Jan. 15, 2017

A short report because I had a more lengthy one going last night and lost it near the end (my fault). The motivational juice disappeared with it.


This past Sunday I joined two gentlemen (Jamie and Greg), that I had come across on the trails a few times in 2016, for an east to west one way trip along the Mercer/Thurston/Elk ridge. Leaving a vehicle at the Elk trailhead, we set off along the Bench FSR for the junction with the Chipmunk Creek FSR, and where we left another vehicle and set off on foot up the east ridge of Mt. Mercer. A big thank you to Spectrum and his group, as the track they set two weeks previous was still visible and of some good use under the snow that had fallen since. Once out of thick tree cover it was hit and miss and it soon faded out for good.

A few 'bumps' along the way with someone (Jamie) forgetting their camera in the truck and discovering one of his snowshoes was broken when he went to put them on about 20 minutes from the truck. Impressively, he fought on and did the entire day to Elk Mtn. with that broken snowshoe.

I was fairly certain I was in over my head joining up with these two, and I was. I struggled to keep their pace. Lots of huffing and puffing, breather breaks, and caffeine. I don't normally rely on caffeine, but I thought I just might need it. Greg, who is in his mid 60's, broke trail for the majority of the day...very impressive.

My car was left at the end of the pavement before the Elk Mtn. trailhead, so we said our goodbyes/thank you's at the upper trailhead and I took the road down on weary legs. I felt bad leaving them to the vehicle retrieval, but it was their idea, since I had a longer drive home. Thank dog, as that couldn't have been fun after such a long and tough day.

Thanks again to Jamie and Greg, and to Spectrum's group. : )

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22km! That's a long haul on shoes!

Not sure what kind of snowshoe problem, but a good habit to check you 'shoes binding before each trip. Those bolts are vulnerable and easily ripped out. Once the front 4 bolts are ripped your snowshoes will fail. Almost had to learn that on a hard way... Now I carry spare screws and driver on every trip.

Thanks Steven. I have the spare parts along, but it was the metal crampon that was completely fractured. Yes, it was mentioned that this was good lesson for us all to check our gear after a trip.

Good to see you complete the traverse, I'm wondering what the total descent was for you guys? I've had that Greg guy catch up to me on the Elk trail before, then have a little race to the top ensue. There's a few dedicated people like him that I've come to know over the years.

Thanks Tim. Total descent was 1658m.

Awesome stats, John.

I may have met that Greg as well, well someone with same name and near that age and very fit for any age standard.

Love this pics, brings back rembrances of my trip up there on winter snowshoes.

K