Mount Arrowsmith - Lost Gully

With the amazing spell of clear and cold weather, conditions have been pretty prime for alpine climbing on the Island. I figured a "day-off" was in order to take advantage of the conditions.
Approaching the lower gully

Mount Arrowsmith has a host of great routes on it. The Lost Gully is a route I hadn't done yet. Supposedly it ranks up there in quality, and Phil Stone has even put it on his top 10 list for winter routes on the Island. Word on the street was that the road up Arrowsmith was still snow-free and driveable, so I thought I would have a look at the Lost Gully.

Looking out to Sproat Lake


There has been some recent logging on the flank of Arrowsmith, and I spent a little bit of time getting lost (eg followed the wrong trail-the one up "un-Judges"). After getting bluffed out once, I nearly packed in the trip, but was able to downclimb down a ways, and get over to the proper route into the Lost Gully.

Looking up the lower section of the gully. There wasn't continuous snow, so I got to get a bit of scrambling in crampons in.

Top of the lower gully and col with the south peak on Arrowsmith. Looking out across Georgia Straight.
The true "Lost Gully". More rock scrambling brought me into the classic upper gully.

Looking down Lost Gully to the col. Fun climbing.

Looking up Beaver Creek towards the Comox Glacier and Strathcona Park.

Along the traverse from the Lost Gully to the top of Arrowsmith.

Arrowsmith

Mount Cokeley

Traverse

I headed back down the standard Judge's Route. Definitely a fun climb. It was a little thin, but the snow was in perfect shape. Highly recommended.