[Gimpilator]

August 17 Mount Robie Reid - 6873' Steven and I decided to start with Mount Robie Reid. This impressive peak rises abruptly between Golden Ears and Judge Howay. A few reports suggested 4th class or low 5th so we brought a rope. It was oppressively hot and humid, even in the early morning. I was quickly down to just shorts, but still sweating profusely. We hoped the clouds would clear in the afternoon, but it was not to be. We followed the road down, losing a lot of elevation until we found the climbers path above Alouette Lake. We followed the path to the base of the mountain. There were some unnecessary fixed lines along the way. From the base of the mountain to the summit was roughly 6400 feet of gain, mostly in the forest. It was steep.

crossing the moat

class 4 step

We came to some clean granite slabs and then made an ascending traverse on snowfields. The final snowfields was steep enough to get the axes out and there was a tricky moat at the top. After crossing the moat we climbed a class 4 step to reach more slabs above. We followed ledges until we found the base of the first crux gully. We free climbed some low 5th rock left of the rappel gully.

Steven leading 2nd crux

Above we found the second crux gully. Steven led this with minimal protection and then belayed me up. It was mostly 4th class. We were still in a whiteout and I was glad Steven had studied the route so well. We came to a notch and turned right following some exposed ramps around a false summit. The final ridge was very pleasant and would be even better with views. On the return we rappelled the two gullies.

Robie Reid summit

Stave Lake below

1st rappel

2nd rappel

August 18 Vedder Peak - 3035' I was tired and sore after Robie Reid which surprised me because it doesn’t usually happen. Steven took the day off hiking and I went to bag some easy P2k’s. I started with Vedder and then tried to do the Canadian Sumas, but the road was closed for wildfire hazard.

August 19 Microwave Ridge aka Kafir Peak - 7592' Steven’s friend Jeff invited us to join him and other friends for Birkenhead which happened to be on my to-do list. My Subaru made it to the end of the road, but overheated once along the way. It’s by far the steepest road I’ve ever taken my car on. To get to Birkenhead you have to do a steep loose exposed traverse to reach the southeast ridge of Microwave Ridge which is known locally as Kafir Peak. Once on the ridge, there’s one loose gully to climb. We hiked along the crest of the ridge passing over Kafir and then I stashed my axe and helmet near the Kafir/Birkhorn col.

steep traverse

Microwave Ridge

Birkenhead Peak - 8222' Continuing to follow ridges in an S pattern we came to the small upper north facing glacier. There was some fun scrambling along these ridges. In the summit register I saw that the last person to sign was my friend Rob, a week prior. I had hoped to connect with Rob and Greg Slayden on this trip, but it didn’t work out. Birkenhead had lovely views of all the other giant peaks in the area.

Birkenhead

summit

Rob!

Birkhorn and Microwave

Truax

Gandalf, Aragorn, Chism, Plutus, Cadwallader

Sampson

Matier, Slalok, Cirque, Cayoosh

Nequatque, Marriot

Birkhorn Peak - 7336' On the way back we decided to scramble up Birkhorn which is much easier than it looks from afar. It also has the best views of Kafir Peak. On the way back over Kafir Peak I looked high and low for my axe and helmet but couldn’t find it, even after backtracking. It’s possible that the two other guys we saw up there took it.

Birkenhead

Microwave from Birkhorn

Whitecap

Crystal

Birkhorn summit

Joffre, Matier, Cayoosh

August 21 Frozen Boot Peak - 8461' The previous day Steven showed me the MEC store in Vancouver and I bought a new axe and helmet. He said he needed a new helmet as well and bought a matching one. We hiked the rugged trail up to the Harrison hut, marveling at Pylon Peak along the way. It took us 5 hours to get to the hut and around 10am I carefully observed the sun, but no sign of the eclipse. Too far north. We bushwhacked up behind the hut to gain the northwest ridge of Frozen Boot. After some minor scrambling we got to the summit and our first view of the Pemberton Icecap as well as Overseer. We scrambled down the southeast ridge.

Pylon Peak and Devastation Glacier

Julian Harrsion hut

Obelia, Polychrome, Devastator, Pylon, Job, Meager

Overseer west face

Frozen Boot northwest ridge

summit pano with Zygo

summit pano with Uriah's Heap and Overseer

Frozen Boot summit

Dalgleish, Lillooet, Mu, Pilon, Magaera, Alecto

Pilon, Magaera, Alecto, Bridge

Longspur,

Golden Calf

Elaho

Zygo Peak - 8606' We crossed the glacier and climbed the northeast ridge of Zygo, which started with narrow snow and ended with rock. The views from this peak were much better than Frozen Boot. I was really taken with Elaho Mountain. Afterward we descended back to the glacier and headed over to the base of Madhorse Mountain where we made camp on the glacier.

Zygo approach

northeast ridge

a real pleasure

Pemberton Icecap

Zygo summit

Elaho

Zygo summit pano

crossing the Madhorse Glacier

camping on the icecap with Golden Calf Peak in the distance

Madhorse Mountain - 8238' There was still enough daylight for one more peak, so we scrambled up the west ridge of Madhorse and waited on the summit to watch the sunset. I ate dinner up there. That night we were both cold even inside the 4 season tent. I woke up shivering.

Madhorse Mountain west ridge

Overseer summit block

Overseer

waited for sunset on the summit of Madhorse

Manatee, Dugong, Serenia, Wahoo Tower, Oluk, Dolphin

August 22 Overseer Mountain - 9019' We traversed around Madhorse Mountain in the early morning, being cautious to avoid crevasses. To reach the southeast ridge of Overseer we had to scramble up terrible choss with big loose boulders. The ridge itself was narrow and exposed in places. It’s probably better to gain the ridge nearer to the peak. Going up the peak, we scrambled and climbed minor cliffs in a more or less direct line.

approaching the southeast ridge

terrible choss to reach the ridge

knifey and exposed in places

class 4 and low 5 avoidable if you go less direct

We came to the upper shoulder and the view of the summit block rising above us was impressive. Even more awe inspiring was the expansive icecap to the south, a sea of ice and mountains rising like waves. We scrambled around the right side of the summit block, keeping it class 3.

endless mountains, overwhelming

Pemberton Icecap

overlooking the standard approach which we skipped

Overseer summit block

Spidery Peak

Meager foreground

Athelstan

Elaho

dressed for success with matching colors on Overseer summit

descending choss

sketchy class 4 section on dirty slabs with a deep moat below

descending below the west face

northeast side of Frozen Boot

[Gimpilator]

Spidery Peak - 8780' After Overseer we returned to the glacier and contoured around the base of the mountain to access Spidery Peak. This was a big drop with substantial gain to get up and over a large moraine wall. The south ridge of Spidery was chossy at the bottom but really nice clean granite above that. We found a register, but no pencil.

Spidery

mostly good rock

Steven on Spidery summit

Spidery summit register with no pencil

Pebble, Luxuria, Delilah, Sessel, Sampson

Overseer north face

Spider west face

Uriah's Heap - 8599' On the way over to Uriah’s Heap we had improving views of Spidery and Overseer. In my opinion, these peaks look better from the north. The summit was a giant boulder. It was clear that the weather pattern was changing. Clouds were building and getting darker. We discussed our options. The original plan was 3 days, but descending steep off-trail in the rain was not a safe option. We agreed to hike out that night, no matter how long it took.

approaching Uriah's Heap

Overseer

Spidery

Uriah's Heap

Uriah's Heap summit

Frozen Boot and Zygo on the right

Pika Peak - 8320' We descended the edge of the glacier and then scrambled the ridge to Pika. Rain was now inevitable. I just hoped we could get below the steep brush before it hit us. We descended the long ridge north of Pika. We bushwhacked for hours in the dark. Bugs attracted by headlamp were flying up my nose and into my ears. Coming to the top of a cliff in the dark is somehow very unsettling. Steven found a way around it. We made it to the car, dry.

final glacier crossing

nearing Pika Peak

Pika summit

Athelstan, Gothrum, Icemaker, Blockhead, Spindrift

Meager, Plinth

August 25 Mount Douglas - 751' This was primarily a ferry and driving day, however we stopped at Mount Douglas to stretch the legs and get a view. It was really awesome to see Mount Baker and Mount Olympus from a totally new vantage.

Baker barely visible

Olympus beyond the city of Victoria

August 25-28 Mount Burman - 5755' Golden Hinde is the highest peak on Vancouver Island. It’s a huge undertaking with something like 20,000 feet of accumulative. Most parties will require 4 or 5 days. Very few are lucky enough to make the summit on a clear. Our forecast looked golden, but we knew that in this region anything could happen. The previous night after drivning from Victoria we had hiked up above Arnica Lakes to camp on the ridge. We wanted to get the initial gain done in the cooler temperatures of evening. On the morning of the 26th we hiked up over the numerous bumps along Phillips Ridge. We couldn’t tell which was highest because we were in the clouds. Not much in the way of views.

Arnica Lakes

lower Phillips Ridge camp

Matchlee

We hiked and scrambled down to the Phillips/Greig col and the down below the outlet of Carter Lake. The bushwhacking reported turned out to be a trail. Back up to get to Carter Lake and then over to upper Carter and then Schjelderup Lake. We lost the trail briefly at the 3rd lake. Finally we traversed some wet slabs with exposure to reach the north ridge of Mount Burman where we established camp.

Carter Lake

Golden Hinde above Schjelderup Lake

Schjelderup Lake

The Beehinde and Golden Hinde

Golden Hinde with diagonal ascent gully visible

traversing slabs to Burman Ridge camp

Burman Ridge camp

The sky cleared up and we had great visibility. Golden Hinde looked very impressive. Steven said he wanted to climb the nearby Beehinde after Golden Hinde. That afternoon we scrambled up Mount Burman. Steven took a direct line with a 5th class step. I tried it out but found the crux to be wet and slimy. I told him I’d meet him further up and went to explore the ledges of the west face.

Steven took a direct 5th class route up Burman, but I traversed around it becuase it was wet in the crux

Matchlee and Ms

Burman

Tom Taylor, Big Interior

Thelwood and Mariner

McBride, Morrison Spire, Limestone Cap

Burman summit pano south

Burman summit pano north

Steven on Burman summit

tomorrow

Golden Hinde - 7208'

video link This was it! Summit day for a peak I’ve dreamed of for years. And the weather was golden! From camp we followed the ridge down to the north and then scrambled down into Burman Chasm, then up the far side. We came to the climbers tarn and ascended the talus slope behind it, watching for the notch near the top, to the right. It was easy to find.

first light on "the hinde"

Burman Lake

descending into Burman Chasm

climbers tarn

notch where the traverse starts

From the notch we made an ascending traverse on ledges and talus slope. Some parties have made a mistake here and climbed the wrong gully too soon. You want to traverse all the way to the far side of the slope where the gully starts with some white rock. We scrambled up and then came to the permanent snowfield of 40 to 45 degrees. Steven jumped right up on the snow and started climbing fast. He’s a snow specialist of sorts.

white rock at the base of the diagonal gully

permanent snowfield

I thought I’d be smart and go up inside the right hand moat. This was great for the first half, but ended with wet exposed slabs. I climbed up and out onto the snow and finished with crampons and axe. Above the snow, to the right of a notch in the ridge, was brief 4th class and then we were both in an upper gully angling more to the right. Lot’s of loose rock required caution.

The views on the summit were really mind-blowing. This island was like the Olympic Range on steroids. All around were peaks equal to the likes of Mount Constance. One could spend a lifetime’s weekends bagging peaks on Vancouver Island. And then we realized that the big peak across the water was Mount Waddington! We hung out for awhile and took it all in before returning.

summit view north, naming nearest first and furthest last, DeVoe, Piveto, Rambler, Colonel Foster, Elkhorn, Victoria

nice lakes

Steven on Golden Hinde summit

Haig-Brown, Cobb, Filberg

Mount Waddington!!! Holy F**k

The Beehinde

Matchlee and the ocean

Elkhorn only a few meters lower than Golden Hinde

Splendor and the ocean

Mariner

northwest face routes below

Rosseau

Victoria

Colonel Foster

Golden Hinde summit

downclimbing

climbers tarn with Burman behind

On the descent Steven went over to climb The Beehinde. It was hot and I had an inkling that the peak would prove to be 5th class. We didn’t have a rope and Steven is more comfortable with climbing than I am. For once, a dip in Burman Lake followed up by lazing around camp sounded more appealing.

Burman Lake

Phillips Ridge - 5676' We started early, hoping to get as far as Phillips Ridge before the sun was up. This was going to be a long hot day. The route was the same as the way in, but this time we could see everything. We made sure to visit all the main peaks of Phillips Ridge including the east one of nearly equal height.

Schjelderup Lake

The Beehinde and golden Hinde from Philips Ridge

Matchlee and Ms

Phillips summit pano

Phillips summit pano

Big Interior

Phillips main peak seen from Phillips south peak

Rosseau and Myra

Steven on Phillips south peak summit

[Gimpilator]

August 29 Our original plans for the next peaks were stymied by road closures due to wildfire risk. The alternative we chose was Quadra Island. An easy day with easy hikes to rest up sounded great. We took another ferry and started the day at Rebecca Spit. I was sitting in the car eating when I heard the unmistakable sound of whales spouting nearby. I dropped my food and ran out to the beach. Humpbacks! I was ecstatic. I tried to wake Steven from his nap, but he was groggy and hardly interested.

Rebecca Spit sunrise

Coastal Range peaks

Humpbacks!

spout

close encounter

Mount Seymour - 2031' Our first hike was the island highpoint. We passed some small lakes and I was tempted to swim, but a local informed me that there were leeches in the water. The geology on Quadra is interesting, clearly something different in origin from the main island. We spent an hour on the summit.

dumpster diving

Nugedzi Lakes have leeches

Seymour summit

Mount Lolo - 715' Steven picked out this peak while we were studying maps. We drove as close as possible, calling it quits when we came to private property. We bushwhacked to reach the trail system that goes to Maud Island. The trail allowed access to the south ridge. We bushacked up through terrible but brief tangles. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dried moss. We scrambled class 3 and 4, all covered with moss. It was weird.

bushwhacking

no parking

class 4 moss crux

class 2 and 3 moss

Steven on Mount Lolo

Seymour Narrows

September 1 Brandywine Mountain - 7260' I suspect the dumpster diving left a bad taste in Steven ‘s mouth. He got an invitation to go do Mount Alberta in the Rockies, so we bid farewell. Steven is a very accomplished alpinist. He’s already done over 600 peaks and 44 of 56 Canadian Rockies 11,000ers. His climbing blog is inspirational and I suggest you check it out. I continued the remainder of my Coastal Range exploration solo. Next up was Brandywine Mountain. There are two trailheads, an upper and a lower. The upper trailhead saves you 1200 feet of gain but is only accessible by Jeep. I decided to see if the Subaru could handle it. I barely made it up there, dragging the bottom of the car and bumpers over rocks several times. When I saw the other vehicles in the parking lot I had to laugh at myself. I felt a sense of perverse pride parking in the line.

The hike to Brandywine Meadows was very short. I crossed the meadows and went up to the southeast ridge. There were some super gnarly peaks visible up there including one I had been looking forward to seeing with my own eyes. Mount Fee and Mount Cayley share the volcanic origins of Garibaldi but have eroded into grotesque spires of pyroclastic material.

Brandywine summit at left

Brandywine Meadows

Garibaldi

Castle Towers, Black Tusk

Tricouni with Alpha, Serratus, and Tantalus behind

Mount Fee

Garibaldi

Ashlu

Brandywine summit ahead

Brandywine

Pyroclastic Peak and Mount Cayley

Local lore, which I have not been able to verify as fact, claims that Fred Beckey as well as other serious climbers over the years have attempted to climb Vulcan’s Thumb without success. One thing is certain, it remains unclimbed. Maybe we should send the Assassin Spire team up there to get it done.

Serratus, Tantalus, Pelion, Ossa

the southeast glacier

Brandywine summit

Weart, Wedge, James Turner

Cayley

Fee

Vulcan's Thumb, Pyroclastic Peak, Cayley

Vulcan's Thumb is reported to be compacted volcanic ash and pyroclast material, too steep to hold snow in winter and impossible to protect with current climbing tools

I continued to follow the ridge along the edge of the southeast glacier. The views on the summit were great, but I wanted a closer look at the Cayley peaks, so I continued west a bit further, eventually halted by a small glacier. I could see more of the glacier below Cayley now and I was a little closer to Vulcan’s Thumb.

Brandywine summit pano southwest

Brandywine summit pano northeast

Rhododendron and Ipsoot

gnarly

Fee with Pelion and Ossa behind on left

Brandywine west face

Fee

a closer look at Caylee

a closer look at Vulcan's Thumb and Pyroclastic Peak

Castle Towers, Black Tusk

On the way back, right above the parking lot, I discovered a giant patch of huckleberries. I ate so many handfuls I almost made myself sick.

almost made myself sick

the red ones tasted like fruit punch

September 2 Parkhurst Mountain - 8176' This was the final day of my Canada trip. The wind was going to change and smoke would soon be filling the sky. It was also my 35th birthday, so I wanted something challenging. I decided to do Wedge Mountain as a daytrip. Wedge involves serious elevation gain and most parties require 3 days. If you do the route which avoids the glacier and goes over Parkhurst Mountain, as I was planning to do, it’s a lot of extra gain. I started at 2:40am and made it to Wedgemount Lake just before dawn. I tried to rock hop the outlet of the lake, but slipped and soaked one boot. 100 feet lower I found that the river fans out and sinks below talus for an easy crossing. I contoured the south side of the lake and then went to the upper small basin where I found a small lake not shown on the map.

Wedgemount Lake predawn

Parkhurst above the upper lake

Rethel northeast face

glacier feeding upper lake

I had expected the next part of the route to be navigationally challenging, but it was difficult in a way that I hadn’t expected. A lack of snow left exposed steep compacted dirt with loose rocks and boulders. To get to the Parkhurst/Rethel col you are supposed ascend steep snow ledges and ramps which work through the cliffs. But just getting up onto the first ledge was really a pain. It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to climb a steep rotten gully without launching a cascade of rocks on myself. Stemming did the trick.

route crux, took me 20 minutes to climb 50 feet of this stuff

looking down, everything falls out

On the first ledge I was surprised to find that there was very little snow present. It was mostly talus. The second ledge brought me to a diagonal ramp and from there I gained the col. Rethel looked impressive from the col. Low clouds obscured most of the views of the higher peaks.

key ramp to Parkhurst/Rethel col

Phalanx

Rethel

Rethel

Wedgemount Lakes below

Spearhead traverse peaks

Rethel from Parkhurt

Parkhurst summit with Wedge in the clouds

Weart partially cloud hidden

Wedge Mountain - 9488' I followed the northwest ridge to the summit of Parkhurst and then continued down toward the Parkhurst/Wedge saddle. When I was nearly to the saddle I saw some folks coming up from the glacier. I started talking to one of them and just about fell over when I realized it was Martin Shetter. There were two other people in the group I have also hiked with before as well as two that I’ve always wanted to hike with and one I was unfamiliar with. I couldn’t help but feel like this was some kind of birthday surprise party. I look up to this group as very experienced and it was really a pleasure to hike together on the way to the summit.

Birthday surprise! I can't believe it.

We had to drop down again and traverse below the northwest face to reach the west ridge. The northwest face was shedding rocks and boulders at intervals and we didn’t waste any time there. A direct line to the ridge crest involved a steep snow climb. I was happy to lead it despite having only carried micro-spikes while the rest of the group had crampons. It was just soft enough to kick shallow steps. We all left our axes and traction devices at the top of the snow.

leading up hard snow with micros, everyone else had crampons

The west ridge of Wedge is a lot of loose talus. You have to be careful with your footing and that you don’t send rocks down on someone. Steven had warned me that people had died from refrigerator sized rocks moving up there. We all wore helmets. I was the first on the summit. There was still a lot of cloud coverage, but I could see a fair amount. I tried to wait for the whole group to get there, but I felt the pressure of making it all the way back to the trailhead, so after a long break I started back down.

Wedge west ridge

more loose blocks

summit in clouds

35!

summit pano during brief clearing

James Turner

Weart

Black Tusk with Alpha, Serratus and Tantalus behind

Garibaldi

I made fast time getting back to Parkhurst summit and took a few photos before descending to the col. I was sorely tempted to do Rethel, but daylight hours were now short and I knew that I would make much faster progress down in the forest with real daylight. Navigating over tree roots on the trail was slower work with a headlamp.

Wedge west wall below the west ridge

Wedge north face

Weart from Parkhurst summit

Wedge summit zoom

Rethel tempting me

Wedgemount Lake outlet

At the outlet of the lake a helicopter flew over me heading toward where I left the group. It worried me that maybe there had been an accident, but later I found out that they were all ok. I made it most of the way down before dark and only used the headlamp for the last half-hour.

[raising3hikers]

those are some nice looking mtns up there! thanks for sharing

[Jim Dockery]

Way to get after it, that's a whole lotta peaks!

[RichP]

Excellent.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Wow, you saw a lot of amazing places up there it looks like! I know I don't know Canada very well...but I'm just at a loss trying to take it all in. If you run out of peaks in Washington to climb our neighbors to the north can keep you busy for quite a while.

[awilsondc]

Great stuff! I was looking forward to this report, and it did not disappoint! Great scenery. I really need to get up there to Canada.

[Fletcher]

[Gimpilator]

[xuanxier]

Thanks for the great trip Adam. Once the rain really starts to fall hopefully I can catch my own trip reports up. Just came back from a successful ascent of the Japanese Route on Mt. Alberta (Alpine V, 5.6).. By no doubt the biggest prize of the 11,000ers of Canadian Rockies. Will have to work on that trip report first though..

[Snidely Whiplash]

That is just inspirational! Wedge, Parkhurst, Rethel in a day???? I don't know how you do it, but my hat's off to you. Great views. Makes me jealous about Brandywine. We couldn't see nearly what you could due to all of the smoke. That's been the name of the game this summer I guess.

[Snowdog]

Terrific report! I would have been with Matt, Don, Carla & co. if I hadn't just been up there a few days prior. You are so right about the Coast range- so heavily glaciated compared to our N. Cascades. So many mountains, so little time! And your pics are great too! Every.single.one. Thanks for the write up!

[tekewin]

More awesome reporting on awesome trips! Thanks for putting this together. The Overseer, what a peak! The report was so good, I am going to ask you do more reporting work. Have you ever thought about aggregating all of your nwhikers reports in some kind of index? It would be really useful to everyone that follows your adventures or wants to follow in your footsteps. Maybe an alphabetical page that links the related nkhikers forum page? Something to do if you get bored or stuck at home. Thanks again!!

[silence]

Wow!