Mount Sproatt Hike

I recently moved to Whistler. The view from my patio looks towards Mount Sproatt, so I decided to go up to the top.

View from my patio.

I hiked up different mountain bike trails, using Trailforks as a guide. I made my way up the "Sproatt Alpine Trail". Some friendly guys from WORCA were busy finishing this new trail. After I passed them I bushwacked my way up to the alpine.

The sub-alpine here is very pleasant.

I made my way up to Sproatt summit where there is a summit cairn. From here I could look down to my house.

View from the summit, looking towards Whistler.

Overall a pleasant day. I was out for about 10 hours. Next time I would bring a mountain bike for a quicker trip up and down the bike trails.

Joffre Peak with BCMC Group

During the first week of July I was lucky to join a BCMC group for an ascent up Joffre Peak. On day one we hiked into Keith's Hut. On day two we ascended Joffre Peak. This turned out to be a 15 hour day.

Joffre Peak as seen from the hut.

There was still tons of snow in the alpine.

We scrambles some slopes up to a notch near the summit. We rappelled down into the notch, Ian climbed the sub-summit, and the rest followed on the fixed line. We left both ropes in place for the return.

Rappel and fixed line in the notch.

From the notch, it was a short scramble to the summit. We did not spend any time at the summit and headed back for a lengthy return. We tied both ropes together for some 60 m rappels.

Tomas rappels

Then we descended the same snow-slopes. Moving backwards because they were so steep.

Slow and steady on our way home.

Overall a great day!

Mount Baker via Coleman Deming

During late June I went up Mount Baker with Michal, Harvey, and Graham. We went up the Coleman-Deming route. It's pretty standard so I'll keep this brief with just a couple of thoughts on the subject.

The hike up to the alpine is relatively short and enjoyable. Then we camped on the glacier.

Looking towards summit from camp spot.

We enjoyed a spectacular sunset at camp.

Then we woke at 12:30am, departing camp at 1:30am to catch sunrise from the summit. Heading up in the firm early-morning snow was more pleasant than afternoon slush would  have been.

Summit

Overall a very enjoyable trip. A few notes:

-This would definitely be doable as a day-trip. It was however very pleasant to enjoy both sunset and sunrise.

-We roped up for the glacier and that seems like the most prudent thing to do. I saw a couple of skiers unroped.

-There's some more photos on my Instagram @RaberPhoto

Bella Coola to Tallheo Hot Springs by Kayak

I bought myself a birthday present this year. A round-trip flight Vancouver to Bella Coola with 4 days in between.

About 3km each way,

I flew with Pacific Coastal to Bella Coola from YVR South terminal. I was lucky to buy a sale-price ticket. Views from the flight were phenomenal.

I met up with Matt Bruce, he's living in Nimpo Lake and drove over to meet me. For two days we waited out heavy wind. We did some hiking instead.

Great mountain views in all directions.

Finally on day 3 we had our weather window. We woke up at 3 am and headed onto the water right away.

Great views on the water once the sun came up.

Tallheo hot spring felt like paradise.

We woke again at 3am the next day to beat the wind on our paddle back. We got back early and did a small hike called "Medby Rock".

All together a great trip!

Sky Pilot Attempt

In early June, Michal, Ryan and I went to Sky Pilot Mountain.

We parked at Shannon Falls, hiked up, and took the gondola down in the evening.

We started at Shannon Falls parking lot around 7am. We hiked up the Sea to Summit Trail.

A view point on Seat to Summit Trail

Then we hiked a well marked trail towards Sky Pilot. Eventually we popped out of the trees and into snowy alpine.

We kick stepped our way up snow slopes.

Eventually we made our way up to rock near the summit.

Ryan scrambling the pink slab as Michal looks on.

We deviated from the normal Matt Gunn route by replacing the chimney with a sketchy traverse. I decided not to continue. Michal and Ryan headed up to the summit and quickly returned.

Sketchy traverse... more difficult than it looks.

We rappelled the pink slab and had a fun slip-and-slide on the way down snow slopes.

We were happy to arrive at the Gondola just before it closes at 7pm. We each paid $10 for a ride down then walked a few minutes to the car. All together about a 12 hour day. Very nice trip and highly recommend it. Next time I would stick to the Matt Gunn route.

Fort Langley to Vancouver via the Fraser River

Yesterday I finished the final leg of the Fraser River from Hope to home. Ivan came along for the ride.

We took out at River District Park in Vancouver

We skytrained out to Lougheed Station and transferred buses twice to get to Fort Langley.

We put in at Fort Langley boat launch around 2pm.

We stopped for lunch on an island along the way

Just after the Port Mann Bridge

Then we continued home

Heading towards the Pattullo Bridge

We passed lots of tugboats, barges, and various other signs of industry.

A load of demolished cars.

All together an mellow and very enjoyable day!

Mount Macfarlane

On Tuesday I hiked Mount Macfarlane with Michal and Ryan.

Apparently that's 22km roundtrip.

It was a little bit of a foggy day.

First bit's through the trees. It starts to open up near Pierce Lake.

We made our way up some snow slopes to the still-frozen Upper Pierce Lake.

We scrambled a bit to avoid some of the steeper snow slopes near the summit.

We enjoyed a quick snack at the summit cairn then made our way down. Overall a great day!