[Gimpilator]

North and east of Vancouver, there’s a series of long ridges separated by bodies of water. These fjords were formed during the last ice age, but not all of them are filled with sea water. We started hiking from the Seymour ski area. Mount Seymour - 1449 meters The first objective was Mount Seymour itself, but I was hoping to go further, if conditions allowed. Right off the bat there was a lot more snow than we expected. Above 3500 feet, the snow cover was continuous. I showed Frances the various techniques of using an ice axe and she picked it up quickly.

up the gulley

On the summit of Seymour, there was a Raven that was oddly comfortable with human proximity. We backtracked to the last saddle and descended steep snow around the west side. There’s a climbers path, but it was almost entirely covered.

Meslilloet group

Cathedral Mountain

Lions, James, Harvey, Brunswick

Crown Mountain

Seymour summit

Mount Elsay - 1419 meters We crossed a deep basin and then traversed and scrambled back up to main crest, heading north. Mount Elsay and Mount Bishop are north of Seymour. We made it to the summit of Elsay, but Bishop was too far for this day. There sure are a lot of cliffs in this area.

Runners Peak basin

Seymour above

The traverse around Seymour and “Runners Peak” had been challenging and slow with all the snow. Fortunately there was an abundance of flagging on the route. It was awesome to see Frances do so well and even learn standing glissades.

Elsay summit cairn

Seymour from Elsay

Bishop

Cathedral

On the way back to the car, I thought it might be fun to visit all the named points along our ascent route. These bumps are not prominent and would not be officially named if it weren’t for the ski area.

Tim Jones Peak - 1425 meters Just south of Seymour. Good views.

Seymour, Elsay, Bishop

Robie Reid, Coquitlam

Judge Howay

Pump Peak - 1407 meters Fun rocks around the summit. We scrambled up the north side.

Brockton Peak - 1258 meters Top of the highest ski lift.

Mystery Peak - 1230 meters Lots of buildings and a road.

Dinkey Peak - 1117 meters Nice trail, but not much for summit views.

[awilsondc]

I'm going to wager that this is the first time Frances has climbed 7 peaks in a day, even if several don't have much prominence. Pretty cool. I don't even think I've done 7 in a day! Looking good out there, keep it up!

[Matt Lemke]

Who's the lucky lady?

[Kewick]

Looks really lovely. Congratulations! Maybe soon I will go there too with friends.