Tag Archives: Mt Outram

Mt Outram 28/08/10

Peter A. on Mt Outram:
“Rob, Rebecca, Grazyna, Adrian, Irena, Jen, Jonathan and I braved snow, cloud cover and freezing winds to successfully ascend Mt. Outram. A fantastic adventure, that started with a fleet hike through a beautiful hemlock and Douglas fir forest. Once clear of the trees, after gaining approximately 1,000 metres, we entered a large, picturesque sub-alpine bowl, that revealed that fresh snow had blanketed the high ground, including the rest of our ascent. The snow was beautiful, but made the ascent up the steep, massive boulder field a little slippery. With a keen focus and much exertion, we gained the first summit in 3h 45m from the trailhead. After a bit of moderate scrambling, made trickier by the fresh snow covering the rocks and scree, we made it to the “true” summit. 1800 metre altitude gain. Despite the heavy cloud cover and cold winds, the cloud ceiling was high and there was plenty of blue sky to allow for magnificent 360 degree views. Very cool to see the North Cascades, Baker, and all the familiar Chilliwack mountains from this perspective. We found enough windbreaks and caught enough sun through momentary breaks through the clouds that we stayed on top about 20 minutes. Two other highlights of the hike: Adrian photographing a beautiful mountain goat in the sub alpine, and during our descent, Adrian photographing two ground squirrels overseeing the fields of blueberries where we had stopped to graze. Trail conditions and markings were excellent throughout, even on the final boulder field (just required a little more patience in spotting the red painted rocks). The descent took us 3 hours, and our knees were happy to see the parking lot. We had been on the trail a total of 8 hours. Great day, great hike, great people, finished off with a great meal at the Blue Moose Café in Hope.”