You can't really get to Sky Pilot from Goat Ridge - too steep a dropoff at the end of the ridge.

-Ryan

Oh really? Hmm, wasn't aware of that Ryan. Do you know of a better way to reach Sky Pilot?

Thanks,

Tanner

There's an forest service road that goes up back there. Don't drive past the gate, they lock it some times. If you have mountain bikes, bring them, especially if you don't have a 4wd (you won't make it to the gate). The road continues around for a while and makes for generally easy hiking. Eventually the road disappears altogether and you end up going up a steep gnarly trail for about 30 minutes until you hit the subalpine. Bushwack-wise, Skypilot is quite benign in comparison to the typical Pacific Northwest mountaineering fare.

Edit: Also, with this gondola corp up there now, road access might be restricted because they'll want to make sure they get fares. And yoga pant sightings might be a common occurrence.

The Sea to Summit trail:

"...starts by crossing Oleson Creek and east to the Chief Peaks trail. Climb this until the turnoff onto the Upper Shannon Falls trail, both in the Stawamus Chief Park. From there, the trail connects to the Shannon Creek Basin Trail all the way to the Backcountry Access road at the top."

Since this new trail basically hijacks the chief trail, you can figure on parking at the chief and avoid all the 'short-term parking/long-term parking/shuttle service/will they won't they charge for parking' conundrum.

Here's a response to questions I sent them last week about hiking their new trails

Hi there

Thank you for your inquiry and your interest in the Sea to Sky Gondola.

Only one of our six hiking trails will be accessible from our Basecamp area. This trail is called the Sea to Summit Trail and it runs from the Base all the way to the Summit area, where you can then download on the gondola for approximately $10 if you choose not to hike back down. There are no fees to use our hiking trails, we only charge if you want to ride on the gondola. If you decide to hike to the Summit area and access some of our other trail networks and then hike back down to the Base there is no charge.

I hope that helps clear any confusion you may have had and we look forward to sharing the Sea to Sky Gondola experience with you soon!

Kind regards,

Geoff Brinkhaus

Marketing Coordinator, Sea to Sky Gondola

Yes, you can. Here's what it look lke at the end of the ridge.



http://deanperezbc.blogspot.ca/2013/...sky-pilot.html

I think it's the difference between "can" and "should" Dean

Leclerc managed to come down via goat ridge after climbing habrich and sky pilot so its certainly doable. The best way is from the mountain lake cabin or shannon creek road

Right on
Dean and Alexis are hard core trashers who can make their way pretty much anywhere on the Coast where even mtn goats would have problems (I mean this as compliment)

I was at end of Goat Ridge few years back and would not descend that unless someone had gun at my back. Normal approach, as pointed above, is via Shannon Creek FSR (Matt Gunn) or multi-day expedition via Mtn Lake area. Hope is that new Squamish Gondola will now speed up the approach. Whether this is good or bad thing (i.e opening up the area for masses) is different discussion.

Seen some pictures in my FB feed of people on the Stawamus Grind today. Looks like it might already be hikeable.

Already bought my year pass. $99 for a year of access in comparison to $35 a go, the decision was easy. Hoping to spend a good bit of time in the area this year.

There's a trail race planned for these trails also:

http://www.coastmountaintrailseries.com/sky-pilot.html

That's great how the "Other Backcountry Trails" link on their page mentions Club Tread, as this thread is getting pretty informative...

"The following backcountry trails are accessible from some of our featured trails or the Backcountry Access road nearby.

Goat Ridge
Mount Habrich Climbers Trail

For more information on these trails and other trails in the area, please visit bivouac.com and clubtread.com."

Also looks like they are done with the Annual Pass, but will still have Summer Season passes for a TBD price.

Thanks for the info trick!

Someone from Squamish (a climber) also circuited round over Haybrich, Sky Pilot and then up onto Goat Ridge last year, I read about it on the internet! Perhaps someone with a better memory than me can fill the gaps in!

good point! I am thinking to buy our year passes too.

btw, just saw that

The trail that follows the Gondola cut starts from the Shannon Falls trails or from the Upper Shannon Falls trail from the chief - It seemed to be marked with thunderbirds. The trail was hikable earlier in the year though marked as closed but there is now quite a bit of snow on the upper portion. It has some very steep sections on steep dirt and rock slabs. Probably not easily passible at the moment.

Over the summer they brushed out the road leading to Skyline Ridge, as well as the road that serves as the standard access trail to Sky Pilot and Habrich making both much more pleasant in the summer. They also put in a new trail that goes directly from the top station to the ridge leading to Habrich that sounds like it will be a more pleasant approach to Habrich than the old steep climbers path.

Currently there is just enough snow to push down the alders that remain on the roads to make travel miserable but not enough to cover it all. Off the road and in the cut blocks/alpine, the going is much more pleasant. We skied a loop (http://www.movescount.com/moves/move27466159) from the Gondola station up Skyline Ridge, around co-pilot, onto the Stadium Glacier and then down the summer scramble route back to the station. It will be awesome in the summer and if they brush the road further and we get some more snow, it will be a good option for ski touring. The road leading across Shannon Creek to Skyline Ridge heads toward a basin between Skyline Ridge and Goat Ridge that has some crazy looking terrain. Goat ridge is certainly accessible from Skyline Ridge/Sky Pilot area.

The alpine around Sky Pilot is crazy complex avy terrain. We saw lots of evidence of a big natural cycle over the weekend with all the new snow and rain. It appeared to have rained as high as the Sky Pilot-CoPilot col which was as high as we got before heading back to catch a ride down.

The summer trails sound like they will be much improved and the Coast Mountain Trail Series race mentioned above is sure to be pretty awesome. The area around Skyline Ridge looks like it will be really awesome for running.