John K-S in Tetrahedron Park:
“Only two Wanderungers on this trip. We caught the 5:30 ferry to Langdale and quickly proceeded to the trailhead. We needed chains and 4×4 and GPS to find our way up. Skied in and arrived at Bachelor Hut around 10 pm or so with a large group of 9 showing up after us. Saturday went to Edwards Cabin and again another group of 11 came after us. Sunday skied to Steele Cabin and climbed Mount Steele and returned to Edwards Cabin in the afternoon and played Settlers of Catan in the evening. Skied out on Monday. Beautiful weather all weekend. Highly recommended trip. Check Tetrahedron website to see if large groups are planning to go up for the weekend. We had around 15 people per cabin for the Friday and Saturday night and it was quite comfortable.”
Category Archives: Backcountry ski
Elfin Lakes 18/12/10
Eric at Elfin Lakes:
“Saturday morning began as a cloudy, overcast day. It didn’t get better. Three of us met the fourth in Squamish and proceeded up to the Elfin Lakes parking lot. The road was exceptionally treacherous. The fourth member attempted to drive his Corolla on snow tires up. Unfortunately he became stuck halfway up. While getting unstuck, a large line of traffic got stuck behind us, blocking our retreat. After a car and a truck ended up in the ditch, the park rangers showed up. After the better part of 3 hours pushing cars, chaining tires, and trying to not get swept off the road, the three of us left the fourth to make his own way down. We carried on in a chained up 4×4 truck having no difficulty to reach the upper parking lot. The weather got worse. Lots of snow was hampering visibility. We reached Elfin Lakes hut just before dark. (total of approx. 4 hrs travel from upper parking lot). The hut is very nice and warm. It has propane heat, stoves and lanterns. It also has solar powered LED lights that sort of work. The next morning, we toured over to the Gargoyles and got a couple runs in. Amazing light powder snow, great terrain, but some avalanche risk. We were very thankful to the party that broke an excellent track up to the col through as safe terrain as possible. After lunch we headed back to the truck. The clouds opened up and exposed the beautiful surroundings. After 3 hours we reached the parking lot (on skis, about 4 hrs on snowshoes). Driving down was slow but uneventful. We had heard, and then saw, that a Jeep without chains slid and rolled over the edge of the road. It looked to have plunged 60 feet before coming to rest in some trees upside down. Its roof was caved in and it didn’t have any glass left in the windshield. Apparently a fire truck and an ambulance were necessary. The moral of the story: don’t attempt to drive up without chains. Even if you think you will try, it is likely that you will fail. Turning around is very difficult, and dangerous. Also, if you have chains, try to get up early, to lessen the chance of getting stuck behind a large group of vehicles pretending to be toboggans.
All in all, a great trip for the three of us that made it Elfin Lakes shelter.”
Mt Seymour 04/12/10
Chris M. at Pump Peak on Mt Seymour:
“Three snowshoers and 2 skiers started up Seymour at 2 pm. The parking lot was crammed but the trail wasn’t too crowded. We went up the southwest face of Pump Peak. Laurie, Irina and Dan walked and slid back down, while Glen and I enjoyed a few turns. The evening light for all of us was magnificent.”
Taylor Meadows 27/11/10
Chris M. winter camping at Garibaldi Lake:
“We broke trail the entire way. Along the road, up the trail, in the meadows and up the ridge. Around 25 km round trip. Scott and Ian were in snowshoes. I skied. I was so tired I buried my heavy tent at the 4-km marker and decided to sleep in the shelter. We missed sunset. Exhausted, we played cards, went to sleep early and still we missed sunrise. We woke up to frozen ski boots and gaiters. After skinning up the ridge, just as the views opened up, along they came including Robert!? – a Wanderung member who decided our tracks looked better than breaking trail over to Panorama. Smart choice. After stopping with a beautiful view of Black Tusk another Wanderunger, Adrien showed up!! The morning had been a bright blue but the clouds now started to roll in. Skiing down in 2 feet of powder was dreamy.”
Manning Park 28/06/08
Keith on a multi-day trip in in Manning Park:
“Ryan and myself did the Heather Trail and came down Granger Creek: 42 km. On Tuesday we went up Mt. Frosty (22 km).
The trail access gate was locked about 5km down from the trailhead – a guy in his pick-up truck drove through the ditch and we quickly seized the ride to the trailhead. The trail: snow. Lots of snow. Weather: super hot. Views: Incredible. About 60% of the trail was covered. We regularly lost the trail and uncovered it all the time. Some bushwhacking and playing in the snow. Ryan is great with GPS and maps so we determined where the trail went and did well overall.
We camped at Kicking Horse and Granger Creek. Nicomen Lake was cold and refreshing and there were lots of wildflowers; anytime the snow melted they were ready to shoot up!
On Monday we had a quick easy cruise into Manning Park. We hitched a ride up to the car and there was snow for beer next to the car. This was a happy moment. We picked some morel mushrooms – tough to find but we got a few.
Canada Day was Mt Frosty ski day. We got off at 8:30 and headed up in beautiful clear skies. The hike/ski took us round trip almost 9 hours. The snow was good and we managed to patch a few pieces of snow together in the meadows and skied almost all the way to Frosty Creek Cabin. The last 4 km saw large hail stones and cold rainfall, but by the time we got the car it stopped and we could start to see blue sky again.
A wicked Canada Day; up on the top of Mt Frosty at 2400 m. We saw termites, 1 bear, a chipmunk (we called him Chippy) AND a squirrel too!”