Malin at Elfin Lakes:
“The weekend started out with a blizzard, but ended with beautiful sunshine, warm temperatures and magnificent views. Danette, Brandon, Dennis and I left Vancouver early on Saturday morning and headed towards Squamish. The logging road up to the trailhead was in much better condition than three weeks earlier and no chains were needed. There was however lots of snow on the trail. Around lunchtime the sun teased us by letting a bit of light through the heavy clouds, but after lunch in Red Heather Hut the snow was coming down quite heavily and the wind picked up. The hike along Paul Ridge offered no views and we were quite happy to reach the Elfin Lakes shelter in the late afternoon. The shelter was half covered in snow and had to be entered through the balcony door. The first task after having reserved a bunk bed was to dig out the outhouse, which was completely covered. The shelter filled slowly, but by the time we finished supper every bunk bed was filled. The next morning the fog and clouds had all unexpectedly blown away and the Gargoyles and surrounding peaks were clearly visible against a blue sky. This area is so full of surprises and every visit is a new experience. Due to the gloomy hike up the previous day, we took our time and appreciated every minute of our trip back.”
Tag Archives: Elfin Lakes
Little Diamond Head 20/02/10
Rob M. at Little Diamond Head:
“Anyone who’s been to Elfin Lakes knows what a drudge it is vis a vis the Lions slogging road. Thinking of it as half way to Little Diamond Head was different. From the near empty Elfin Lakes Hut we headed high towards the South Columnar Peaks then traversed an easy gradient across the face of the peaks just below their avy runouts yet above the gulley traps. The Gargoyles’ saddle is roughly half-way to Little Diamond Head. From there it was 120 m of whahoooo glissading down the north side of the saddle – but knowing we had to make up for it in spades on the other side.
The views from the north side of the saddle were quite spectacular and I regret having left my camera behind, relying on my cellphone for all the pics. The temperature fell suddenly from banana daiquiri to super sized slushy. The snowpack developed a thick tile surface above the deep moist powder making the ascent arduous with a full pack. Having succumbed to the blue sky white snow syndrome we dug in our camp a little late in the evening at the base of Little Diamond Head. We each had different reasons for a fitful sleep – a gale force micro-system that rocked the Elfin Lakes cabin “all night long” a month ago kept me awake with weather paranoia.
Waking up with Mount Atwell at our doorstep took a while to digest. We ate less than a snack and then quickly summited Little Diamond Head taking in a jaw dropping 360 view. We soon also started up the west ridge of Mount Atwell. Straddling the cornice tops with a few hundred meter drop on either side wasn’t the worst of Atwell – it was knowing that the high temperature was weakening the snowpack under our feet. Next to us were two avy’s flowing down Atwell the size of Park Royal. A tree bomb had set off a size two plus avy off the Columnar peaks covering our earlier tracks. You could never get enough of this eye candy but we did return to our gear – packed up, filled in our camp site – 18 km back to the parking lot. The most difficult part of the hike was finding space in a pub. We caught the last period of the first US vs Canada game at the brewpub with a mixed audience – you know the rest.”
Elfin Lakes 23/01/10
Chris M. at Elfin Lakes:
“Eight snowshoers and a skier left the parking lot before 6 am! The clouds came in but there was still some interesting alpenglow. Enough soft snow to keep us all happy. We went out over the humps of Pauls Ridge then took the regular trail back. Home to Vancouver by 3 pm after a stop at Galileo Coffee in Britannia Beach.”
Elfin Lakes 28/12/09
Carollyne at Elfin Lakes:
“Four of us headed off Monday morning on a trip with some surprises. I was quite worried about getting up the logging road in winter, but it was easy. The road up was easy to drive in a little car with snow tires – bare and frozen with some potholes, but not as many holes as on some summer trips. The 12 km winter snowshoe route was pleasant and uneventful, although the sky was overcast. Red Heather hut was warm for a break. Elfin Shelter was less than half full when we arrived just after 2 pm. Jeremy and Scott hiked about halfway up Columnar before light failed, while Su-Laine and I tootled around more casually. As the afternoon progressed, more and more skiers and snowshoers kept arriving at the hut, and we were glad we got our bunks early. Cards, wine, dinner and Jeremy’s excellent dice game made a really enjoyable evening. People kept arriving and we heard comments about how it was busier than on the lovely sunny weekend that had just passed. Everyone seemed to have had the same brilliant idea to avoid the Christmas weekend crowds, thus making a large weekday crowd, with someone sleeping on every patch of floor in the loft, and on all the picnic tables and benches downstairs as well. I slept more or less on top of my -20 bag, as it was about 20 degrees in the loft all night. Latecomers and snorers challenged sleep. The plan was to attempt Columnar again with at ETD of 8:30 am – but at 8:20 we were just getting out of our sleeping bags, all a bit tired. The weather was not with us anyway, as the whole area was quite fogged in – and although the fog lifted on our return to the parking lot, it was quite persistent to the north. Still, there were many beautiful views and the company was excellent. We all intend to return, equipped with earplugs.”
Elfin Lakes 05/12/09
Rob M. at Elfin Lakes:
“From the snow-free parking lot we boot walked easily on compacted snow to the Red Heather hut. On snowshoes now, we took the extra wide poled traverses up Paul Ridge and to the winter route crossing some active and icy steep slopes before gaining the open ridge top with the eye-popping views as we approach the hut 6 km away. Three-and-a-half hours from parking lot to the Elfin Lakes, we drop our gear in the near-empty hut, carb up and head out. We sight a long line above the numerous gullies and below avalanche debris leading to the saddle. From the south end of the Columnar Peaks we gain a small shoulder where breaking a crusty trail, fierce winds and waning light force us back into the shelter for some fine wine, food and cards. A plan to be back at the trailhead by 3 pm and a persistent overnight howl didn’t hold us back from being on the trail at 8 am the next day, aiming at the south Columnar Peaks. Shortly before gaining the south ridge we realized the crust is getting thicker and that a fall might end up in a toboggan run into the hikers-hereafter-forevermore. We opt for a single line of tree wells leading close to the south peak. Out of the trees, we’re down on all fours buffeted by gale force winds along a very narrow exposed ridge to the peak for a harrowing but impressive 360. Returning, we take the aggressive gluteus line for the longest ass-wiping ever. We’re out of the hut by 1 pm. After two short breaks and one face-plant we’re back in the parking lot by 3 pm for pitchers and buffalo burgers you know where.”
Elfin Lakes 27/06/09
Pablo unwilling to let go of winter at Elfin Lakes:
“My goal for this trip was to build a snowman, so 4 of us headed to elfin lakes to build it. As I posted in the call out, there is a lot of snow on the trail. Snow starts where the hike and bike trials merge, about 1 km passing the campground. We did many parts of the trial leaving a distance of 10-20 m between each other, just in case. We saw a lot of people turning around because they didn’t have proper shoes. This part of the park is where the bears are, we didn’t meet any but we saw lots of traces of them (with bells and smell like pepper spray) in the lower parts. As usual, we ended this hike having dinner in Squamish.”
Elfin Lakes 21/03/08
Michelle at Elfin Lakes:
“Five of us headed to Elfin Lakes on Good Friday with beautiful weather all the way up from Vancouver to Squamish. With all the recent snow, the final portion of the service road had definite winter driving conditions in the morning and required chains – we had to wait for a car with just snow tires to finish “trying” and get themselves safely off the road. Funny observation: all cars parked at the lower pull out lot, us and all the other trucks/4x4s at the upper pull out lot and nothing but jeeps in the actual parking lot.
We were among the early crowd on the trail so it was fairly powdery conditions requiring a little more effort and time (lots of fresh powder up there!). The sun played peek-a-boo all day. We had periods of fine snow mixed with windows of amaaaazing blue sky and sun with great views along the lower trail. However, the view from the ridge was a wall of immovable white. We had beat the throngs to the warming hut but had voted to return early (we only ventured a half hour past the hut up to Paul Ridge), given the hidden view, time and unknown road conditions. We all enjoyed a leisurely return bathed in sun with harder packed conditions from all the traffic now on the trail. Fortunately upon return, road conditions had immensely improved. All in all, beautiful scenery, pleasant weather and great company with a lot of laughs. A great day and the first of many call outs to organize for me I think.”