Thank you to Ken Warren and the other members of the Island Mountain Ramblers Executive for their work in creating the new language for the updated constitution. And, thank you to the Island Mountain Ramblers membership for making the adoption process nearly painless, at the March 2018 meeting.
Ammonite Falls
–submitted by Adrian Houle
Successful trip to ammonite falls. The waterfall had large amounts of ice with water cutting through it.
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.
Helen Mackenzie, Winter Camping
–submitted by Adrian Houle
— photographs submitted by Carmen Zitek
February 10th, 2018:
Four members of the Island Mountain Ramblers headed out on a winter camping trip to Lake Helen Mackenzie. The goal of the trip was to gain experience camping in sub-zero temperatures. And sub-zero temperatures we had!
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.
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
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.
Continue reading “A family snowshoe loop: Featuring another family!”
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.
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.
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
