[cascadetraverser]

Last year in planning this year`s trip, our group decided to open the trip up to our spouses (who are veteran backpackers) and in doing so, I was trying to find a scaled down, less difficult route that we had not done before. Some years back after doing the East Chilliwack traverse, we had looked across to this ridge which looked like it had potential. Bob Kandiko in his traverse book outlines this route as does T and C in R and Rs. The plan was to hike from the Northwest end of Chilliwack Lake to Radium lake and then Traverse around Mt Webb, MacDonald and Lindemann passing then south around Middle Peak, and finally around Copper Mountain and then return via the Chilliwack north via trail or a high ridge. It was an interesting trip with all sorts of twists and turns….

Day One: After a late arrival at the large campground on the NW side of the lake we woke and 3 of our party headed up to the lake while 2 of us did a car shuttle and placed a car at the south end of the lake. The trail to Radium lake was generally nice and steadily uphill and after 4 hours we arrived to a nice lakeside camp and a rest. After an hour we followed the nicely flagged trail to the Col between Webb and MacDonald and took in the great view looking all around at the north cascades (including the Pickets, challenger, redoubt etc). A bit buggy but the cool breeze kept them at bay.

Day Two: 3 of us made the easy scramble up to MT Webb to awesome views and then headed to camp and breakfast. We all started the first off trail stretch heading northwest towards the northward ridge off MacDonald and just before departing ran into a group of Paragliders planning a launch off the col. Didn`t think much of it until 45 minutes and 500feet up we watched a paraglider take a tumble on launch and remain immobile thereafter. Our group consists of 2 PAs and an MD so we headed back down to help. Unfortunately, the gentleman had sustained a compound Femoral fracture, appeared pale and had an altered mental status. We aided this very tough 75 year old man and hours later he was helicoptered out. A bit of a scary start especially for those of us unfamiliar with such traumatic situations. We ended up leaving in the late afternoon after considering just waiting until tomorrow and ended up crossing over to a small basin on the other side and camped below west of Mt. MacDonald. At that point the clouds moved in and our sun went away.

Day Three: Early start and we crossed over the nearby rib and then dropped down a steep gully and worked our way towards another rib and down to a lovely basin with great views of Mt. Rexford. This peak was a great view all the way through our trip. Maybe not as precipitous as Slesse which also popped in and out of view on this route but had the buttresse/ridges and a cool chockstone on top. This is a peak that would align nicely with the pickets.

From there a rather formidable rib straight in front of us with a high smallish way point through the cliffs. I should add we traversed this territory without GPS and also without a good USGS (the Canadian Topo was of much lesser detail) maps so it was definitely finding our way as we go. We checked out a direct traverse across and it went nowhere so we headed up about 800 ft to the obvious small notch. Once there we stopped and reconned a rather steep traverse through tough terrain with some tricking moves with packs across about 300 feet to a nice gentle ridge that would take us to an obvious pass north of Mt. Lindeman. Our new 2 members did a great job making it through and before long landed on the nicely sloping ridge to the aforementioned pass. The sun was out and we took a break in the shade and we all sorely needed fluids. We dropped off the pass and landed in another set of cliffs which had routes above and below and after a lengthy recon started a lengthy boulder hop to a nice creek and water. Took a nice long break and then finished our boulder hop below a prominent flank of Lindemann and threaded our way below the same and above a big deep gorge below.

Then the HR goes straight up to the Lindemann Col and drops down 500 feet to Upper Hanging Lake. A fabulous spot reminiscent of Canyon Lake with a nice room sized tarn adjacent to the main lake, cool and ready for a dip. It had been a long day and everyone was ready for a nice break!

After dinner and a swim, we went to an obvious perch scoping out the next days terrain with binocs. From the Lake outlet an obvious way extended to the ridge extending north off Middle Peak. But my (our) hearts sunk looking at the steep snow leading to the notch east of Middle peak that we would need to get across to continue the traverse. We figured we would get up there tomorrow and decide then if our new traversers would be able to get across. That night the big knarly system that took out the NC highway blew through ferosiously with lightning, pummeling rain and strong winds. Thankfully all our tents stay dry and put.

Day 4: The morning was dry but densely cloudy. After breakfast we headed up the slope over meadows and rock slabs and the breaking clouds made for ethereal views everywhere. Ideal traversing…. The final heather ramp up to the ridge was steep but doable and we dropped into a nice small flat leading up to the ridge. From there a wide ridge led to the Boundary monument (always funny to see these things in the most remote places…) and the notch looked as scary as ever. The 3 experienced traversers left the rocky ridge and headed up hoping a moat would go through.

On closer inspection the main notch was way too steep for those new but a notch smaller looked promising. I headed over steep snow and climbed up to the notch and saw the other side which looked comparatively easier. The 3 of us conferenced and ultimately decided not to risk bringing anyone w/o experience up the snow ramp. Bummers….

We then headed back down the ridge and rested in the afformentioned flat with the fabulous views and a nice stream. Big thunderheads were building east and given our camp was hours away (the time in which we got pummeled the day before by similar looking clouds) we opted to camp in the cool spot. We set up our tarp and tents and started our nightly happy hour and then heavens opened up ontop of our outstretched tarp. One of the more crazy/wild bar scenes ever!

Day 5: The morning brought wonderful views with thick clouds in the valley below and we dropped down the steep heather ramp and made our way in a whiteout back towards Upper Hanging lake. Fortunately the terrain was not too complex and the sun occasionally glowed behind the cloud serving as a nice celestial object to point our travels. After the lake and another dip we made our way back and eventually (with some modifications to ease our travel) passed across the steep exposed section and came back down to the lovely basin we had briefly stopped in en route (with Mt. Rexford staring straight ahead). We truly felt like the hard part was over and had a great dinner and cocktail hour under clearing skies. That night most of us spent the night under clear skies and the Persied meteor shower. Very cool.

Day 6: Retraced our way back to the Web/MacDonald Col (thankfully quiet) and dropped down to Radium Lake and set up camp. Had a fire and dinner to noticeably less bugs after the days of cold storms.

Day 7: Back down the trail to our car and a splurge night in Vancouver with lots of great food and a nice comfy bed and shower…..

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Looks like quite an adventure. for your party aiding the injured paraglider.

[iron]

sounds fabulous. hanging lake does indeed look awesome. nothing like treating a compound femur fracture and then continuing to hike!

[glenoid]

Cool Bro....Wished I was with you at times, other times not. See you in 5 days!!!

[Stefan]

wow. glad you were there at that right time at the right place. 75 year old paragliding? wow.

[raising3hikers]

Another awesome traverse thanks for sharing

[Tshletshy Dreamer]

Thanks for the trip report Cascade Traverser and thanks for inviting me and Mrs. Tshletshy (we'll call her that until she gets her own avatar) on the trip! We had the usual transcendent experience. Just thought I would pile on with a few more photos. It was great to see the Canadian N. Cascades up close and to see some of our American faves from a more northerly view!

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[Prosit]

What a great, great place that is. Thanks for sharing your adventure. The first time I climbed Lindeman I met a guy who was in the Canadian military during the climb and he paraglided from high on Lindeman all the way back down to Chilliwack Lake. Looked like quite a ride.

[cascadetraverser]

Thanks all for the kind comments! It was an interesting adventure. The whole paragliging/Chilliwack lake thing was new for me/us and its unforturnate that we had to be involved in its darker aspect, but its an amazing sight to see them launch and navigate the heavens. Glenn: See you next week Bro!! The Tshletshy crew: I look forward to another round of adventures soon.... Prosit: You get around! Maybe we will meet sometime in backwoods/alpenland or more likely at a JR gathering.... Mike and Eric: Thanks guys; it was great to meet this past year and hope we see each other soon over a beer or better yet in the deep wilderness....

[puzzlr]

[DIYSteve]

Nice

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Hey I know those guys

[cascadetraverser]

Puzzlr: That was an amazing chockstone on the South peak of Mt. Rexford. It is a super cool peak with some amazing buttresses. I suspect it would make for an amazing climb...

[Jetlag]

Cool adventure! In Tshletshy Dreamer's 077 picture, what is the peak just left of the background center? (I'm guessing that's Slesse to the right of it)

[cascadetraverser]

The major peaks in #77 from left to right are Mt Baker, Mt. Redford (the dominant peak in the pic) and Mt Slesse

[cascadetraverser]

The major peaks in #77 from left to right are Mt Baker, Mt. Redford (the dominant peak in the pic) and Mt Slesse