After getting my amazing “The Glorious Mountains of North Vancouver” book by fellow Clubtread member David Crerar, I have expanded my ideas of routes of our local mountains. This is one of the most thorough hiking guide books I have ever seen and it goes into incredible detail on the known and unknown routes of our local mountains.

Nick and I made up our mind last week we were going to try to duplicate part of a loop done two years prior by Oldmatt. We don’t have the lungs of a cheetah, so we cut it in half and decided to start from Mount Hanover and continue the traverse onwards to Coburg and Gotha. I have done the HSCT three times now and have been familiar with the mountains looming east over the Deeks Lake system, but I never really thought about tackling them, until this summer.

Nick and I have been hiking together since we started approximately three years ago. My first big hike other than the grouse grind and Squamish Chief was the Howe Sound Crest Trail in its entirety which me and my other buddy completed in the dry summer of 2015. First night we had barely made it and slept at Magnesia Meadows, and then we opted to spend a second night at the lovely Brunswick Lake. It is here where I caught a 3-pound Cutthroat trout with a fellow hikers Walmart fishing rod, and we cliff jumped and swam until it go dark, I soon fell in love with the rest of the Deeks Lake system that embodies the last ten kilometers of the stunning trail. Over the past years, I have been back here more times than I can remember, showing it to friends and family and climbing almost all of the surrounding peaks. I was determined to complete the last remaining peaks (well minus Wettin, that will be for this autumn or winter).


Google Earth


Looking at Hanover


Looking at Coburg and Gotha


Our gps track of the day's route


My lovely fish caught at Brunswick Lake in 2015 - full stoke

We left the Porteau Road parking lot at 5 AM and were moving quickly. Logging road done in 40 minutes and now up to the lake. Pretty much same thing as every time I go up, a bit of a slog but not terrible with some nice views such as the Trailblazer lookout and sections of openings of the forest. Just before where the avalanche path crosses the trail, we stumbled upon some silly people who had set up their tent directly on the trail. To make matters worst, while we were trying to navigate all of their ropes surrounding their tent, I clipped a rope which set off a high pitched alarm, waking up the entire forest, and the “hikers” too. I guess they were paranoid of bears and set it up for some form of protection. Anyways, I politely told them to pack up soon and turn off the alarms as more people would eventually be heading by, which they were good enough to do. Oh the things you will see along this trail, it never gets old.


Nick needing the headlamp leaving the parking lot.


The random tent along the trail where the surprise occurred...

We reached Deeks Lake at 6:50 AM, took a minute break and then continued along the side of the lake. 3 or 4 people camping there. On to Hanover Lake. The crossing was dry on the logs of the outflow of the lake and we even saw some snow in the valley, assumingly avalanche snow if its still around. Hanover Lake was gorgeous, we stopped to take some photos and put on bug spray to combat the hords we were facing. I barely noticed them because I was in my happy place. We reached Brunswick Lake just before 8 and had to wade through the water between the mini lake and main lake as the water level remained very high. I had brand new Salomon SpeedCross 4 trailrunners that I was trying and they drained the water very quickly which was nice. The beach at the lake is still under water but some good camp spots to be found. Here, we decided to ignore following the normal route of up Hat Pass, and followed the creeks up from the south east side of the lake. Route finding was easy and not much bushwhacking. The meadows here are rarely seen but are GORGEOUS.


Deeks Lake


Hanover Lake (also known as Middle Lake) with Brunswick Mountain in the background


Above Brunswick Lake

We finally intersected with the normal route to Hanover and turned left to follow the creek up. The creek was pretty low as the sun wasn’t hitting the snow, yet which was good for us, as you literally hike the creek. The runners gripped very well and was a lot of fun climbing up this different kind of terrain.







We entered the boulder field and made our way to the base of the left gully just over four hours. As we went up, the boulders got smaller and more and more loose. The left gully looked less intimidating and we had more beta on it, so we went with it. The first platform probably is the most difficult – there is an excellent rope there that provides some great assistance. It is important to go one at a time as there are many loose rocks that may fall below. We had our helmets on just in case. The next four platforms aren’t too difficult and are probably all class 3. We never really felt too exposed but coming down would be what would be more difficult. Remember, up is easy, down is not. We emerged at the top of Hanover at 10:00 AM, to the beautiful sun hitting us and we spent over 30 minutes taking in the views and letting our family back home know we had made it safely. Good cell service here. Before heading down the north-east ridge, Nick had a sip from the Fireball at the true summit for good luck. Cray whisky bagging fool having a drink before noon!
















No crowds up here like Brunswick


Nick having a lil Fireball

The bagger’s challenge group on Facebook has been super helpful with intel after this part. Members Steve White and River Jones had provided us with intel of this area which would have been a lot more difficult without. We made our way down the north-east ridge, which was very similar to the Mount Unnecessary ridge. We then had to head down a partially loose rock and partially snow gully. This was nerve-racking due to how loose the rock was, but we took our time each going down slowly and it was okay. We followed the route down north-east, before turning left(west) up another gully when the valley began to level out. We stopped and had a bite to eat in the col between Coburg and Gotha, filled up water from some questionable places and moved on to our next objective, Coburg.












Looking down the valley we came out of.


Meadows in the foreground, with Coburg looming in the background

For those who don’t know, Coburg Peak, specifically the South face, is one of the most difficult and dangerous peaks on the North Shore. This is an unmarked, class 4 scramble, that involves loose rock and careful scrambling to navigate 90-degree cliff bands. Do not do this unless you are very confident in your scrambling skills and have messaged people who have done it. This guide is meant to help people know that there is a proper route up it but is not enough without any other intel or descriptions. The other way to get to the south face is via a gully direct up from past Hanover Lake, turning off left as the creek crosses the trail to Brunswick Lake. There are also two other routes up Coburg via the north face, which are documented on other Clubtread posts, specifically by RamblingBull.

We got to the base of Coburg by 1 pm and stopped to access the climb. It looked fricken steep and treacherous. We knew it wasn’t as bad if we got on the correct route. The first part goes straight up from the trees, eventually climbing your way straight to the rock. You should feel directly in the middle of the peak, not too far on the left. Photos below of what it looked like. You gain about 20 meters of vertical, get to a ledge and head right or left a few meters before heading up again another 30 meters. This part feels the most exposed and dangerous. Seriously loose rock and lots of Krumholtz blocking your way. Be very careful and don’t trust your hand holds immediately. You now will have another ledge that seems good. Use the tree behind you to help step up to the rock above you. Climb for about 5 meters up before dropping to the right on another flat and non-exposed ledge. Follow this ledge to the right, heading to the east side of Coburg for about 50 meters. As it wraps around, you will see a flag on a small tree and a steep flat face of rock. See photo below. We followed a ledge in the face, instead of dropping down to the dirt below before heading straight ahead. You then cut diagonally left up the face following nice ledges with good handholds. 4th class scrambling but very good holds. Head to regain the ridge on the left of the face. From here up, follow the ridge with light scrambling. You are almost there! We got to the top and lost it. We never thought we would find ourselves at the summit. From digging around, I am going to claim we are the youngest people (age 21) on record to climb the peak. I searched through all online reports and through talking to many people in the area, there are very little records of ascents of the peak. Hopefully that motivates someone else to take it away from us.














Signature pose I guess...


Views


Me and Nick with the cliche selfie

Going down the north-east side of Coburg sucked for us. There are bad flags following down the bushy and treed west gully which are WRONG. IF you find yourself holding on to dear life by crappy blueberry bushes, you are about 10 meters to far west. After being lost for an hour, we found our way to the exact trail. Wish I could give good instructions on how we got there. You have to wedge your foot into a downward crack to make your way down the right side of a cliff above a dusty gully. Instead of following this gully down, cut left underneath the cliffs and continue the trail back into the trees. It isn’t easy to follow, but you will eventually get out of this area. A GPS is pretty much necessary in my opinion. Would never do that north west route and can not recommend it – I guess follow the North-east route which is less than direct but looks way better.


Our route down the north-west side of Coburg

A little bit more bushwhacking to get to the base of Gotha and then climb up the nice and easy rock. Not bad at all. Found a huge bunch of mountain goat fur that was caught on a patch of Krumholtz – coolest thing I have ever seen. They have been witnessed on Gotha before which would have been unreal to see. We stopped at the south summit (no cairn) and north summit (cairn and whiskey). Its 5 o’clock at this point, just under 30 degrees and full exposure for the past 8 hours. We are tired as you can imagine.We wanted to continue onwards to bag Mount Windsor as it is so close but decided to save that for another day. We swam in the lovely tarn below the mountain which was so refreshing and then headed back to the Windsor-Deeks trail. I don’t know if the trail to Gotha still exists, but it was a complete bushwhack for us, albeit not bad in most parts. At the lake by 7 and car by 9. Total trip stats were more than 2000 meters of elevation gain, 27 kilometers, and 6+ litres of water for me. A trip to remember for ages and not a single soul seen after Brunswick Lake. Feel free to message me for a GPS track and more help if you are seriously planning to do it. This was the most difficult scramble I have done and it was great! Thanks for reading this long post and I hope you enjoyed it as much as me.

Attached Thumbnails

 

thanks for the double shout-out, Russell! What a glorious adventure and day you had.

If you prefer a video format, watch the link below of our trip!

Terrific report! Yes, Deeks lake system is very special just like whole HSCT.


Re Gotha trail from Windsor / Deeks col: Faint trail exists that avoids most of the bushwhack and there are sporadic flags, but it is not easy to pick it up if you didn't come up that way. This was my trip which is now getting dated

Trip and trip report to remember. ��

Thanks for the inspiring report. Did Brunswick late last year and you've motivated me to pick off more of these Germanic royalty peaks.

Awesome to hear. Brunswick Mountain was also what got me stoked on the other ones!

Awesome. You're keeping this site alive. Old school bad ass trip report. Love it.


I've done a number of trips in the area, but this connection is one I haven't done yet. Thanks for all the detail.

Time to start chipping in 😉

Excellent report, Well done guys!

So true for much of the North Shore ha ha. Thanks for a really great Tues morning read I agree with others that this is the spirit of CT.

Thanks for the details and great write-up! The guidebook has definitely inspired some odd loops of the area.

Absolutely incredible! To be experiencing such epic adventures at a young age and conquering trails that very few others have is quite the achievement! I wish to do something like that at least once in my lifetime! The thrill of scrambling such challenging and dangerous trails would be something to look back at and remember. Thanks so much for sharing this inspirational adventure!

Right? So cool, endless oppurtunities

Much appreciated, I love contributing to even what is left of this site.

Thank you!!

Cheers, I grew up worshiping the old school trip report style, and love replicating them! Hopefully others follow suit with their reports too.

Thank you very much for the kind words, it was an incredible thrill and I am more than lucky to be able to be doing this at my age

Echoes my sentiment 100% & why I keep contributing even if whole thing feels like deserted ship. Just a testimony to CT legacy & true potential site would have under right management.


btw watched your youtube movie. Great! Your buddy, either was too tired, or had too much sun (or too much whiskey ;=) -- but he looked like he was going to pass out on Coburg