Coquihalla Climb: Needle Peak

September 15, 2007

When we began our ascent at 11:50 am, the clouds still clung low on the peaks surrounding the Coquihalla highway. But after only 45 minutes of steep uphill climbing, we reached the treeline and were rewarded with a clear view of our objective - Needle Peak.

Christy and Jeff on the ridgecrest...

The summit pyramid...

The route is mainly an easy hike on well-defined trail with a couple of moderate scrambling challenges including the the chimney crux on the summit pyramid.

Christy climbing the chimney crux...

Brad on the edge...

We reached the crowded summit (12 other hikers) in two hours and enjoyed the reward of 360 degree blue-sky views while eating our lunch!

Jeff, Christy and Brad on the summit of Needle Peak (2090m)

The view from the summit...

The descent...

The video...

© BRAD 2007

Garibaldi Peakbagging: Black Tusk and Mount Price

August 29-30, 2007
With our boyz trip to Lake O'Hara cancelled and the weather forecast for the week hot and sunny, I decided to head up one of my favourite trails: the Helm Creek trail to Garibaldi Lake.

DAY 1

I reached Helm Creek Meadows under bomb-proof blue skies in just over two hours from the Cheakamus Lake parking lot but what you can't see in the photo are the swarms of mosquitoes which are normally gone by the end of August!

The normally easy rock-hop crossing of Helm Creek was a little more challenging this year due to the still-melting snowpack causing the creek to swell and spread across the cinder flats.

The Black Tusk reflected in Helm Lake - I hadn't planned on summiting the Tusk but decided I couldn't walk past and not try...

Panorama view from the top of the Tusk - I reached the top about an hour before sunset and had the summit all to myself for the first time ever.

So after snapping the obligatory summit shot I raced the setting sun, reached the Garibaldi Lake campground about half hour after sunset, made dinner and slept like a baby.

Video from the top of the Tusk...


DAY 2

The next morning I slept in and lazed around on the sunny shore of Garibaldi Lake...

...before heading up the trail to Mount Price.

I had never seen an elk in Garibaldi Park before today but I followed this guy for a while up the ridge towards Mount Price.

When you reach the treeline, the defined trail ends and the ascent steepens as the route climbs the rocky slopes of volcanic Clinker Peak.

Craggy Mount Price summit with Castle Towers in the background

The view north from the summit of Mount Price: Mount Garibaldi and The Table.

Video from the top of Mount Price...


On my way down from Mount Price I met Libor from the Czech Republic. We shared many hiking stories on the return hike, reaching the car by 8:00 pm. After a quick stop for a well-deserved burger in Squamish it was back to Vancouver... two-day hiking stats: 55 horizontal kilometres, 2.7 vertical kilometres (2700m elevation gain) and 2 tired legs. Sweet.

© BRAD 2007