North Island Fire Tour

Sometimes work throws some pretty amazing stuff my way. Today I had the fortune of heading around the northern end of Vancouver Island looking at the major forest fires in the area. I am part of a small team assessing post-wildfire landslide risk, so we were there to check out the potential for landslides impacting things downslope of the fires. We also got to see a pretty big chunk of the Island.

Buttle Lake


Wolf River





Cervus Creek Divide


Woss Lake


Pinder Peak



Broughton Archipelago



Mount Cain, with top of ski hill on left



Mount Schoen and Schoen Lake



Warden Peak



Warden and Victoria Peaks

Harmston, Argus and the Red Pillar

I have been trying to get into the Red Pillar for a while now. It is a pretty fantastic spot and you get the added bonus of a canoe ride on the approach. Aaron and I had a mini-epic a couple of autumns ago on an attempt. It poured rain the entire time. We were soaked to the bone half-way through the canoe ride, before we even started hiking. By the time we made alpine the rain had turned to sleet, then snow. As darkness was appraoching, we finally made alpine and set the tent at the edge of a pond, dove into the tent, and tried to warm our semi-hypothermic bodies (it was bordering on a serious situation). When we awoke the next day the pond we had pitched the tent next to was now under the tent. We headed down, and found that the lake had risen a foot or two, and our canoe was floating in water at the shore. Aaron summed up the trip pretty well-"if we hadn't had such a fun time it would have been the worst trip of my life". Of course a trip with Aaron involves as much of a work out with my laughing muscles as my legs...

Wanting to get back into the area (with some better weather) I decided to post a trip on the club schedule, and try to take in Harmston as well (an official "qualifier" peak for the ACC). My "full" trip slowly whittled away, and on the day of it was just Tim and me on our way up the Ash River.

First of all, you get to canoe a few km's down Oshinow (or Deep) Lake. We stashed the canoe, and made our way up the Ash River. Nice valley.



Then the elevation gain begins. We slogged our way and made camp on the ridge below the Red Pillar. As we got into the sub-alpine, the bushes were wet from a recent shower, and it didn't take long to get absolutely soaked. At a snack break we decided to put on the rain gear, and no sooner than we did, it started to shower properly. I was worried that we might have a repeat performance from my first trip in here.



We pitched the tent in the rain, and dove in for cover. By evening it had cleared up a bit and we could get a bit of a view of the area.

Looking back down to Deep Lake from where we launched the canoe.


The Red Pillar


Looking over to Septimus-Rosseau


Shepherd Ridge


We were up early the next day to overcast but acceptable weather. We were off to have a go at Mount Harmston, and Argus Mountain if we had time. We traversed around the base of the Red Pillar, and got fairly close to a route up the west side, and decided to see if we could add it to the hit list for the day.

Mount Harmston, with the route up the right


Argus Mountain, route on left

From the shoulder of the Red Pillar we dropped down onto the Cliffe Glacier, and traversed over into the main part of the glacier below Mount Harmston. It felt a bit more like the Rockies or the Coast Mountains. Yup, there are big glaciers on the Island.


Looking across the upper Cliffe Glacier


From the end of the glacier we scrambled (slogged?) up Harmston. It is the easiest of the Island Qualifiers. The clouds descended on the summit as we arrived

On the south-east ridge of Mount Harmston. Argus on left, which we appraoched via the upper glacier in the middle of the photo. Red Pillar in behind, and we had just come over from the upper glacier on the right side of the mountain.


Looking over to the "back" side of the Comox Glacier and Milla Lake


Climbing the glacier approach on Argus


Red Pillar

South-west ridge of Argus


On Argus

From Argus, we made our way back down to the Cliffe Glacier. The clouds had come down over the Red Pillar, but we figured we had time to climb it as we passed by. From the top of the glacier we worked our way up onto some rock. After a few false starts trying to work up some gullies, we found a route through that was challenging, but passable. Three peaks in one day! We carefully made our way down (which oddly enough seemed easier than going up) and made our way back to camp just as the sun was setting.

We slept in on morning three, and packed up and made our way back down to the canoe. What a great way to finish a trip!

Amor Lake-Sayward Canoe Circuit

We finally managed to make it out for an overnighter. It was Kessa's birthday, and we had been hoping to paddle the Sayward Canoe Route for a while. We only had 2 days, so rather than tackling the whole route, we decided to just head out for a paddle on Amor Lake at the north end of the route.

To get to the lake, there was a short-ish portage from a logging road. With all the gear I had to triple-carry to get everything down to the lake. My canoe is not particularly light. Mental note to self, get a canoe cart.

The final load. Nemiah is helping me with the paddles

Amor Lake


Nemiah was funny. She wanted to sit with her back to the front of the canoe, and got endlessly frustrated that the paddling was too difficult. Once she turned herself around she got the paddling thing down pretty good.

Two kids. Sand. Lake. Needless to say we went through several sets of clothes as the kids decided to get soaking wet and coated in sand.

Took a bit to find a nice camp spot. The maps were off, and there wasn't any decent looking spots where there should have been. We eventually found a nice beach campsite on the lake, just as a rain squall came in and soaked us as we tried to set the tent up.

Labrador tea. A favorite of mine on canoe trips.

Mountaineering School at Wedgemount

I had the pleasure of organizing the Intro to Mountaineering course for the Island section of the Alpine Club this year. I thought Wedgemount Lake might be a good place to head, as there is plenty to do up there, and more variety than the traditional Mt. Baker destination (not to mention the lack of border hassle which is nice too).

We had a great, enthusiastic crew of five participants, and Russ and I as instructors. It was great having Russ along. He took part in the North Face Leadership training with the club a few years ago, and is up on the "latest" techniques. It was a great learning experience for me having him along as I picked up a lot on the standard mountain guiding (ACMG) practices. Made me feel a bit old school.


We spent the first day practicing knots, roping up, and a review of crevasse rescue techniques.



On the second day we ended up wondering around a bit on the Wedgemount Glacier. I have never seen it so snow-free and icy. Wedgemount Glacier has been receeding at a pretty significant rate in recent years (it has retreated a noticable amount since my first visit to the area 15 years ago).

Practicing crevasse rescue. I had practiced about 8 different versions of setting up haul systems before the course, only to find that there was some significant differences from those and the ACMG standard.

Looking up the west couloir on Wedge Mountain. This couloir had become a popular ski-descent in recent years (normally there is more snow in it than right now!). Mike Guite and I climbed up this route back in the day.

Originally we though we would try to climb Wedge via the north arete (the ridge facing in the upper centre left). It ended up being pretty thin for snow cover, and we ended up deeming the route "out of condition". So we ended up speding our third day going through practicing lowering, belaying, and setting up rock and ice anchors.

Rethel Mountain




Day 4 was the final day. Half the crew headed down early to try to catch a reasonable ferry back to the Island. Tawney, Rory and I headed up for an early hike (or plod as the guidebook describes) up Mount Cook.

Tremendous amount of smoke from forest fires in the area. There were a couple burning in the Pemberton Valley, and apparently one right next to us on Blackcomb (though we didn't see it). Smoke filled all the valleys around, and we could just see the peaks poking out above it.