Jaime A. at Cypress Creek:
“Seven of us headed up to do some snowshoeing on Cypress, led by the fantastic Perry. This was a well-timed trip because the pineapple express hit the next day and ruined all things snow in the North Shore Mountains. The plan was to start on the Baden Powell trail that begins just in behind the first aid hut, cross Cypress Creek and head uphill to have lunch somewhere on the saddle between Hollyburn and Strachan. We headed into the trees and onto some very sucky snow.
The past week’s wet snow/rain had turned anything under the trees into an ugly crust. The spaces pocketed between the trees had soft snow and they were a nice break. It was an awkward mix that was too hard for snowshoes but too fragile a crust for microspikes (we had some hip-deep postholes). Once out of the forest we were all pretty excited about the surreal thickness of the fog, obscuring all but the closest trees, and the perfect snowshoeing conditions of the snow.
We were able to practice our MacGyver skills as we ended up with 2 broken snowshoes and a broken pole along the way, all of which were remedied by some fine teamwork and “10 essentials” supplies.
On the way home we helped dig and push a young fella and his tiny, fancy car (with summer tires) out of the snow that thankfully stopped him 4 feet from a steep plummet down a ravine.
A great trip with a fantastic group of adventurers!”
