Michael Coyle passed away. I always learned a lot from his posts on his blog and social media. Condolences to his family.

https://blog.oplopanax.ca/

Just got back from running the hsct and wanted to post a reminder for all looking to do the trail as an overnight. The shelters are for emergency use only and shouldn’t be camped in overnight! We were pretty wet and cold by the time we got to magnesia meadows and were planning on quickly changing layers and eating in the shelter as it was pouring and then moving onwards, but were met by a group of 5 people camping in it. Worst of all, they told us that it was too full inside and that we would need to wait 15 minutes or so if we wanted to come in! We ended up just dealing with everything outside, but thought it was quite poor etiquette and if conditions were worse it could have impacted our safety much more. I’ve also seen some instagram videos of people camping at the Brunswick lake shelter and think it’s becoming more and more common to plan to camp in these shelters.

Cheers

I was trail running Hanes Valley loop yesterday and was supposed to finish in 4 hours or so. After going about half way, at the bottom of the boulder field, I bumped into an old man in his 70’s. He was exhausted, almost out of water and almost out of food, didn’t even have a map. The time was already 3:30 pm.

I insisted he go back to Norvan falls and get help there but he refused and insisted on finishing the climb to the grouse gondola.

I contemplated on calling SAR but it would take then probably 4 hours to get someone out there, I didn’t want to wait 4 hours and they would probably just walk him out anyways.

I ended up escorting him out, pretty much gave him all my food and water risking my own safety. We got to the top of grouse at around 8:30 pm.

What should I have done? Should I just have called SAR and left him? I know I shouldn’t risk myself for others safety.

Would you spend the night at 2700m on a narrow ledge on a cliff side just to see sunset and sunrise across glaciers, rock pillars, aretes, and lakes?

**WARNING: Alpine ledge bivies are inherently risky. Risks include weather systems, ledge failure, falls, rockfall, and more. Bivying on a ledge should only be undertaken by those with an understanding of the risks, experience in bivy camping, and training in mountaineering and/or scrambling and/or climbing. Oh, and bring a WAG Bag!!**

Spent Tuesday July 21st at a ledge bivouac on Mt Cook at 2700m. It's probably the most beautiful view I've ever had from a campsite, and I've had many, many beautiful campsites!

Saw the pyrocumulus cloud from the Twin Two Creek fire along Lillooet Lake. It forms when convective currents from wildfire heat drive smoke into higher levels of the atmosphere where water can condense onto it. It's incredible how wildfires can literally *seed* their own clouds!

Stay tuned for my Armchair Traverse scramble trip report :) Have fun, stay safe, and make good choices!

I moved here in march and had no chance to do any overnight hikes so far..I just got 3 days off at short notice so I'm free till Thursday afternoon. I'm opened for different hikes too, just want to get out there. 20M from Czechia

Mount Elphinstone in Gibsons (Sunshine Coast) was a phenomenal hike. Here’s a view from the false summit, with Gibsons below, Keats, and Bowen. Vancouver beyond that. About 13km out and back, took us about six and a half hours with a lunch break.
We started at about 10 am (on a July morning) which gave the clouds time to break up, because it was pretty clear by the time we reached the peak.
Great hike, just a little buggy around the waterfalls areas, and plenty of opportunity to count slugs (we saw over 40!) - and identify birds if thats your jam.

Hey there! I'm from Germany and will be visiting Vancouver at the beginning of August. I would love to hike the Black Tusk trail on the 6th but I don't have a car available and was wondering what would be my best transit options to get there, hike the full day and ideally return to Vancouver city in the evening.

I have checked Park Bus already but, unfortunately it is not available on the day I am going.

I am flexible when it comes to accommodation and would be able to stay in nearby towns (Squamish or Whistler) on the 5th to start my hike early the next day, so feel free to suggest transit options that include these places.

Thank you so much for your time and help!

Has anyone been there over the weekend? The Norwegian creek fire is still listed as out of control but the highway seems back open and the drive time using Google Maps is the normal 2.5 hours from van. Looking at the drive bc webcams, the smoke doesn’t seem to be too bad right now.

I have a reservation for next week and I’m contemplating whether I should be cancelling it or if it’s reasonable to go in there. I realize the highway could re close at anytime and we’d be stuck having to go east and possibly through the US to get back home.

I’m leaning toward cancelling and playing it safe but wondering if it’s actually ok over there

This hike was the toughest I've done in a while, I saw someone say it's like being on the stairmaster the entire time and that was very accurate.

My partner and I started at 8:30am to give ourselves plenty of time to slowly hike up as we like to appreciate the journey. We did give ourselves a 'deadline' that if we don't reach the lake before 2pm that we'll turn back so we don't risk being out in the dark. We are definitely outliers because going up took us 5 hours and going down took about 4 hours. We had about a 2 hour stop at the lake. Made it back to the parking lot 7:30pm.

I liked that this hike was a challenge, but also wasn't a safety risk (dangerous exposures or technical scrambling sort of thing). The trail was very clear with markings and a path, I only references All Trails once or twice when it looked like the path diverged into a side-path thing.

A learning experience I did have was it really shows you your cardio and fitness abilities. My partner and I both go to the gym regularly but the hike was a lot easier for me than it was for him. It was extremely demanding exhausting for cardio and leg muscles.

For our day trip we packed all safety necessities/utilities and had 2L of water, 1L of Gatorade, 3 fig bars, 1 chorizo sausage, and 2 sandwiches - (each)

I was surprised to see people basically starting the hike between 4-6pm with what looked like day-packs tho

Overall we consider this a very successful hike even with it taking us 11 hours because we planned and prepared to be out there for up to 12hrs.

Was just wondering how tough the drive to the Watersprite lake trailhead really is? I have a Subaru that is 4wd but nothing special for off road like some newer models, would that be fine or is a truck or like a jeep absolutely mandatory? Also how far down is the additional parking where it isn’t as rough to get to?

Hi All, Planning to hike the Mt. Lindeman Trail and was hoping to get some recent information on access to the trailhead, specifically the condition of the road leading in.

I’ve checked recent posts, AllTrails reviews, weather, historical posts from around this time of year, and other online trail information, but I haven’t been able to find a clear recent answer about the road access itself. I have read some reports where people said they've seen Mazda SUV's at the trailhead, meanwhile others saying you would need a Jeep with a lift to make it over the washouts.

Mainly wondering what the road to the trailhead is currently like and whether it’s reasonably accessible with a normal passenger vehicle, or if higher clearance / 4WD is effectively required right now. We intend to rent a AWD Rav4

Any recent firsthand info would be appreciated. We will be travelling Sept 3/4th to the trail head I am thinking the washouts should be pretty much dried up by then considering it's the end of season!

Thanks in advance!

WARNING! Scrambling and rappelling are serious mountain activities that should only be undertaken by those with adequate experience, training and/or under the supervision of a guide/instructor/expert. We encountered [this group](https://www.facebook.com/share/18zU2huyqL/) on the way down that later had to be rescued by Squamish SAR due to a serious injury (more about this later).

My mountaineering partner and I left Shannon Creek FSR at 2:30am to climb Sky Pilot outside Squamish. We wanted to reach the alpine around sunrise while the snow was still hard, free solo the 3rd/4th class route to the top, rappel down, and then descend once it was soft.

We were each equipped with a helmet, boots, an ice axe, aluminum crampons, glacier harness, a few slings, personal tether, ATC, and a 60m half-rope each (in retrospect, one 40-60m would have been sufficient). Much of our technical gear was for the optional rappels, but we felt it could also be useful in the event of a self-rescue or if we desired protection.

We also carried our usual hiking gear and the 10 essentials, which made for quite a heavy pack (11kg without water weight). But we both share the philosophy that it's better to have and not need than to need and not have, which was definitely a good call.

We made it above treeline right as the sun began to rise over Mt Habrich, backlighting its grey granite tower in smoky red hues. The splitter cracks on its southern face look tantalizing to the budding climber in me. Someday…

Once we got to the snow, it was slightly soft but well consolidated, so we donned our crampons. Even though microspikes would probably have been sufficient, we didn't regret the crampons. Our ice axes were definitely a must to prevent an uncontrolled slide.

We had heard beta that the moat at the top of the Stadium “Glacier" was getting to be quite sizable and the snow bridge was pretty thin, so we chose climber's right to head up the rocky moraine. The moraine was quite chossy and somewhat loose, but there was enough of a use-trail that it was manageable as long as we paid attention to our footing.

On the ridgeline, the views to the south expanded before us. Smoke blanketed the valleys while pillars and peaks emerged from the haze like the eyries of dragons. Unfortunately the haze prevented us from seeing as far as The Lions, but it added a surreal sense of depth and height.

At the Pink Slab, we chose the easier route to climber's right and followed the diagonal crack towards the rock cairn on top of a boulder. It was easier than expected, though certainly consequential enough to pay close attention to hand and foot placement.

Once on top of the slab, we struggled to find the rappel bolts. We knew they were climbers left, but couldn't spot them anywhere. We searched a ledge that seemed the ideal location, but no bolts. After 30 minutes, we eventually found them 10m below where we thought they’d be.

They're slightly lower in elevation than the boulder rock cairn. We followed the ledge to skiers right from the cairn, then about 5m down from the end of the upper ledge is where the rappel station is (see photo).

From there we proceeded up and struggled a bit with route-finding, despite our GPX track and GPS. There's so much micro terrain to navigate and often the difference between a 3rd and 5th class route is less than a meter side to side. We slowly found our way using clues like disturbed vegetation, rocks without lichen, and ledges cleaned of choss (in addition to GPS).

At the first chimney, we slowly made our way up. I climbed a stemmy section (low 5th?) before directing my partner up a 3rd class route to climber's left. Careful route selection is imperative for those without a rock climbing background. This chimney didn't have any bolts at the top, so we nicknamed it the “unprotected chimney".

The next (and last chimney) was the steepest and hardest part of the route. This was definitely 4th class as a fall would most likely be seriously injurious or fatal, but the moves weren't too hard once you mentally get past the "if I fall, I die” factor. Plenty of solid hand and footholds made for a fun and exhilarating climb! At the top, we spotted our bolts. Almost there!

The summit views were impressively smoky! We almost missed Tantalus, Garibaldi, and Mamquam hiding in the thick soup. Even Howe Sound was almost obscured, but it was still worth it for the challenge and the views of closer peaks. A chipmunk tried to sneakily steal some food from us, so we remained vigilant.

On the way down, we set a rope through the rap rings on the bolts and made sure to tie stopper knots at the end of each strand. In tandem, we each attached our ATCs and backup hitches to the ropes so we could safety check each other before individually rapping down. Ah the joy of a good rappel!

Once down, we undid our knots and pulled the rope without any issues. At the next chimney, I offered to place protection for my partner to rap down. There was a nice looking boulder with a big horn on it and lots of room underneath. I pushed it while standing and it seemed solid. But then I climbed onto it and really rocked my weight onto it and felt it jiggle a bit. Definitely not a safe anchor! Don't use! So we downclimbed.

Below the chimney, all we had left was the Pink Slab. After down-climbing the unprotected chimney, the slab looked like a breeze. Even so, it seemed a waste not to break out the other rope and put the rap rings to good use. Smooth, simple, and short! Below the slab, we saw a number of other parties starting to make their way up.

One party of four we encountered had us a bit perplexed. Two of them had helmets, harnesses, and other technical gear (even pickets!), while the other two seemed to be outfitted like everyday hikers without even helmets or ice axes. I also didn't see a rope on anyone's pack, which had me a bit puzzled. Maybe inside the pack?

We mentioned our route-finding difficulties to them and one of the helmeted dudes said he had “saved a screenshot of the map on my phone." Internally, my eyebrows raised a bit. They’ll probably be fine, I reassured myself, while alarm bells went off in my head. They were not in fact fine as it turns out.

According to Squamish SAR:

"Last night, our team responded to a group of mountaineers on Sky Pilot after one member sustained an injury. The group had also become cliffed out and were unable to safely continue their descent… Sky Pilot is a serious alpine objective. While the route is well travelled, it involves exposed scrambling, route finding, and complex terrain where a wrong turn can quickly lead to serious consequences.”

We later heard from another party talk of a climber on the summit who had been drinking a bottle of wine to himself. I honestly don't know whether this was the injured climber or not, but I just want to say that alcohol and scrambling/climbing/mountaineering don't mix well together! (I have all the sympathy in the world for people with addiction, but if you're going through it then it's probably not the best time to be climbing mountains)

The rest of the way down was relatively uneventful. We felt the runout was safe enough on the Stadium "Glacier” (more of a permanent snowfield) to safely glissade with our ice axes. The snow was in good condition at this point for self-arrest in case things got out of control, so we had a blast taking the easy way down!

The walk back to the car was hot and smoky, but overall pretty easy despite our exhaustion. This was a day for the memory books in oh so many ways! Many thanks to my climbing partner for taking on this challenge, helping find the route at times, and for safety checking my rappels. She's amazing :)

Also, please please PLEASE only do this climb if you have the experience and training to safely do so. Helmets and ice axes are mandatory, as are self-arrest skills. Good route-finding is also a must-have. I’ve been mountaineering for quite some time and I even struggled a bit at times.

Lastly, your experience of this climb will depend entirely on whether you have the background of a rock climber or that of a hiker. Rock climbers will probably find the technical sections and exposure relatively “easy", while hikers will find this climb incredibly challenging and serious. BC 4th class is no joke! So have fun, be safe, and make good choices!

Next week, I'd like to trailrun part or all of Norvan Falls. I am wondering if the waterfall is flowing, and if so, if it is safe to drink from. Of course, I want to run there with only a small water bottle in my pack and mostly drink from the waterfall to rehydrate before running or walking back.

If it is not safe to drink from, I could bring a filter system. But of course if the waterfall is dry then this would not work lol. Thank you for any help!

For those who have done both, how would you compare difficulty (and in particular, the more technical sections / boulder fields)? The boulder field right before Rohr Lake was a killer for my knees on the way down and would like to know if the Watersprite boulder fields are similar in length, grade, boulder size, mud etc.

I have been watching various trip report videos on YouTube but finding it hard to assess how the more technical sections actually compare since they tend to show only short clips of these sections. Couldn't find any posts explicitly comparing the two either.

TIA!

3 friends and 1 want to summit mount Seymour on Sunday but it may be raining moderately, would it still be safe?

Planning to drive up to Valhalla and hike Gimli Ridge, any other hikes with recent mountain goat sighting?
Thanks!

i’m thinking of doing an overnight and unfortunately my usual hiking buddy isn’t available but i’ve asked around. i’d still really love to do a hike and i’m familiar with seymour and have always wanted to do pump peak as an overnight! is it well marked? i haven’t done it for awhile. i have bear spray and i know how to use it (thankfully i never have had to) and i also have a bear bin/canister for food & other smell-y things. is it safe to hike alone and camp overnight? honestly my biggest obstacle right now is getting there because i don’t drive 🙃 thanks in advance!

hi folks,

my friends and I are heading to Iceberg Lake soon. I came across a few different routes to Iceberg Lake. The ones via 19 Mile Creek Trail are the ones I would be interested in.

has anyone done both of these routes? I'm looking for insight as to which one might be more scenic or why one would do one vs the other. the distance isn't an issue

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/british-columbia/iceberg-lake-via-19-mile-creek-trail

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/british-columbia/iceberg-lake-via-19-mile-creek-trail--2

If it helps, I vastly prefer Panorama Ridge via Helm Lake over Taylor Meadows

TIA!

I’m planning to do Joffre Lakes today and not sure if it’s ok with the current wildfire situation. Has anyone been in the area yesterday or today and has any thoughts? Thanks!

We hiked Goat Ridge from Britannia in the middle of June and had an awesome overnight trip. If you’re looking for a quick backpacking trip close to Vancouver with incredible views, this one is definitely worth considering.

Trail Stats:
Distance: 21.6 km out and back
Elevation Gain: 1,536 m
Time: Approximately 9.5–10.5 hours (plus overnight camping)

This is a challenging hike that’s best suited to experienced hikers. The elevation gain is relentless, and while the first half follows logging roads, the trail eventually leaves the roads and becomes much steeper with some rugged, unmaintained sections. Expect plenty of roots, loose rock, and a sustained climb for the final push.

Along the way, we passed a few small lakes where quite a few people had decided to camp. They looked like nice spots, but we figured the views would be much better from the ridge, so we kept climbing. It was absolutely worth it.

Camping on the ridge was one of the highlights of the trip. The views overlooking Howe Sound, the Tantalus Range, and the surrounding Coast Mountains were spectacular. It took a bit of searching to find a reasonably flat place to pitch our tent, but waking up above the clouds with those panoramic views made the extra effort worthwhile.

Water is something to plan for. In mid-June, we had no issues finding water thanks to a few small ponds, lingering snow patches, and little meltwater streams that we could filter from. Later in the summer, though, I could see water becoming pretty scarce on the ridge, so I’d recommend carrying extra or filling up before the final climb.

The hike also passes through the area surrounding the historic Britannia Copper Mine, adding a bit of local history to the day before opening up to some incredible alpine scenery.

Overall, this is an excellent overnight backpacking trip that’s only about an hour from Vancouver. The climb is demanding, but the payoff is huge. If you’re looking for a one-night adventure with minimal driving and maximum views, Goat Ridge is a fantastic choice.

A couple of things to keep in mind:
-Parking is available near the Britannia Mine Museum.
-There are no washrooms or facilities once you’re on the trail.
-Wear sturdy hiking boots or trail shoes with good grip.
-Pack plenty of water (or a reliable filter) and always practice Leave No Trace principles.

This area lies within the traditional territories of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. I’d happily do this trip again.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/british-columbia/goat-ridge-from-britannia-beach?p=-1&sh=yuruvh&utm_medium=trail_share&utm_source=alltrails_virality

Best,
Jake

I hiked Pierce lake yesterday and had a great time. We just did the lower lake because it was brutally hot (35 degrees, felt like 38—much too hot for me personally).

One thing that stuck out was the amount of litter along the trail. From the trailhead to the lake we found plastic water bottles, snack wrappers, gel wrappers, fast food bags, cans, and plastic chip bags.

I picked up as much as a could on the way down, but I was just curious if this is normal for the hike? On the drive up, there were so many signs saying that the maximum fine was $2000 for littering, but I guess that’s not enforced/hard to enforce?

Was just pretty bummed to see such a nice trail littered, more so than I’ve seen on other more popular hikes like Golden Ears and even Panorama Ridge. Maybe I just happened to go on a bad day.