Steve on Gambier Island:
“5 hikers, 2 ferries, great weather, but too much snow.

Who would have thought that hiking the pass between West Gambier’s two mountains would be so snow laden? I had called a local logger to get a feel for the conditions and felt it was maybe a foot deep at worst, but clearly had only gone ¾ of the way. At the ¾ mark the snow started to get very deep and once we hit the highest point (500 m) and started heading down to the lake the trail turned into a raging riverbed (which resulted in many super-soakers), covered with windfall and surrounded by massive snow banks. We climbed, slid, crawled and slipped, but our progress was slowed such that it wasn’t an option to continue, but since I’ve found we might have been within 1 km of the lake, but that would not have been a fun 1 km.

Regardless, this place has serious potential! Three hikes in one area, and I suspect when the snow clears that Gambier Lake will be much faster that the estimated 6 hours, especially for fit hikers (it’s not challenging, just long). Better yet, I suspect the snow was worse in the pass than on the peak trails. Mt. Killam looks like a must do, and should be open soon and was recently laid out in 103 Hikes 6th ed.”