Timberline Tales - Page 55 of 67 - Island Mountain Ramblers

January 16, 2016May 19, 2016

Touring Mount Allan Brooks’ Glade

–Submitted by Matthew Lettington

Read the full report on his blog, Boring Art, Boring Life

Last year I purchased some used alpine touring ski gear, but with the terrible winter I didn’t use it. This winter, however, has been kind to us. Lovers of winter sports rejoice! Everyone is dusting off their far-too-seldom-used gear to head into the backcountry.

Mount Allen Brooks, Skitourig Strathcona Park

John and Chris examining the route down

I planned an easy tour around Helen Mackenzie for Saturday, January 16th, intending to test out my gear. My boots needed some breaking in, and I needed to practice movement in walk mode with my skis. There would be plenty of practice, but we found more adventure than we originally intended.

Prepping at Raven Lodge

John and I traveled together and met Rod at Raven Lodge; he had bivyed overnight in Paradise Meadows. The sky was dark and the snow fell with the wind, blasting us in the face and pushing its way into the car when we opened the hatch. We gathered our gear and changed in the protection of Raven Lodge. As we dressed, we met up with a group of three more skiers from the ACCVI. Our groups had different agendas, but we were planning on travelling the same route. John, Rod, and I joined their trip up to the glades, the col between Mount Allan-Brooks and the Bump on the …..

Read the full report on his blog, Boring Art, Boring Life

January 11, 2016May 19, 2016

Mount Drabble intermediate snowshoe

— Submitted by Matthew Lettington, read the full report on his blog Boring Art, Boring Life

A long time ago, when people were talking – for the first time – about a certain movie that took place in a galaxy far, far, away, there was an underutilized ski resort on a site which is now commonly referred to as “the old Forbidden Plateau ski hill”…
Bright and early on Sunday, January 10th, we were on the road, questing for adventure in Strathcona Park. Six of us made it to the trailhead for first light. The icy road and parking lot were plowed, making transit easy, but once we parked and exited, John’s truck slid a few inches. We took our first steps up to the proper snow of the old slopes at 8:00 am.

The gang rambling the rolling hills, approaching the summit of Mount Drabble

Mount Drabble Map and GPS route

Total Distance: 17.9
Starting Elevation: 713 m
Maximum Elevation: 1364 m
Elevation Gain: 1155 m
Time: 8 hours 15 min

Continue reading on Matthew’s blog…

January 3, 2016

Mt. Arrowsmith Judge’s Route – New Year’s Day, 2016

We set out for the Mt. Arrowsmith climb, looking forward to the snow-covered slopes and the sunny, warm temperatures that were forecast; however, we were not sure about the road conditions, and soon after turning off the highway we had our answer: the road was icy! We inched along, and even at snail-like speeds I found my truck, 4×4 with snow tires, sliding sideways down the road. We therefore opted to park at the Pass Main Junction, rather than driving up to the usual parking spot for the Judge’s Route, adding about 45 min. of walking to our approach.

The 12 of us set off about 9 a.m., and reached the spur road about 9:45. Last year there was no snow on the spur; not the case this year!

We reached the trailhead about 10:15 and set off for the summit, agreeing on a “turn-around time” of 1 p.m. The trail up through the trees was quite well-trodden, as I was well back in our group, and two others had gone up ahead of us. Mike and Chris, two friends of mine, had had chains for their truck and had driven up to the parking lot, getting a head start on the rest of us.

Not an over-abundance of snow in the trees, but enough that we didn’t need crampons.

Before long, we were out of the trees and admiring the views and relishing the sunshine!

It was about 12:30 when most of us we reached this spot (although Tom and Paul were up ahead), still about an hour from the top. I, as leader, was thinking of just having lunch here and then heading down, but Monica and Ruth were game to keep going, so I figured we might as well see how far we could get by 1 p.m. And then, when our turn-around time came, I figured we probably had until 2 p.m. before we had to turn around, and we might as well go until we met Tom and Paul anyway. So, we kept going, and were just minutes from the top before we met Tom and Paul descending. So of course we weren’t going to stop then, and I’m sure glad we didn’t. A glorious view!

Monica nearing the summit.

Ah! Almost there!

Doesn’t get much better than this!

And then, just before 2 p.m., we headed down.

The snow had really softened up in the afternoon sun, but we made good time, reaching the trailhead about 3:45, with daylight to spare!

January 2, 2016May 19, 2016

Winter Ascent of Pinder Peak’s Horn

–Submitted by Matthew Lettington, read the full report on his blog Boring Art, Boring Life

Nothing screams “winter break” more than an overnighter in Vancouver Island’s Alpine. Complete with camping on snow, and a longish logging road approach to the start of the route, this trip will remain in my memory for a long time.

Hiking Mount Pinder, Province Range, Vancouver Island

Rick and Rishi, on the southwest ridge. Photo by Phil Jackson

It is a long-standing Island Mountain Ramblers’ tradition to make the most of New Year’s Day, celebrating with a winter hike up Mt. Arrowsmith’s Judges Route, a semi-annual trip we call Katzenjammer. This year, though, I attended a different trip; Phil Jackson hosted a Ramblers trip to Pinder Peak, a seldom-visited peak in the Province Range. It sees few ascents, let alone winter ascents! Four participants enjoyed cold weather camping and fair snowshoe conditions, attempting this summit.

Pinder Peak Map and GPS Route with photographs

Total Distance: 15.8 kilometres
Starting Elevation: 357 m
Maximum Elevation: 1531 m
Total Elevation Gain: 1254 m

Read the full report on his blog Boring Art, Boring Life

January 2, 2016May 19, 2016

Katzenjammer! Mt. Arrowsmith Judge’s Route – New Year’s Day, 2016

— Submitted by John Young, Read the full report on his Blog, John Young’s Out There

The 12 of us set off about 9 a.m., and reached the spur road about 9:45. Last year there was no snow on the spur; not the case this year …..

Read the full report on John’s blog.

December 20, 2015May 19, 2016

We found winter! It was hiding at Crest Mountain

— Submited by Matthew Lettington. Read the full report on his blog, Boring Art, Boring Life

It’s been two long years but it’s finally here: winter! Last year, I had big aspirations for winter: snowshoeing, skiing, alpine ski touring, and winter mountaineering. Of course, winter never arrived. Like many other Vancouver Islanders, I have photographs taken on the summits of mountains that are bald! I remember a particular hike up 5040, when Phil and I sat on the summit sunning ourselves in shorts and t-shirts – in February. Even Cobalt Lake had only a thin crust of ice on it, and a few crazy girls were swimming in it! Regardless, winter is here now, and we found it in Strathcona Park.

Ramblers snaking up the hill

Continuing through my long list of mountaineering ambitions, Crest Mountain was the goal for December 20th. By all accounts, it’s easy and commonly hiked. It features a well-developed and marked route with signs in a few key places, and the trailhead is on the side of the highway. The trail does have a few steep sections before attaining the summit ridge around 1400 metres, and then an ambling ridge walk to the main summit. However, meteorological conditions prevented us from achieving our goal.

Crest Mountain Map

Total Distance: 8.4 km
Starting Elevation: 338 m
Maximum Elevation: 1216 m
Total Elevation Gain: 934 m
Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes

Read the full report on his blog, Boring Art, Boring Life

December 15, 2015May 19, 2016

Mount Benson, winter rears it’s head

–submitted by Mike Hordelski

We headed up, seven of us, shortly before 9:00, taking Trail #1 and prepared to cross the creek to begin our hike proper. However, not unexpected, the run-off from the rains made the crossing too chancy. Plan B, to double back on the Old Road and take the fork to the ridge trail wasn’t looking too good either, so we opted for the less eventful Direct Route up.

I was placing a lot of hope on a snowy summit and we were not disappointed as the photos will attest! It was windy, so we took shelter just below to enjoy our lunch. Not as cold as expected, a bit of drizzle on the way up, I think most of us were overdressed for the day. Made our way down around around 1:00. Half way down, we passed people on their way up…always good to start early if you want to keep the light on the way down.

Got back to the cars just passed 2:00 with smiles all around.

Seven total in our group-all members

Full picture album..

December 12, 2015May 19, 2016

Plan B – Pinder Peak

— submitted by Phil Jackson

Originally we were going to climb Big Interior Mountain, but after watching the weather forecast and
seeing that 1 meter or more snow was going to fall we decided to look further afield for somewhere the storm wasn’t going to hit. Further north the weather was supposed to be much milder. We decided on Pinder Peak in the Province Range.

Pinder Peak approach map

Heading north we turned off at the Zeballos forestry service road, after 9km we turned right onto the Atluck mainline. We came upon one of the most strikingly beautiful lakes on the island, Atluck Lake. After spending some time photographing the lake we carried on to the end of the lake where we turned left onto Artlish main and carried on for a further 4 km tim we came upon the deactivated spur road we were looking for. We hiked up the road to an elevation of 770m and set up camp.

Being as it was only 11:30 we decide to attempt the summit while the weather was good. Heading up through B1/2 bush we came upon a cliff band at approximately 1050m. To our left was a gully that had a raging creek and to the right difficult ground and a flagged route up to the ridge above us. This is also where we hit the first snow. The hike beyond is relatively easy ground. However is was dampened by meter deep powder snow, it didn’t support weight. Around the same time the weather took a turn for the worst.

By the time we approached the summit we had less than 20m visibility and it was starting to snow quite hard. Reaching our agreed upon turn around time we beat a hasty retreat and arrived back at camp just as it got dark. As it was raining hard and realizing that a summit attempt the next morning was now out of the question, we quickly packed up and headed down to the car using headlamps to see.

This is a very beautiful area with incredible views of both sides of the island with really good road
access and worthy of a visit

See full album of images.

November 29, 2015May 19, 2016

Mount Wesley, high above the clouds

–Submitted by Dean Williams

We had a really nice day for a hike, with no wind, and once we got above the cloud cover it was brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures. John was even down to wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but he spent a lot of years living in Calgary. It was one of the more interesting views i have had from the lunch spot, with low clouds below as far as the eye could see, with the ridges and peaks poking through, even down to Mt Baker. Another great outing on Vancouver island!