A few weeks ago, a few of us assembled for a long weekend of biking and easy mountaineering in our beloved Coast Mountains. Everything went according to plan...well, almost.
My favourite definition of adventure is that it starts when shit starts to go wrong. As Fred Beckey jokingly stated (pardon the paraphrasing); "take a cruise ship, there is no adventure there...but add some hijackers..and now we are talking!"
If that is the definition of adventure, then I have had very few adventures, I like to plan and over plan trips, much to (likely) the annoyance of my partners and friends in the mountains. I just want the trip to happen and experience has taught me that the more you plan, the better the chance for things to work out in your favour. I am a recovering over planner.
However, in many instances (most), the planning I've done in the comfort of my house, nursing a tasty brown beverage of some variety, warm and comfortable, fails to prove its worth once things are underway and the many many variables present themselves along the route of choice. Maybe in a small way these are adventures in themselves, when things go not according to plan but there isn't risk to life and limb. EIther way, when I have to dig a bit deeper for resolve, push through with tired body and mind and overcome some kind of worry or concern, there is something that is seared into my brain and I can relive it with distinct detail again and again - maybe that is another scrambly definition of this much overused and (now) almost meaningless word. When you have to overcome.
On this occasion, everything went almost perfectly, the terrain was well within our abilities but the efforts required and the threat of an approaching weather system kept us on our toes and moving maybe a little faster than normal, chasing goal posts along windswept ridges and glacier marked valleys. Having a plan definitely helped to keep the ship on course, but being flexible allowed us to finish ahead of schedule, beat the weather (barely) and leave room for a gigantic feed seasoned with enormous talk at the fabled Fergies Cafe in the lower Squamish Valley.
The idea was simple: Leave Squamish on bike with light mountaineering gear, ride to Rubble Creek trailhead, stash said bikes and leave on foot for 2-3 days of climbing easy peaks around Garibaldi Lake before returning back to bikes, hopefully still where we left them and cruise home.
Julian making last minute adjustments to his bike and gear list in my basement in Squamish.
Pat and Scotty make their way up 'the canyon' high above the Chekamus River. The bikes were heavy but manageable.
On foot through the subalpine on the Panorama Ridge trail. We all had 25-30L packs which was plenty big for 3 days of food, simple shelter and lightweight mountaineering gear.
Once beyond the trail, we entered the alpine and travelled cross country along rocky benches and meadows.
Small glacier guarding Helm Col, the access to Gentian Pass.
Descending down into the magical Gentian Pass.
Incredible and wild spot.
Making our way to our bivi site, seen in image, bottom right. A perfect hanging meadow with water and acceptable views.
We called it an early day and checked the weather report. A system was moving in within 24 hours, bringing with it 20-30 mm of rain and high winds. Holy whoa!
We all enjoyed this incredible bivi which was bug free, a marvel in the 2022 alpine season
We awoke early and with a headlamp start, ascended Castle Tower which is an easy slog up huge talus to its first false summit. Care is required to down climb an easy but loose ramp into a high notch. From there, one can easily ascend to the main summit.
Later in the day, near Mt. Carr
Pat downclimbing the ramp on Castle Tower.
From the main summit, there is a gully that leads directly to the low angled glacier, this gully is quite loose and near the bottom, steepens drastically. We opted to move climbers right (skiers left) onto solid but more exposed rock. Pat is downclimbing the crux of this variation, maybe 5.4 but waaaay better than the loose gulley.
Phyllis Engine.
Gully of descent from Castle can be seen in the background. Next time I would scramble up the 3rd peak of Castle and descend via the very mellow glacier on the back of Castle to the main ridge, I have done this in winter and it would avoid the gully shenanigans and keep you up higher, that is the way!
Davidson! The original itinerary included this legendary and remote peak however once we learned of the coming storm, we opted to skip. This peak continues to elude me.
Castle Tower after regaining the ridge, you can see the mellow glacier in plain view. This is the way!
We wanted to stay on the ridge as much as possible. There is the option of taking the lower glacier and skirting most of the ridge, this would be the usual route I believe. We wanted to keep to the ridges because, well, we like em! The above image shows Scotty downclimbing, moments before held the crux of the whole trip. A wet and icy ramp with a crack, high perched above a moat, mixed climbing along with crampons and axe wedged into perfect granite cracks in a spectacular position, aiming for solid snow just a few steps away. Everyone did great and often mountaineering trips have bits of these....moves you 'have' to do to complete a section..exciting.
Moving along on perfect alpine granite.
Julian doing bicep curls on Mt. Carr.
Moat fun getting to Guard Mountain.
We had a nice break at the Guard / Deception Col and got another weather update. Evan texted back saying '100% chance of precip, 30+mm, hope you guys aren't up high'. This further fueled our by them agreed upon tactic of finishing the high route that day. As we looked over at Mt. Price, way off in the distance, we knew we would be seeing it soon enough, being the final piece of the puzzle and the gateway to a below treeline bivi.
We dropped into the ancient valley that drains a the Garibaldi Neve. We had a terrific coffee break here.
The micro valley from the valley and approaching the shoulder of Table Mt is one of the most beautiful I have seen.
Perfect travel throughout this section.
The 'tea cup' of Table Mt.
We arrived at camp at 10pm after a 18 hr push, it was awesome. I wont soon forget that amazing day covering such beautiful terrain with my good friends.
The next day the rain showed up as planned. We were all very grateful for making the big push the previous day and from here it was simple train walking to the very busy Garibaldi Lake campsite. It felt very strange returning to this busy place filled with toilet paper in every bush and hundreds of humans milling about after being on our own the last 24 hours.
The rest of the hike was uneventful and we soon found ourselves, soaking wet and hungry, at Fergies. We all ordered pretty much the same thing: Americano, double ceaser and eggs benedict - just a great end to a stellar trip.
Thanks to Pat, Julian and Scotty for the great trip and their friendship.
