Tag Archives: Sea-to-Sky

Skyline Ridge, 16 Sep 2017

Day hike, , ,

Will B. on Skyline Ridge:
“Last Saturday, five of us hiked the Skyline Ridge trail from the Sea to Sky Gondola. Ninety minutes of hiking through the trees up an old logging road, then out into an old clearcut full of blueberry bushes at about 1200 metres. Through some beautiful old-growth forest, then out of the trees and up and down along a lovely alpine ridge towards the Copilot. We got back to the lodge at 6.20, for a little over 8 hours on the trail. Thanks to Andy for driving, and everyone for being awesome.”

Barney

Brew Lake, 1 Sep 2014

Day hike,

Stephen H. at Brew Lake:
“Dennis, Lisa, Rasham, Tu, and Vladimir joined me for my third and finally successful hike to Brew Lake. The hardest route-finding was at the start, driving up the logging roads to the newer trailhead. The trail itself is rugged, steep, and overgrown in parts but easy enough to find when you fall off the path. There were tons of blueberries along the trail. Fog obscured most of the views, but we did get a glimpse of Black Tusk. All in all, it was a great somewhat-rainy-day hike.”

Al’s Habrich Ridge Trail, 29 Jun 2014

Day hike, , , ,

Stephen H. on Al’s Habrich Ridge Trail:

“Bob, Lindsey, Mark, Markus, and Thomas joined me for another great Sea to Sky Gondola hike. From the upper terminal, this recommendable trail travels up rocky ground and forest floor, and delivers plenty of elevated views of the Stawamus Chief and Squamish. While the gondola folks peg the round trip at 11.6 km and 6-8 hours with 954 m of elevation gain, our hike to the “end of the marked trail” sign was 4.5 hours return. We lunched at a viewpoint near the final pond, before heading down to the lodge patio. A flagged route appears to continue beyond said pond (for next time!). By the way, the bugs were bad. An early start meant we had the trail to ourselves on the way up, but met several parties on the way down.”

Mt Harvey 30/12/12

Snowshoe, , ,

Chris M. on Mt Harvey:
“A year-end hike up Harvey with the promise of blue skies dancing in our heads. Parking at the Lions Bay TH is down to 5 spots! – silly locals. The logging road was a mix of ice & hard-packed snow. The first 20 minutes of the trail were the trickiest. Crusty, icy and post-holing. Once past that it was much better, but hard work! Luckily we had a strong group. Four of us shared trail-breaking duties. It was treat to turn around at one point and see the four ladies (Desiree, Katie, Dorothy & Quirine) right behind me. Pierre-Andre & Simon finished out our group of seven. Still it took us a while to crest the ridge as there was so much soft snow to plough up through. We decided to enjoy the stunning view of the West Lion, have a bite and come back down. We then had a great time at Pastameli’s in West Van for some half-price pizza! (Sunday dine-in special.)”

The White Lion

Cheakamus Canyon 06/02/10

Day hike, ,

Michelle in Cheakamus Canyon:
“Green mountains and spandex-clad road cyclists cruising down the Sea to Sky, you know – just your typical winter scenery. The only signs of the impending WINTER Olympics were the Olympic Lane signs starting one block East of Kootenay Loop on Hastings St (FYI – may be a tad trickier than anticipated using this meet spot during the games), sign boards blinking about upcoming road restrictions and the two million metal pole lane dividers hiltied into the asphalt at every single set of curves in the road (basically the whole thing). Traffic was light, but lanes are narrow, and driving wasn’t super speedy. Neither was the hiking – we just ambled along the easy trail happily taking pictures all the while. An enjoyable spring like outing whose only hint of winter was the frosty wind that occasionally blasted through the canyon.”

Mt Brunswick 01/07/09

Day hike, , ,

Andrew L. on Mt Brunswick:
“Making it to the trailhead just past 8am, we nabbed one of the two remaining parking spots and hit the trail. The Brunswick Mountain trail is steep, easy to follow and almost snow-free. There is also very little water available past the early crossing of Magnesia Creek. We took just over four hours to reach the summit, where we had lunch accompanied by spectacular panoramic views from what is the highest of the north shore peaks. There are a few snow patches near the summit which are melting rapidly. The scrambling near and at the summit is fun, though to reach the actual summit you will have to pass some sections with moderate exposure – your head for heights may be tested. It is, incidentally, well worth carrying a personal-sized watermelon all the way up on a hot day…”

Cheakamus Canyon 09/05/09

Day hike, ,

Susie at Cheakamus Canyon:
“Susie, Angela, Louise and Noman met on a gorgeous Saturday morning for this very enjoyable hike. With Highway 99 open through the contentious Eagle Bluffs, travel to Squamish is now fast and easy. We drove to the end of the road in Paradise Valley (we had a 4×4, but saw 4x2s at the parking spot), and started up the trail to cross the BC Rail line. That dealt with most of the (minimal) elevation gain, and soon we were at Starvation Lake, very pretty on a sunny morning with a couple of Canada geese posing in the middle. Shortly after we entered the canyon area, via an exciting piece of trail where you are literally walking on air … fortunately over some sturdy netting securely fastened to the cliff. The sound of the Cheakamus River pounding through the canyon was with us for the rest of our trip. It is impressive looking down at the railway line below and marvelling at the engineering required to build it. The trail must pass through a rain shadow, because the vegetation is more reminiscent of the Interior than coastal rain forest. The trail eventually peters out at Highway 99, so we turned around before the traffic noise was too great. A lovely relaxing hike, although we agreed it probably should be classified as a “wike” (walk/hike). It’s worth noting that this trail is snow free 99% of the year.”

Upper Shannon Falls 09/05/09

Day hike, ,

Su-Laine at Upper Shannon Falls:
“Upper Shannon Falls is an underrated trail in two respects. Where else, at 12:30 PM on a gorgeous Saturday, can you have an entire summit to yourself with beautiful views over Howe Sound? Other than the 185 m of staircase that it shares with the Stawamus Chief trail, this hike is uncrowded enough that you can feel that you’re getting away from it all. The trail is also underrated, though, in terms of difficulty. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s listed in a book called “109 Walks” or by memories of family picnics in the lower Shannon Falls area – on average this trail is about as steep as The Lions.

Our planned Cheakamus Lake trip didn’t happen. We got about 3 km into the 8.5 km logging road off Hwy 99 and had to turn back because of snow on the road. Vehicles with high clearance might be able to get to the trailhead, but I’m not sure. A stroll in Whistler after dinner took its place as our second hike of the day.”

04_Group Shot