Timberline Tales

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Mountain: The Tie That Binds and Stretches Us

–submitted by Colleen Chestnut

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk staring idly at my computer between tasks.  Whenever my computer is inactive for a few minutes, the screen saver begins cycling through a series of about 200 photos.  Most are of my adventures: travelling, ocean kayaking, hiking and mountaineering.  The vast majority are of mountaineering excursions, either with my hiking club or with one or two close friends.  Although, I enjoy the solitude of my own thoughts and find pleasure in doing many activities alone, I prefer the company of others when I venture into the mountains.

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Mount Tzouhalem, Muni trail off Neville Drive

–submitted by Mary Hof

What a day for a hike, 4 us started from the Muni trail off Neville drive for( Mt Tzouhalem). I am not familiar from that area, so I bet we took in trails that took us all over the place, but I did make it to the Awesome trail but came out much lower down then the bench. We then did Field of Dreams then the summit of Tzouhalem then to the cross and made our way to the Muni trail and back to the cars. 4 hours, 14km. Great views and great people. I know this hike was late notice, only on the schedule couple days. FB page is also nice as some saw it there.

 

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Mount Benson, a Snowy Day

–submitted by Bil Derby

On a foggy damp Sunday morning, the six of us met at the Witchcraft Trail Head, made introductions, tidied up the necessary paperwork, and offered our hopes to the weather gods before getting underway at 08:10.  Veering right away from the “tourist route” at the first trail junction we climbed upwards to cross McGarrigle Creek at 460 meters, more or less, to follow the Outer Route.  A brisk uphill from there led us to a brief stop at the first bluffy viewpoint just above the climbing wall. From here on the trail gets a bit bushy and there may have been a word or two about the use of hiking partners as dewatering tools for the salal.

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Mount Brenton: Another One from the Book

–submitted by Matthew Lettington, originally published on his blog

I imagine you might be asking yourself, Why the benign title? If you’re a regular reader, you’re familiar with my Island Alpine Quest: to summit all of the peaks listed in Philip Stone’s book Island Alpine (1999). The goal is lofty, and many of the peaks will require multiday adventures through some of the least-frequented areas on Vancouver Island (I’m looking at you, Mount Doom). But the sad reality is that not every peak is a stunning romp through the backcountry – my trip up Mount Brenton certainly wasn’t!

February 4th, 2018
Total Distance: 10.5 km
Starting Elevation: 707 m
Maximum Elevation: 1216 m
Total Elevation Gain: 508 m
Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes

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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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