[Gimpilator]

Stawamus Chief - June 24 Heather and I got a later start than we had planned, however we figured out during the drive that we actually had 4 days for our trip instead of 3. I still don't know how we overlooked a day in our planning.

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We stopped in Squamish to hike up all 3 peaks of The Chief which makes for a nice loop. I was amazed by how steep the beginning of the trail is. I've heard that the trail up Mount Harvey is the steepest in BC, but can't confirm that.

middle chief from first

Squamish

Parts of the trail had aid in the form of chains and ladders. I made a game of trying to reach each summit without touching any of the aid. Up top we friction-walked clean granite slabs. Views of the glacial colored Howe Sound were awesome.

We stopped for a break on the lesser visited "3rd chief" which is the true high point and several Chipmunk-beggars harassed us while we ate.

Garibaldi through a notch

Mount Price and Clinker Peak - June 25 This was our first long day of the trip at 16 miles and just over 5500 feet of gain. We hiked up past The Barrier which is a rotten volcanic sediment wall which holds in Barrier Lake as well as Lesser Garibaldi Lake and massive Garibaldi Lake. Signs near the parking lot suggest that this wall could collapse someday.

The Barrier

Garibaldi Lake

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whoa blue

At Garibaldi Lake we had our first view of Price, Clinker, and Guard Mountain, however low clouds were hiding the taller peaks. I had chosen this peak specifically for the view of Garibaldi and Black Tusk so I had my fingers crossed it would clear up.

Price

Guard

Behind the boat house we found our boot path leading through dense brush. Above the lake the path crossed rugged volcanic boulder fields before reaching the base of the Price. Supposedly Price and Clinker were the volcanic center before it shifted over to Garibaldi.

Price

We ascended a rocky ridge alongside a snowfield until we came to the high point between the two peaks. We then descended to the saddle next to Price. There was no register on the summit. Garibaldi was still under clouds, but at least we had a nice view of The Table. I was surprised to see a giant volcanic arch on one side of the peak. On the other side, it looked like a hidden steep snow gully might be the only way to reach the summit.

Clinker

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The Table

Garibaldi Lake

We retraced our steps to the saddle and then went over the middle point descending a very loose gully to a narrow section with a solid class 3 step. I kicked a large boulder out of the way below us which was poised above the step. As soon as it was out of the way, a cascade of scree slid down through the gap which had been blocked. Once it was clear we scrambled down and descended more scree to a small snow basin below Clinker.

class 3 step

upper snow slope on Clinker

We scrambled up sharp jumbled rock on Clinker and reached an upper snow slope below the summit ridge. For some reason, the mosquitoes here were horrendous. We followed the ridge to the summit but didn't stay long. We took in some more cloudy summit views and then descended to the lake and back to the car. The Black Tusk didn't emerge from the upper cloud bank even once during the day.

Clinker summit with Price behind

glissading

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better lighting

whoa blue

Brunswick Mountain - June 26 Brunswick is the high-point of the ridge which features the Howe Sound Crest Trail and is also a P4k. The standard route climbs 5500 feet in 3.8 miles. I squeezed my car into the last of 6 spots available to “visitors” while the rest of the spaces reserved for residents were empty. Signs threatened to ticket and tow any offenders.

Brunswick from the notch

We were in the trees for most of the hike, but the last 500 vertical feet were pretty spectacular. After a few short scramble steps we came to a notch in the ridge and turned right (south).

Garibaldi

first narrow section

knife-edge ahead

We followed the ridge over several false summits with increasing exposure. Then we came to a knife-edge section which was really exciting. I just about crawled across and then I turned around to watch Heather. Of course she took a flying leap.

knife-edge

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leap

lookout remains

summit

We passed the remains of what looks like a lookout footing and then we were on the summit. The day had become blazing hot. I sat down and Heather built a shade structure around me, which was very nice. We could see Garibaldi and Sky Pilot to the north as well as Harvey, The Lions, and Baker to the south. There were also some neat lakes down below. The town of Lions Bay was a long way down!

lakes below

sun shelter

The Lions

Back at the knife-edge I found and easier bypass along the south side. The rest of the hike was uneventful except for small battles with persistent horse flies.

Golden Ears - June 27 Time for a BC classic. Golden Ears is surprisingly popular despite it's challenging nature. Another 5500 gain day awaited us along with 16 miles. Most hikers will opt for the 2 or 3 day option. We followed a fairly level trail with nice bridges to Alder Flat and then ascended a steep trail which was more like a river bed composed entirely of large loose rocks.

Edge Peak above

roots scramble

Edge and Golden Ears

Judge Howay

Howay and Robie Reid

Eventually we topped out on Panorama Ridge and we had an imposing view of Golden Ears and nearby Edge Peak. Golden Ears is the high point of Blanshard Mountain, but several other prominent summits comprise the overall massif including Edge, Blanshard Needle, Allouette, and Evans.

ladder

Pitt Lake

"give me your camera"

We followed the trail along the ridge with numerous ups and downs and descended a small ladder over a step. Then we came to some sustained class 3 scrambling on nice slabby granite. Far below Pitt Lake was alive with tiny speed boats. We rounded a corner and there was an emergency a-frame shelter. Above that we filtered some water from a melt-creek.

Edge

Tomyhoi, Shuksan, Baker

Blanshard Needle

We continued to ascend granite slabs and the summit still appeared far away above us. There were cairns and flagging tape marking several route variations through the slabs. Old route descriptions describe crossing a permanent snowfield below the northeast face but it has receded to near nothing.

"give me your camera again"

jumping

still jumping

We came to the east ridge and followed a boot path through crumholtz and momentarily got off-route on some class 3+. There were several more short scramble sections before we reached the top. Heather was so stoked to get this peak which is visible from Bellingham, she was jumping up and down and I took several photos of her while laughing.

west ear

Robie Reid

Judge Howay

To the northeast Robie Reid and Judge Howay looked particularly impressive. I hope to climb those peaks someday. To the south Baker, Shuksan, and Tomyhoi are clearly visible and Blanshard Needle looks like a very tough climb. An orange butterfly landed on Heather's finger and stayed there for several minutes, presumably for salt. We were tempted to try the lower west ear, but from what we could see it appeared technical and we didn't have a rope along.

butterfly

On the way down we decided to drop off the east ridge a little sooner and descend the slabs below the snowfield remnant. We came to a large tarn where the tranquility of the environs had us linger. Below that we descended more slabby ramps past small waterfalls. I was reluctant to leave this upper portion of the mountain. Very few of the mountains in Washington that I have seen personally can compete in terms of scenery and route enjoy-ability.

tranquility tarn

waterfalls

This trip to Coastal Range has cemented my suspicion that there is a hell of a lot of good hiking just 3 hours drive north of the Seattle area. When looking for new peaks, why should I spend 5 hours driving to the east side of the Cascades to scale choss piles in the smoke, if there are super high quality hikes just north of the border?

[Anish]

What a great trip! Looking forward to many more climbs with you!

[Redwic]

[Magellan]

Looks like a super fun trip!

[call-151]

Quality trip report from my stomping grounds!