July 05, 2018: Needle and Flatiron Peaks. A bit muddy in the forest and just above the tree line. There are some snow patches left above the tree line and up to the col between Needle and Flatiron, but snow is soft enough and easy to negotiate in trail runners. Some snow patches also on the trail up to Flatiron. Scramble up Needle was dry. Temperatures averaged 30 C. I was planning to go across highway and give it a whirl to Yak as well but after 3 hours in the sun I decided to call it a day and make my way back to North Shore. Some pictures here.

Vedder Mountain Trail Update

Hiked up the Vedder Mountain Trail on June 30, 2018. The road to the trailhead has been recently re-gravelled and there is not a single water bar to cross to make it to the start of the trail (aka the brown and white signpost on the right side of the main road). 4x4 not required to reach the trailhead. The trail itself was in great condition - no downfall, well marked, useable ropes/chains near the summit, and newer bridges/walkways on the trail. The trail was also snow free and there were no muddy sections even with the recent rainfall.

Happy hiking

Sarah.

Hi Y'all,


Curious if anyone has been out to the HSCT recently and how the conditions are looking? Scary snow-bridges still out there? Kinda keen to get up there for a through hike this weekend. Not keen to die though.

July 12, 2018: Crown Mountain and West Crown via Flint and Feather. There is still consistent hard packed snow between the junction for Goat Mountain and chain section towards Crown Pass, icy in places. Doable without spikes or poles, both up and down though not the most efficient. Couple patches of soft snow from Crown Pass to the junction for West Crown / Crown Buttress. Same for the West Crown trail. Few pictures here

Lost a ice axe between the col of Baby Munday and Stewart Peak last Sunday. Probably halfway down towards the basin alongside the small snowmelt creek. Other than losing the axe which I never even used that day was a great day bagging both peaks. Was going to go for Knight as well but the gap shown on my map between the Munday's route was looking a little sketchy so we settled on the two. Not nearly as much snow there as anticipated. Still plenty though to cross.


Anyhow would love to hear from someone if they find it lying around on the scree.


Thanks,
Andrew

Any recent conditions for Black Tusk or Panorama Ridge?

July 14, 2018: Sky Pilot via Sea to Summit and Evac. Probably this one doesn't deserve an update as is well travelled this time of the year but anyways, the gully (scree, talus basin below the Stadium Glacier) is virtually snow free. I used crampons and ice axe for glacier as snow was quite hard to kick steps in with my trail running shoes. West Ridge scramble in excellent conditions as always. On my return I met a friend from Squamish as I was just about to drop on the Glacier, so I joined him for a second, leisurely lap of the West Ridge.

July 21, 2018: Habrich Ridge via Evac and Al Habrich Ridge trail. This one has been on my radar for a bit and was happy to finally complete it. Trail past the end of Al Habrich Ridge is sometimes hard to follow, although there are occasional cairns and flagging. I missed it a few times but having the GPX map loaded on my Suunto helped with navigation and return to the correct route. The crux (if we can call it like this) was descending the Brain (below Habrich East Ridge) via couple ropes, one set up for a short exposed traverse and a batman rope for a steep step that is probably 30 ft high. At the col below the Brain I realized that there was a detour down the gully and up the slopes and there are a fair bit of hand lines on that alternate route (I went down the gully misled by my GPX map until I realized that I was heading back where I came from!). To be precise, the route I took is skiers right while the easier one is skiers left. From the col you are on easier terrain until you connect with the Sky Pilot trail and return to the Gondola. There are few patches of snow left on the Ridge but quite easy to navigate in trail running shoes. Few pictures here.

Have a look here There are lot of pictures along with the detailed description indicating that Black Tusk is virtually snow free and some snow patches on the Panorama Ridge, although probably easy travel. Hashtag #panoramaridge on Instagram is also a good way to get updates on trail conditions

Steven did true summit of Black Tusk, which is not something you read about every day. Well worth taking a look. Thanks for posting this link here

Has anyone hiked the Howe Sound Crest Trail recently? Any idea if there is still any serious snow up there?

Cheers

I ran up Harvey on Saturday. The odd snow patch here and there, but nothing significant.

July 26, 2018: Armchair traverse, Mount Cook to Mount Weart direction. If anything is to be said about it, the rock is not solid at all. Despite checking all holds, one broke on me part way through the traverse. I got away lightly but could have end up much worse than a lacerated shin, a middle finger in a splinter and a swollen thumb. It took me 4:10 to the summit of Weart (Lake, Cook and traverse) and about 4:50 to get back to the parking lot. Mount Cook from Wedgemount Lake is a moving boulder-fest and the descent from Mount Weart is actually worse, adding on top of it a lot of moving scree. On the traverse I stuck to the ridge line, only once detouring north for about 20 m on snow to keep it simple and not to avoid any technical section. I did not find any section challenging, maybe couple exposed steps. On my way down from Weart I went on the ridge skiers right for a bit before realizing that I should have taken the left one (perhaps I chose it as the rock quality was slightly better ) There are few snow patches on the Weart descent, some quite soft, which make the descent a bit more enjoyable.

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Anyone know what the conditions are like at Brew Lake? Toying with the idea of heading up there this weekend

Anyone know what kind of shape the Cheakamus Lake road is in right now? Really put my poor old car through the ringer on the Chance/Roe FSRs on Monday and don't want to go through that again!

I don't know about right now, but I was up there a month ago and you could drive a Lamborghini up it (very slowly, mind you )