examined carefully the reasons to continue. I feared that my only reason to continue the trip would be to fulfil my own sense of accomplishment and stroke my ego, but the risk would be the safety of the others involved.

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Maple Mountain Ramble

–submitted by Mary Hoff

Jan 14, was a nice weather day to hike Maple Mountain. Before our 9:30 departure, I had arranged two cars to be left on Chilco Rd. 11 of us started at the Osbourne Bay trailhead, we started on main bike trails and soon left for the off trails that not many people use. The views toward Mt Brenton, and Mt Benson were beautiful with the fog below, and the blue sky above. We stopped at Mary view, 2004, (sign still there)  for a wonderful view of Mt Prevost. We made our way to the lake, some ice still on it, and the sun was beautiful so we had our snack there. We then may our way to the tower using bike and hiking trails. At the summit we had nice sunshine. Ray took a group photo. We made our way down the pink trail, and then turned off using the old Chilco road trail. The hike was 5 hours, 13k. Everyone enjoyed it and it was a wonderful group all keeping the same pace.

Mary Hof,  leader

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A leg stretcher: Copley Ridge

— submitted by Matthew Lettington

We had high hopes for the day, but not all plans come to fruition. Canoe Peak was a lofty goal for any day, but we were adding to the challenge by attempting a winter ascent. On our way through Sutton Pass (230 m) snow was falling fast and accumulating so fast that vehicle tracks were being obscured within minutes and within 15 minutes there was an inch of fresh snow on the road.

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Thistle Mine Christy Falls Ramble

–submitted by Ken Warren

Well the weather forecast was accurate, but six of us zipped up our rain gear for our ramble north of Ladysmith. There was a bit of snow on the ground so we missed the trail into Camas Ridges but had no trouble finding the Old Thistle mine. We had a good look through the 1904 mine workings, but couldn’t see the ore seam as it was too wet. Bush Creek was in full flow and both lower and upper Christie Falls were quite impressive. A great day for this hike and thanks to all for your company.

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Hemingway’s first summit: Mount Elma

–all photographs and video courtesy Michael Paskevicious

Read the full report and see more photographs on Explorington.com

 

Dear Hemingway,

You’re four-and-a-half years old now–time sure flies. I made only two resolutions for 2018, and the first and most important one was to get my whole family out on a mountain adventure (Paradise Meadows doesn’t count). You’ve been my adventure companion on many trips, but it wasn’t until our January 6th trip that we summited our first mountain together: Mount Elma. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort to see your smile when we crested the hill and walked out onto Mount Elma’s summit plateau.

topo map for Mount Elma
Mount Elma Map and GPS route

 

Total Distance: 12 km
Starting Elevation: 166m
Maximum Elevation: 1418 m
Total Elevation Gain: 446 m
Total Time: 5h 30m

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Katzenjammer 2018- Arrowsmith’s Judge

–report by Wayne Mills
— photographs by John Young

Mount Arrowsmith (Judge’s-Route) was stunning, on January 1st. The largest mountain on southern Vancouver Island, definitely one for the more experienced hikers. It took us 6.5hrs at a steady pace, from dusk till dawn, steep and slippery, heart rate raiser and old injury breaker (knees/lower back). Snowshoes are not required. Crampons, poles, and axe are definitely required.

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Karzenjammer Lite/The Hordelski Mt Benson

–submitted by Ken Warren

We weren’t the first to set out to hike Benson from Witchcraft Lake, but close to it. Eight of us went on tthis new year’s expedition for various reasons, but in part it was to remember our friend and club member Mike Hordelski who died hiking Benson in 2017. Mike loved Mt Benson and hiked it many times by many routes.

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