Garibaldi Park
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| Elfin Lakes, Little Diamond Head |
Empetrum Peak & Helm Peak
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With a great weather forecast, a bunch of us headed into Garibaldi March 12-13, 2005. For the first time, we entered via Cheakamus Creek and wound our way up to Helm Creek trail where we camped in the snow blanketed meadows. After setting up camp, our team of 6 trekked toward Black Tusk on our way up to Empetrum Ridge. All pictures this trip on Fuji Reala 100 ISO print film and professionally scanned from the negative. |
| Black Tusk looking south from Empetrum Ridge. We have scaled a steep snow gully to crest the saddle. After marveling at this rare perspective, we continued along the long ridge to Empetrum Peak and the summit at 1990m. |
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From the summit, we took this photo of our destination for day two: Helm Ridge and Peak, located in the center-left of the frame. Castle Towers Mountain is visible in the background right. |
| Having begun the second day of our trip fairly early, we began up the steep and icy slope of Helm Ridge. Crampons are a must here and the terrain is unwelcoming. Here as we near the crest is the protruding rocky tip of Helm Peak. |
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A close up of the peak, it was not welcoming with the unpredictable snow cover on the thin ridge line. We decided to skip it and continue eastward. Perhaps another time in summer conditions. |
| Our party traveling toward the fine-tipped peak in the center. The sky was clear and the sun shining, but fierce winds and cold air kept up moving gingerly along the sometimes narrow ridge. |
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Eugene and Bogdan take the lead as we near the final target for the weekend. Castle Towers stand prominent in the background. A polarizing lens was used in this photo with my 90mm zoom lens. To read more about this trip and see more photos from myself and the other participants, visit the Clubtread trip report. |
| A group shot, minus myself, on the sharp crest of Gentian Ridge at about 2240m. Clockwise from the left: Anton, Bogdan, Eugene, Jim & Tracy. We had hoped for Corrie Peak but the terrain and snow conditions made a trip further northeast impossible from this location. Over the two days, we covered 35 kms and 2400m in elevation gain. |
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Mount Price & Clinker Peak
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On May 22-23, 2004, four of us hiked up to Garibaldi Lake for an overnight trip to Mount Price and Clinker Peak. This picture is from the Black Tusk Lookout, with Panorama Ridge ahead. Castle Towers is shrouded in clouds on the far left. The Table and Mt Garibaldi are in the distance to the far right. The temperature was much colder at this elevation and the strong wind had shaped the crusty snow into the forms you see here. |
| The weather forecast was ominous, but we decided to persist and brought snowshoes for the still melting snowpack. From the shelter at the lake, we could see our objectives: Mount Price is on the left with Clinker Peak in the middle. The route follows a ridge straight up Clinker Peak and then you traverse left through the col to Mt. Price. |
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Here is our team of Paul, Dustin and Sue traversing the bowl on the opposite side of Clinker Peak. Looking at the route the night before, we felt it was safer to summit this way. The terrain proved to be more difficult than it first appeared, so we returned to the main ridge for an attempt up Clinker Peak. A polarized filter on the lens exaggerates the clouds in this frame. |
| The steep traverse along the side of Clinker Peak. We could have easily ascended straight up another 20 meters to its summit, but there wasn't much point considering the higher Mt Price was just steps away. Its summit is in the upper left of the picture. We would scramble up the exposed lava rock on the right side and later slide down the snow in the middle. |
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Summit elevation: 2049m. It took us about five and a half hours to explore the ridges and later summit Mt Price. It was demanding work to ascend the steep snow slopes in snowshoes. Had it been colder, crampons would have been ideal. Here is a picture of The Table with Mount Garibaldi to the right. |
| A zoom shot of the Table with the teacup Handle visible to the right. The film used for most of the pictures was Fuji Reala 100 ISO print film taken on a Canon EOS 7E with 28-90mm and 75-300mm lenses. |
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Another zoom picture this time of Mount Garibaldi featuring the massive Warren Glacier. Garibaldi is another 630 meters higher than Mount Price and is the most dominant mountain in this direction. |
| Looking eastward, another dominant peak is Castle Towers Mountain pictured in the right here as we gaze over Garibaldi Lake from the summit of Mt Price. Gentian Peak is on the left with Gentian pass in the center of the picture. At 4 PM, not long after we summited, it was time to make a hasty return to camp, and then back to the car. The day was a long one: 11 hours of hiking with the trek finishing at 9 PM. |
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Looking back over Garibaldi Lake before leaving for a late descent. The sun setting on Sphinx Glacier, Isosceles and Deception Peaks is a view you can enjoy from the comfort of the shelter. Almost felt luxurious. Visit the Clubtread forum for more pictures and details on this trip and for responses to the hike from others. |
Castle Towers, Black Tusk, Garibaldi Lake
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On September 21-23, 2003, a group of us stormed into Garibaldi Park to climb Castle Towers Mountain over 3 days. On Day 1, we passed the Black Tusk on our way to camp at the foot of Helm Glacier, adjacent to Panorama Ridge. Our camp elevation was 1850m and since we were close to Cinder Cone, we explored the dormant volcano after setting up camp. |
| Castle Towers, at 2675m, is only 3 metres shorter than Mount Garibaldi itself and is a mountain I have desired to return to for many years. Exactly ten years earlier, I climbed this daunting peak with a my hiking buddy Brian. The right tower was our destination as it requires no climbing gear. This picture taken March 13, 2005 during the Empetrum Peak trip noted above. |
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Looking back at the Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge. We were halfway to Gentian Peak at this point. The wind was ferocious and we took cover when we stopped. The steep scree on the left side of the ridge would later serve as an arduous route home. |
| The team summiting Gentian Peak with Garibaldi Lake in the background. With still many kilometers remaining before we reached Castle Towers, we didn't stop for more than a few minutes to enjoy the view. Left to right: Jim, Andrea, Tracy and Anton. Paul and myself were out of frame. Summit elevation: 2200m. |
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Descending Gentian Peak first required a traverse along it's jagged ridge line. We later boot-skied down the steep slope in the lower right side of the picture. The cloud cover continued to worsen and the wind became bone-chilling. |
| This was as good as it got for a summit view this day. Taken from Gentian Ridge, our approach would follow the ridge crossing diagonally through this picture. We would then turn left below the summit for the final section. |
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After another 3 ½ hours of grunt-work up the ridge, we finally made it to the South summit at 2650m . The last hour was in very bad visibility from the cloud we were in. This foggy image is of the North Tower across from us. It was so cold and wet, we quickly snapped a few photos, then began the long descent, hoping to break out of the cover and see our return path. Visit the Clubtread forum on this trip for more pictures and details. |
| The weather never got better, and the cloud ceiling dropped much lower. This slowed us down and added stress to a long day. Anton's GPS and my contour map worked well together in steering us on the right course. This picture was taken around 7:30pm with Andrea and Tracy ascending the steep backside of Panorama Ridge, before finally reaching camp an hour later. The stats the GPS unit provided were impressive: 2175m elevation gain and travel time of 11 ½ hours on Day 2. Total 3 day trip was around 52kms and travel time was around 22 hours. |
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Elfin Lakes, Little Diamond Head
| September 2001. A long time outdoors friend Brian and his wife Laura joined with me to mountain bike and hike in Garibaldi Park About 20 minutes in, Red Heather Meadows allows views of Atwell Peak, part of Mount Garibaldi. The clouds soon shrouded what little glimpse we were briefly afforded. This and all following photos were taken on Fuji Velvia ISO 50 slide film. |
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We had talked about this many years earlier and finally we did it: biked the first 12 kms or so. It saved us about 1.5 hrs each way. Here Brian makes the final descent into Elfin lakes after escaping the low cloud cover. |
| These Lupines were spotted as we climbed Diamond Head mountain. It was windy so I had to sacrifice depth of field in the photo for speed, lest the plant become blurry. |
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Further up Diamond Head, we enter the clouds. You can see Brian and behind him is Laura. To the right is a steep drop-off to the valley far below. I remember being wary of getting too close to the edge, yet the climbing was easiest there! |
| For a very short time, the clouds parted to allow a glimpse of the beautiful area around us. Sitting on the summit, our elevation is 2100 metres. Unfortunately, the higher peak of Garibaldi Mountain (2,678 metres) remained shrouded for the entire time we were there. |
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